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| Broken Chain: A business which, at some point in its history, had multiple, similarly-functioning, physical locations where a customer could purchase goods and/or services, and which presently has a significantly diminished presence and/or value as a brand compared to the same brand in its heyday. - Zap Actionsdower |
Normally in a "broken chains edition" post of my Lost Histories series, we'll explore one (1) broken chain. (Not to say I haven't broken that rule before, but still.) Today we're in for a bit of a treat though, as there's a lot more complexity to the story than just that. Besides broken chains in the normal sense of the term (defined above), we've also got chains that literally "broke off," or separated, from other chains along the way. Some of our broken chains are still surviving, some are now defunct. There's a heavy Mississippi component, of course, but there are tangents off in the midwest, west coast, and even outside of the country. Oh, and all of the key players in our story are related to one another. Let's dive right in.
The timeline begins way back in 1938, when H.C. Hudson founded Hudson Mercantile Company in Palmer's Crossing, a neighborhood of Hattiesburg, MS. In 1954, H.C. had the bright idea to turn a fire in the store -- which to most would be a setback -- into an opportunity. After the fire, insurance (naturally) became involved, and once their part was finished, H.C. "bought back his smoke-damaged goods from the insurance adjuster." Rather than discard them, "the next day, he put up a sign that read: 'Smoky Groceries, 50% Off.' People flocked to buy the groceries" -- a literal fire sale. From this, according to the Mississippi Business Journal in 2004, "the Hudson salvage retail concept was born, and H.C. Hudson began to search the country for similar merchandise that could be sold at a heavily discounted price in his store."
Over time, the salvage business became a family affair. Following his first generation, H.C.'s sons, Billy C. Hudson (Sr., also later a state senator) and Mickey Hudson, both got involved. Later on, so did his grandchildren: Bill Hudson (Jr., Billy's son), Melissa and Myles Hudson (Mickey's daughter and son), and Ben Hudson. The Hudson name became synonymous with salvaged goods at bargain prices in the state of Mississippi, although sadly, today only fractured, fragmented pieces of the original family legacy are still ongoing, and none have the family name attached. But the name certainly was a hot commodity in its prime, even spawning some lawsuits among disparate lines of the business along the way.
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| Circa 1970s Hudson's newspaper ad. Seen on a wall at The Midtowner in Hattiesburg |
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| Hudson's Salvage logo. Click it to see the full thing -- the shade of orange is hidden against my blog! |
All of the various family stores employ (or employed) a buying strategy referred to as "reverse logistics." Essentially a fancier word for "salvage" (an accounting term!), this consists of purchasing goods from "insurance claims ... manufacturer and retailer buybacks, closeouts, bankruptcies, overstocks, liquidations, customer returns and out of season goods." Some of this merchandise is otherwise discarded from various channels, and may be slightly dented or damaged but, as a whole, is still suitable for consumer purchase -- and as such, the Hudson stores carved a niche for themselves by emphasizing incredible deals for the consumer, but also sustainability and "re-commerce" on the back end (keeping approximately 90 million items out of the landfill, for example, in 2021).
Following in their father's footsteps, Billy Hudson opened his first store in Magee in 1957, and Mickey Hudson in Tylertown in 1965. According to the MBJ, the brothers "worked together until 1991, when the company split. Mickey Hudson and his daughter, Melissa Hudson Callahan, took the northern half of the Hudson salvage stores, under the name ... Hudson, Inc. Billy Hudson and his son, Bill, took the southern half of the stores, under the name Hudson Salvage, Inc." (Confusing, I know.)
Billy retired not long after, choosing in 1996 to focus on a career in public service (although this isn't the last we'll be hearing of Billy in the salvage space!). He sold his interest to his son, Bill, who, along with his partners, propelled the business forward into the new millennium. (For the sake of simplicity, let's go ahead and call the partners, collectively, Channel Control Merchants, even though they may not have adopted that name yet at this stage.) By 2004, the Mississippi Business Journal reported that Hudson Salvage, Inc. was "the largest retail salvage sales operation in the country, with two separate store chains: Hudson’s Treasure Hunt and Hudson’s Dirt Cheap."
