Two Guys

Two Guys

Company type	Private (until 1962), then Public
Industry	Retail
Founded	1946
Founder	Herbert Hubschman, Sidney Hubschman
Defunct	1982
Fate	Ceased operations; retail assets liquidated; company transitioned to Vornado Realty Trust
Successor	Vornado Realty Trust (real estate management)
Headquarters	Harrison, New Jersey , United States
Area served	New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, California
Key people	Herbert Hubschman, Sidney Hubschman, Irving Hubschman
Products	Discount retail goods, large household appliances, supermarkets, hardware, automotive services

For the South Korean movie, see Two Guys (film).

Two Guys was a discount retail chain established in 1946 by brothers Herbert and Sidney Hubschman in Harrison, New Jersey. Initially, the business focused on selling large household appliances like televisions. In 1959, the company purchased the manufacturer behind the Vornado brand of appliances and expanded beyond the New York City metropolitan area to operate over 100 outlets across upstate New York, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, and even California. The company’s financial health began deteriorating in the late 1970s, ultimately ceasing operations by 1982.

History

The Hubschman brothers began their venture in 1946 by running a snack bar concession within the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) facility in Harrison, New Jersey, an early U.S. television set manufacturer. Through this connection, they befriended an RCA executive who granted Herbert a tour of the factory. During this visit, Herbert noticed a shipment of television sets with scratched cabinets that retailers had returned as unsellable. The brothers devised a plan to purchase these units at a reduced cost and resell them at a $5 profit each from an empty lot, promoting the sale via flyers placed on car windshields. The event’s success surpassed expectations as inventory that was meant to last a month sold out within hours. This arrangement with RCA continued, allowing them to eventually open their own store and advertise in newspapers. Competitors reportedly complained with remarks like "We can't compete with those two bastards from Harrison!" The Hubschmans aimed to adopt this phrase as their store name to mock rivals but were unable to get it published in newspapers, so they settled on Two Guys from Harrison.

In 1959, Two Guys acquired O. A. Sutton Corporation, manufacturers of the Vornado brand electric fans, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. Following this merger, the company was renamed Vornado, Inc. On January 31, 1962, it became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol VNO. At its zenith, Two Guys operated over 100 stores nationwide including locations in Upstate New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, California, Maryland, and Virginia.

During the late 1960s, Vornado sought to diversify further by partnering with a retail company outside its mid-Atlantic market. In 1967, executives identified Food Giant Markets, Inc., a major Southern California retail conglomerate nearly matching Vornado’s size. Food Giant operated 70 supermarkets under its own name along with 14 Unimart discount outlets, 14 Builders Emporium hardware stores, and six liquor stores. It also managed Meyenberg Milk Products supplying 200 franchised Fosters Freeze locations and Golden Creme Farms which ran a milk plant, bakery, and ice cream distribution network. At that time, Vornado maintained 33 Two Guys discount department stores across New York and neighboring states.

The merger soon encountered difficulties as most former Food Giant divisions experienced significant declines. While Vornado attributed the downturn to previous management teams, others criticized Vornado for attempting to apply East Coast operational methods unsuitable for West Coast consumers.Template:Fact

As Vornado’s financial situation worsened through the mid-to-late 1970s, it began divesting Two Guys stores to various buyers. In late 1980, real estate investor Steven Roth acquired Vornado via his firm Interstate Properties, Inc., recognizing that the value of the real estate underlying the stores exceeded that of their retail operations. Interstate initiated liquidation of Two Guys outlets by closing loss-making stores—reporting a $20 million loss (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year) during the first half of 1981—and leasing locations to other retailers. After disposing of all retail units, Vornado transitioned into a real estate management entity specializing in valuable commercial retail properties under the new name Vornado Realty Trust.Template:Fact

Store operations

Numerous original locations combined a discount retail outlet with a supermarket, alongside comprehensive departments for household hardware, major appliances, and automotive services. The Two Guys supermarkets were essentially expansive "stores within stores," directly competing with prominent regional supermarket chains of the era such as Acme, Food Fair, Penn Fruit, Grand Union, A&P, Pathmark, and ShopRite. During the early 1980s, trading stamps like Plaid and S&H Green Stamps were widely used promotional tools in supermarkets. Two Guys issued its own proprietary trading stamps, which customers could redeem by exchanging completed stamp books for merchandise credit slips valid in any non-food department within the store. The supermarkets promoted themselves with slogans including "Two Guys, The Super Supermarket" and "We're Putting Money Back in Your Pocket, Naturally," while the main retail outlets used "We Save Money For You, Naturally." Several stores located in Bordentown, East Brunswick, East Hanover, Union, and Totowa, New Jersey featured an adjoining liquor store and bar called The Chicken Barn. An arcade featuring a 20-foot bowl-o-rama game utilizing real bowling pins was situated in the rear right section of the Dover, New Jersey location. This chain was later replaced by developer Vornado Realty Trust, which developed—and in many cases still retains ownership of—the properties formerly occupied by Two Guys stores.

A distinctive branch of the chain was its downtown Newark, New Jersey outlet. Originally serving as the flagship store for the Kresge-Newark department store and briefly Chase-Newark, Two Guys operated on four floors (later reduced to three) within this building. This location functioned more like a conventional department store and preserved traditional elements such as display windows and revolving doors. It also housed an in-store dining facility known as The Rainbow Cafeteria. This store commenced operations in 1967 and continued until the company's liquidation.

Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, launched his retail career by persuading the Hubschmans to allow him to manage the cosmetics concession at the Two Guys store in Totowa, New Jersey. He subsequently oversaw the sporting goods and major appliance departments before departing prior to Herbert Hubschman's passing. Notably, Home Depot established a store on the same site formerly occupied by Two Guys in Totowa during the mid-1990s. After Two Guys ceased operations, that location was subdivided and transformed into a shopping center anchored by Bradlees; Bradlees eventually relocated to a newly constructed building, leading to demolition of part of the original Two Guys structure to accommodate the new Home Depot. The Kearny, New Jersey store on Passaic Avenue transitioned into a flea market, then a TSS Store, and ultimately a Pathmark grocery following demolition of the original Two Guys building.

External links

• Old Newark New Jersey (Blog)
• Pleasant Family Shopping