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| Hudson's Treasure Hunt (former McRae's), Cloverleaf Mall, Hattiesburg, MS. This should remind you of the Greenville Mall store! Courtesy Yelp |
At that time, there were seven Treasure Hunt stores, of which Bill Hudson (Jr.) was CEO. The stores were large, and performed quite well: in fact, in 1995 Treasure Hunt moved in as one of the anchors to Hattiesburg's Cloverleaf Mall! (This was actually a relocation of the very first store in Hattiesburg, the original grocery store opened by H.C. Hudson way back in 1938, which had since that time only moved once, in 1986 to a spot on Hwy 49.) Despite all of this, however, Bill commented, "The number of Treasure Hunt stores is not going to increase because this company depends on mother nature (floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires) and there's only so much salvage."
In contrast, the company saw much potential in its other concept, Dirt Cheap. This side of the business had its own CEO, Rob Roberts, and where Treasure Hunt focused on salvage, Dirt Cheap focused on customer returns. In 2004, Hudson said, "We’ve got 29 stores now… and I think you’ll see 50 Dirt Cheap stores open in the next year or two."
As a southern Mississippi-based chain, the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 of course caused a setback. But still, the business recovered and grew. The Sing Oil Blogger uncovered a great newspaper advertisement listing the Hudson's Treasure Hunt and Hudson's Dirt Cheap stores in business at that time (see below), which he included alongside some other fun finds relating specifically to his coverage of the former Hattiesburg Albertsons store at Cloverleaf Mall in this post. When their own store was damaged in the hurricane, Treasure Hunt temporarily moved to the Albertsons space (with Grocery Palace decor still intact!)... and afterwards, when they returned to their original spot in the former McRae's, they wound up again occupying the Albertsons -- permanently this time -- with a new concept, Dirt Cheap Building Supplies. Cloverleaf Mall was certainly a Hudson's mecca, although in 2018 (seven years shy of their 30-year lease ending), Treasure Hunt moved across town to a space in the former Super Kmart Center instead, and by the end of 2024 Dirt Cheap Building Supplies will leave the onetime Albertsons space vacant once more (but that's getting ahead of ourselves).
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| 2005 store listing. Courtesy Hattiesburg American/newspapers.com/Sing Oil Blog |
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| Dirt Cheap Building Supplies (former Albertsons), Cloverleaf Mall, Hattiesburg, MS |
By 2010, the number of Treasure Hunt stores remained at seven, while Dirt Cheap had grown to approximately 50 locations across three states: not quite the total Bill Hudson had envisioned six years prior, but certainly not bad, either. An article that same year in the Hattiesburg American noted that, while bargains are the constant at the stores, "One change that patrons may have noticed is the removal of the Hudson's name ... CEO Rob Roberts acknowledged a change of ownership but would not comment otherwise, citing it as a 'private matter.' He said the name removal is an attempt for properties to become a better corporate brand and not be tied to a particular surname or brand." A separate 2011 report, once again from Mississippi Business Journal, notes that the company as a whole also changed its name in 2010 -- from Hudson Salvage, Inc. to Channel Control Merchants, LLC, or "CCM" for short. This move "followed the 2009 retirement of Bill Hudson (the son of Billy C. Hudson) and helps to distinguish the company from stores owned by other Hudsons in Ellisville, said spokesman Cliff Brown."
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| Treasure Hunt (sans Hudson's), Cloverleaf Mall, Hattiesburg, MS. Image source unknown |
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| Relocated Treasure Hunt (former Super Kmart Center), Hattiesburg, MS. Courtesy WDAM |
So for those of you keeping track: Billy Hudson (Sr.) retired in 1996, and Bill Hudson (Jr.) retired in 2009, meaning that by 2010, the Treasure Hunt/Dirt Cheap stores were no longer affiliated with any Hudsons, in management or in name. As for those other Hudson-owned stores that the newly-renamed CCM was looking to differentiate Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap from? Hope you haven't forgotten about Mickey Hudson! His separate company, Hudson, Inc., was still doing just fine, operating 10 stores under the name Hudson's Salvage across the state (Brookhaven, Columbia, Jackson, Laurel, Magee, McComb, Pearl, Ridgeland, Tylertown, and Waynesboro). In addition to the salvage stores, Mickey was one of the principals in Hudson Capital Partners, LLC, an asset disposition business contracted to administer bankruptcy liquidation sales. More than just the sales themselves, these deals also involve "getting clients out of leases, selling all the fixtures and leaving the stores broom clean so the landlord has it ready for the next tenant."
It's interesting to note how CCM voluntarily removed the Hudson's name from its stores, and is even quoted in 2011 as saying that at least a portion of the rationale behind that was to differentiate its stores from those of Mickey Hudson, based on what was happening simultaneously in late 2010. Billy Hudson (Sr.), now an active state senator, along with three partners decided to return to the salvage business, opening a store called Hudson's Outlet at 99 Braswell Road in Hattiesburg. CCM did not take kindly to this, bringing us to another installment of...
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| Billboard for Hudson's Outlet, Hattiesburg, MS. Courtesy WDAM |
Channel Control Merchants filed suit against Billy -- former owner of their very company! -- alleging that "it owns the name Hudson, and Billy Hudson Sr. and his company is infringing on a trademark. The suit asks the courts to prevent Hudson Sr. from using the name in connection with the insurance salvage business and that CCM be awarded damages." Adding further insult to injury, per a 2010 WDAM news report, Dirt Cheap and Treasure Hunt stores began "passing out leaflets to their customers saying there is no link between the two companies" -- despite the fact that CCM's stores no longer bore the Hudson's name anyhow.
CCM didn't just target Billy Hudson; they also went after his business partners. In fairness, the three partners -- Nicholas Shattles, Steve Davis, and Frank Breazeale -- did in fact join Billy only after being employed by CCM. CCM alleged that the three former employees violated a non-compete clause, as well as stole trade secrets, by taking "lists of salvage vendors with them after they were no longer employed, violating a confidentiality contract, and now use that information to help Hudson's business." Still piling on, "The lawsuit also claims Hudson coerced the men to breach their contracts, that the men violated federal law through unauthorized use of Channel Control Merchants-owned computers and that Hudson's business is competing unfairly, among other allegations," per the Hattiesburg American.
Billy Hudson's attorney, Chris McDaniel (also an active state senator at the time), called the allegations "baseless"; ultimately, the case was settled in May 2012. It seems Billy exited the business entirely at this point. His "BCH & Co. [store] in the Midtown Market shopping center on Hardy Street is closing its doors soon," the Hattiesburg American reported, although "Another store will be going in the day after this one closes," Billy said. "I won’t be involved in the new one. It takes more hours in the day to do both my Senate job and retail business." Interestingly, that store name and location (BCH & Co./Hardy Street) is entirely different from the one reported to have prompted the lawsuit in the first place (Hudson's Outlet/Braswell Road). Even crazier, the Braswell Road location would later reopen once again as a Hudson's Salvage store!
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| Street sign for "BCH & Company" at Midtown Market in Hattiesburg. Courtesy RealNex |
Exiting The Blogger's Court, and returning to our story of the "other" Hudson's stores... In 2014, Mickey Hudson sadly succumbed to injuries sustained in a tornado, and his stores closed. By the time of his passing, the company had decreased in size from the 10 stores listed previously to only four locations, in Jackson, Ridgeland, Laurel, and Magee. Jackson doesn't appear to have reopened (although the road sign to this day still reads "Hudson's"), and Ridgeland changed hands to CCM, becoming a Dirt Cheap Building Supplies store (this wasn't the first such trade: at least one other prior Hudson's Salvage store, in McComb, later became a Dirt Cheap). Laurel and Magee, however, stayed in business after Mickey's son, Myles Hudson, revived the company in 2015. Myles also operated a third Hudson's Salvage store, located at -- you guessed it -- 99 Braswell Road in Hattiesburg.
It's difficult to follow all the various companies, family members, and buildings changing hands in this story, not to mention the hypocrisy in CCM feeling threatened and filing suit against the Hattiesburg store when Billy owed it -- but not any of the stores owned by Mickey or Myles! The three surviving Hudson's Salvage stores had a neat-looking logo and website refresh circa late 2021, but otherwise stayed relatively quiet in the years after Myles took over; we'll revisit them again at the end of the timeline.
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| Hudson's Salvage, Ridgeland, MS. Courtesy LoopNet |
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| Dirt Cheap Building Supplies, Ridgeland, MS. Courtesy Dirt Cheap |
In the meantime, over on the CCM side of things, following Bill Hudson's retirement and the company's renaming to remove all traces of "Hudson," the Treasure Hunt and (especially) Dirt Cheap chains continued to grow. Having already dipped their toes outside of Mississippi into Louisiana and Alabama, the company pushed further into other neighboring southeastern states, including Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida. Dirt Cheap entered Texas in 2013, and around the same time the company acquired California-based CA Liquidators, an existing reverse logistics business similar to their own, renaming it CCM California. Approached by a bankrupt ceramic tile manufacturer and "after purchasing 50 truckloads ... with nowhere to put it," Dirt Cheap Building Supplies was born in 2010, and also grew to more locations in the ensuing years, both standalone and co-branded. Perhaps attracted by all the growth, "In 2015, private equity firm KKR invested in CCM, taking a majority stake for $258 million," according to Dennis Seid of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
The Dirt Cheap brand certainly saw the stronger growth of the two, reaching a peak of approximately 101 locations in 2021. The Treasure Hunt brand was, as mentioned earlier, a bit limited in potential given the nature of true insurance/disaster salvage as opposed to customer returns. In 2011, "the company began to review its operations and decided to convert some of its Treasure Hunt stores into Dirt Cheap stores," the Tuscaloosa News reported, including the store in Mobile and one which had been open for only nine months in Tuscaloosa, AL. (Remember, buying and operations were run separately for the two chains.) Still, new stores for the Treasure Hunt brand weren't out of the picture just yet. In 2018, for example, a brand new Treasure Hunt opened in a former Super Target in Indio, CA. The other CCM California store, in Fontana, was rebranded at the same time. Treasure Hunt also saw further growth in another unexpected location, which we'll discuss a little later in the post.
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| CCM California, Fontana, CA (prior to Treasure Hunt rebrand). Image source unknown |
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| Treasure Hunt (former Super Target), Indio, CA. Definitely one of the crazier sights I've seen (h/t Mike at HHR). Courtesy Google Maps |
CCM pulled out of California in 2021, no doubt impacted by the pandemic. More concerning than the pandemic, though, was CCM's deteriorating relationship with its new owners. As Dennis Seid reported, CCM alleged that KKR "made 'a deliberate attempt ... to intentionally make false and material misleading statements through the company's 2019 financials by overstating inventory values in order to conceal the fraud and mismanagement of the company. These actions ultimately led to the company restructuring the plaintiff's equity value to pennies on the dollar.'" Later, KKR sold CCM off to another group of private investors, including Hilco Global and Behrens Investment Group, in May 2023. CCM filed a lawsuit against KKR for fraud and gross negligence (citing the above allegation) shortly thereafter in September 2023, and throughout the year began closing some stores, including 13 of the 15 Texas locations (as well as the Marshall, TX, warehouse).
Further dooming CCM was its similarly souring relationship with Target. Given its positioning as a retailer "with a focus on rural markets in the Southeast and Texas that are underserved by traditional retail chains," CCM considered Target (or at least, Target's salvage operation) its "foundational supplier." Again, the idea was that the relationship would generate positives all around: salvaged merchandise could stay out of landfills, Target could get it off of their hands, and Dirt Cheap customers "could buy Target products in small towns where Target wouldn’t open up in a million years," as Mike at Houston Historic Retail put it. (In Mississippi, Target only has six locations, and of those, two are located in DeSoto County and two in the Jackson metro area. A majority of the state, therefore, does not have easy access to Target merchandise.) But beginning in 2023, CCM alleges that Target began de-mixing its pallets, "divesting its best returns to B-Stock Solutions, Inc., a Company competitor. At the same time, Target has been channeling a deteriorating mix of inventory to the Debtors, while increasing the cost of its pallets. Given Target’s position as the Company’s foundational supplier, the Company lacked the necessary leverage to negotiate or otherwise dispute these increased costs." "In other words," wrote Dennis Seid, "Target was saving its best secondary merchandise to B-Stock, which also got its best price, while CCM had to pay more for less and couldn't argue about it."
Dirt Cheap ended up reopening a few of those Texas stores, as HHR shared, but ultimately the damage inflicted by KKR and Target was too much to overcome. Channel Control Merchants, parent company of Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in October 2024, immediately implementing store closure sales at all 70 of its remaining locations (62 Dirt Cheap, seven Dirt Cheap Building Supplies, and one Treasure Hunt). The stores are to be closed by the end of the year, spelling the end for the Mississippi-based company.
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| Store closing advertisement, October 2024. Courtesy Dirt Cheap |
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| A sale was also held at the company warehouse. Courtesy Facebook |
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| Pearl, MS, Dirt Cheap closing (zoom in to see the liquidation signs) |
Given the situations and the timing, I do wonder if Target's actions and KKR's alleged fraud and gross negligence are mutually exclusive. After all, if KKR did purposefully manipulate CCM's financials, it's probably not too much of a stretch to imagine they could also have manipulated -- and deteriorated -- CCM's relationships with its suppliers. If so, Target's actions toward CCM could be retaliation for KKR's treatment of Target, even though CCM alleges Target's actions took place primarily after KKR had already sold CCM to Hilco. Or perhaps it is just a coincidence, and KKR had no bearing on Target's actions whatsoever. Either way, it's unfortunate that CCM got caught on the negative side of both parties' actions. There's a lot of flack towards private equity out there, and I'm certainly not saying it's unwarranted, but I also don't believe private equity is always 100% bad. In this case, though, we do have another unfortunate example of mismanagement leading to a company's demise. (It's interesting to note, too, that Fleet Farm sued KKR for very similar allegations mere months before CCM, in April 2023.)
Concerning the decision to immediately liquidate all locations at the same time as filing for bankruptcy, chief restructuring officer Jeffrey Martin (who was appointed in September 2024, as the filing loomed) noted in the case docket that "it is my understanding that the Company evaluated the ability to maintain a smaller retail footprint but determined, in its business judgment, that it would be unable to produce a positive cash flow model under such a strategy ... without factoring in unrealistically high sales expectations." Indeed, "thinner profit margins because of changing buying patterns and increased need for discounting further eroded CCM's financial stability" and led to the decision to liquidate. Internally, the company's working line of capital expired on July 19, 2024, and in the weeks since then, they were burning up to $1 million per week. "With limited cash available," Martin wrote, "it was determined that the Company would only be able to continue operations until the end of 2024, absent an additional liquidity infusion."
As a result, the ongoing liquidation sales (not to mention bankruptcy administration costs) are being conducted with the existing cash as the company's "sole source of funding." Hilco Merchant Resources, an affiliate of CCM's owner Hilco Global, is overseeing the sales: not unlike the asset disposition line of business of Hudson Capital Partners, LLC, described much earlier in this post. One key difference, however, is that that business is typically predicated upon collecting fees from the debtor; in CCM's bankruptcy docket, though, Martin writes that "Notably, Hilco is not receiving any fees for its services, and will only be entitled to reasonable and documented expenses incurred in connection with administering the Store Closing Sales." I guess that's one benefit to having a private equity firm with its own separate liquidator arm as your owner!
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| Courtesy Dirt Cheap |
And with that, the world bids farewell to CCM and Dirt Cheap. Dirt Cheap certainly wasn't known for its presentation -- the stores could be pretty dang filthy -- but it completely acknowledged this fact (see above) and, in a sense, allowed its atmosphere to speak for itself in terms of the "unbelievable" bargains that were available within. I was never a frequent Dirt Cheap shopper; for those of you unfamiliar with the chain, it's a tier below any other closeout-type store you might be thinking of, and more in line with mom-and-pop "dig through bins" stores which have become more and more prevalent lately. In more recent years, the prices weren't as great, and I'll have more to say on my personal thoughts of the chain as a whole (alongside pictures) in a future post. For now, though, suffice to say that regardless of my own opinions or shopping preferences, I'm truly sad to see yet another Mississippi-based retailer go under, especially one that played a vital role in so many underserved communities across the state. I would love to see another operator fill those vacancies, but I really have no idea who, if anyone, would take interest. While those mom-and-pop stores I mentioned are indeed gaining prevalence, their independent nature is no match for the scale of Dirt Cheap's operation; in that sense, CCM really had a bit of a niche, and will be hard to replace.
One last twist before we return our attention to the rest of the timeline. Bed Bath & Beyond went bankrupt in 2023, closing all of its stores. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Overstock.com purchased the Bed Bath & Beyond intellectual property, and renamed itself as Beyond, Inc. after the liquidations were complete. Initially rebranding Overstock.com as well, the company reintroduced the Overstock name in late March 2024. In October 2024, the company announced an investment in The Container Store, wherein Beyond, Inc. would obtain a 40% equity stake in exchange for placing Bed Bath & Beyond-branded merchandise inside The Container Store locations.
What does any of this have to do with Channel Control Merchants or Dirt Cheap? At the Piper Sandler Growth Frontiers Conference in September 2024, Chairman Marcus Lemonis "said Beyond, Inc. would soon announce partnerships with existing retail companies to bring the Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock.com nameplates into select physical retail locations. The financial deals would make Beyond, Inc. a secured senior stockholder, but the company would not acquire ownership of the (as-yet-unnamed) retail companies." Home Textiles Today elaborated on the three key initiatives underway:
Neighborhood store format. Beyond Inc. has agreed to terms with a company that operates hundreds of 5,000-7,000-sq.-ft. locations. It will provide senior secured debt and become a senior secured shareholder in the company. Beyond Inc. will license the Bed Bath & Beyond brand to the company. The first store conversions should be in place by February or March of next year.Larger store format. Beyond Inc. will forge a similar financial partnership with another existing retail company. He did not elaborate, other than to say that the 30,000-sq.-ft. model used for the now-defunct legacy Bed Bath & Beyond retail chain “is insane.”Overstock stores. The company is in negotiations with a liquidator that operates what Lemonis described as “off-price and reverse logistics stores.” Beyond Inc. will supply it with a $50 million secured loan and will get access to the liquidator’s inventory for Overstock.com. In addition, the partnership company will convert stores to the Overstock nameplate, he said.“We have no lease liability, no labor liability and no inventory liability,” Lemonis added. “We are charging a joint venture fee.”
I haven't dug too deeply into the first two, but I saw a rumor that the partner for the so-called "neighborhood store format" could be Kirkland's (not sure how much I believe that, though), and it stands to reason that the "larger store format" refers to the deal just announced with The Container Store. That leaves us with the plan to partner with a reverse logistics retailer and convert their stores to the Overstock nameplate. Sounds like a dead ringer for CCM, right? In case there was any doubt, Lemonis's transcript clearly spells things out for us:
The first deal we have talked about several times is with a liquidator, who operates off-price and reverse logistics stores. I am waiting for the final -- my final twist on the transaction to be agreed to, because I tend to be one that will negotiate to the last hour. I am not -- I don't ever like to hide that fact, I'm going to get the best deal for our holders. But it's a transaction where we would become a secured lender to this company and we would garner between interest and fees about $4 million a year on a $15 million senior secured loan, as well as have all of their inventory plugged into Overstock where we will make money in addition to that. ... They are going to be converting stores to Overstock. And we are also using the CCM relationship as closeout liquidation inventory, partially leveraging Hilco as well.
So there you have it: Dirt Cheap was *this close* to rebranding as physical Overstock.com stores! That certainly would have been a sight to see. I imagine that would have generated a buzz locally in communities where Dirt Cheap operates, and perhaps could have sparked further growth for the chain as well. In any case, they obviously needed the money, as we learned from the bankruptcy filing detailing the expiration of the line of credit and the subsequent cash burn.
Rumblings about this deal that I could find online suggest that it was in the works for quite some time -- that is to say, not just September 2024, one month before CCM's bankruptcy -- so I don't believe it's really reflective of Beyond, Inc. about to make a poor business decision by forming a partnership with a doomed retailer. As a matter of fact, it could very well be that CCM wouldn't have been 100% doomed to bankruptcy, and that this could have been their lifeline: if only the deal hadn't fallen through, maybe they would have gotten the financing they needed and could have stayed in business, who knows. On the other hand, it could be that the Overstock deal falling through is just an effect of CCM filing bankruptcy, and not a cause (although I do feel like "cause" is the more likely of the two). Regardless, I imagine that in Overstock/Beyond's case, it's probably just as well that none of this wound up coming to fruition. Even if they could have helped CCM out, one could argue that perhaps such a relationship would only have been delaying the inevitable, and CCM's eventual demise could have had a future negative impact on Beyond. All of this is just a bunch of conjecture, of course, but it's very interesting food for thought. And it certainly counts as a piece of lost history if I've ever heard one.
There's not really a good way to segue here, but now that we've ridden the CCM train to the end of the line, it's time to check back up with the other side of the business (yep, we're still not done yet!). Of the three "final" Hudson's Salvage locations, I toured the Laurel store in 2022 (which you'll be seeing today!), but it closed shortly thereafter; Magee, too, closed that same year, if memory serves (I remember driving past it on Hwy 49 and seeing the facility converting to a self-storage business). In this way, Hudson's Salvage definitely served as a broken chain, literally "broken off" from the original business started by H.C. Hudson (and its more famous Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap siblings), and also diminished in size from its onetime heyday. The Hattiesburg location hasn't posted on social media since February 2024, so I fear that it, too, has gone out of business, joining Dirt Cheap and Treasure Hunt and closing the book on yet another chapter of the Hudson's story.
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| Redesigned Hudson's Salvage logo, 2021. Courtesy Hudson's |
But wait, there's more! Not all is lost. Way back at the introduction to this post, I mentioned another third-generation Hudson: Ben, a grandson to H.C. As it turns out, over in the midwest where he is located, he started his own salvage business circa 2014, called Ben's Bargain Center. Although it may not use his Hudson surname, it seems to do good business with a location in Louisville, KY, and two in Jeffersonville, IN.
Also, remember how I mentioned an international component to this post? While the Treasure Hunt brand may have been all but eliminated from the US (down to just one single store in Gulfport at the end, following the California stores' demise and Hattiesburg's 2018 relocation and subsequent closure), in 2013 Channel Control Merchants expanded into, of all places, Canada (!), opening a Treasure Hunt store in Brampton, Ontario. The brand has only grown since that time, currently boasting 11 stores in Ontario (down from 13, and one of which is branded as CCM) and two in Alberta (the first of which opened in mid-2022). Moreover, in the complex corporate web that is CCM, the LLC operating the Candian business is specifically excluded from the bankruptcy proceedings, meaning that somehow, someway, the "legacy" brand (Treasure Hunt) is outliving the one that surpassed it, peaked, crashed, and burned (Dirt Cheap) -- bestowing upon this post yet another business with "broken chain" status -- and none of this is playing out with a single Hudson involved, in the origin state of Mississippi, or even in the same country. Wild stuff, right?!
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| I probably could've gone without seeing this. Courtesy Treasure Hunt Canada |
Between Ben's Bargain Center and Treasure Hunt Canada, I'm glad to at least see some scattered portions of the Hudson story still ongoing, even if we do still have to contend with the longtime Mississippi business(es) finally calling it quits. I've got (at least one) Dirt Cheap going out of business store tour up my sleeve to share with y'all in the future, but today, after all that talk, we'll be focusing on the "original" broken chain component I had in mind, Hudson's Salvage -- for which I conceived this post idea and took my photos long before the CCM bankruptcy came in and interrupted the narrative! As I wrote earlier, I visited the Laurel location in 2022; my stour -- finally! -- begins below.
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The Laurel Hudson's Salvage store was located at 308 N 12th Avenue, a rather tucked away spot. To make sure shoppers didn't miss it, out on the main road was this large sign pointing to the store, with accompanying logo and letterboard.
The storefront itself was pretty unassuming: just a generic looking warehouse building. As opposed to other locations which had the actual logo on the building (such as Ridgeland, pictured earlier), this one simply had "HUDSON S" in big, blue block letters, with a space where the apostrophe would otherwise go.
As you might expect from a store like this, the carts are a hodgepodge of variety, all significantly aged as well. In the top pic we see a cart from Blair (unsure who that is), Hills, and Kmart (itself looking like a refurbished model possibly from another retailer before them). The bottom shot shows some from Gibson's Discount Center, followed finally by some specific Hudson Salvage Center carts in the back.
Looking from the entrance over across to the right-hand side of the store, our first impression of the interior probably isn't the greatest. On one hand, we wouldn't expect it to be flashy or anything; it isn't trying to be, of course. On the other hand, though, that looks pretty dark over there, even for a salvage store. It would seem a percentage of the lights were turned off to save energy (or money).
Looking straight back, with the fitting rooms and testing table in the background. If you're familiar with Dirt Cheap at all, then this pic should really show you the similarities between Hudson's and Dirt Cheap: same style of product tables/bins, same exact yellow and red signage for those amenities at the back. Again, completely understandable and expected, given this store predates the splitting off of Dirt Cheap.
In the back corner we find apparel, and occupying the salesfloor space out in front of that is a specially branded "Hudson's Furniture" department. This is the very dimly lit area we saw from the entrance, and that's not the only strange thing about it -- that furniture definitely doesn't look salvaged to me; in fact, I think it's separately sourced, not unlike what you might find at Big Lots or something similar, given the distinct "no credit needed" signs and pamphlets. Interesting. Note the separate "Hudson's Furniture" price tag, too.
I wonder how well this department did -- there's a furniture store directly adjacent to the Hudson's; they share a wall. We went in there on this trip and I came out with something I'd never seen before, a Mississippi-shaped stained wood end table with hairpin legs. Beautifully made.
I took a shot of this area of exposed wall that didn't have any stock near it, mostly because I was intrigued by the paint colors: I'd suspect this is original to whatever retailer would have been in this space prior to Hudson's, but I have absolutely no way of identifying who that may have been. Or perhaps I'm mistaken and it is from Hudson's after all, but I doubt that... check out the far corner there where you can clearly see the paint outlines around some since-removed gondola shelving.
As we make our way back towards the center of the building on our way to the opposite side, shelving units begin to appear. In front of one of them was a stack of Hudson's handbaskets, which was cool to see. Most say Hudson Salvage Center, but a couple say Hudson's. I wonder what happened to these after the store closed.
Looking back across to the clothing and furniture side of the building. Lots of western wear here, interestingly, which was also advertised on the road sign letterboard. Check out the bin full of cowboy hats!
Beneath all that, the floor tile has seen better days, but again, that's just the atmosphere of these types of stores.
Some more shots of these aisles at the back, followed by a closer shot of the fitting rooms and testing table area. The testing table is so you can test any electronics before purchase, as all sales are final.
I've been familiar with Hudson's for a very long time -- obviously, given the inspiration for this post -- but I'm having difficulty placing *why* I'm familiar with them. They didn't have a presence in North Mississippi where I'm from, and I was still a toddler when we moved to Hernando from Columbus, where I was born. Hudson's did operate in Columbus -- first as Hudson's Treasure Hunt, and later Hudson's Dirt Cheap after that (as evidenced by the 2005 ad with store locations earlier, although we had already moved by then) -- and perhaps was even in town as plain old Hudson's Salvage before that, too; I have no idea. They were originally in East Columbus before moving closer to U.S. 45, but none of this explains why I'd be familiar with them -- I guess I must just have some early core memories! I will say that I also remember Walls from Columbus, when I really should have no recollection of them, either. Funnily enough, the former Columbus Walls store is now the town's final resting place of Dirt Cheap!
Quick aside: Founded in 1950 as Newton Wall Company and still family-owned today, Walls Bargain Center ("Walls") is a similar salvage chain out of Oklahoma, which also happens to have stores in Mississippi -- more of them in the past, based on Columbus, but that one closed sometime between 2009 and 2013 per Google Street View. Today, they are down to just two MS stores, in Tupelo and Grenada, after New Albany closed in April 2024 after 27 years of operation.
Are salvage stores big where y'all are located? Let me know in the comments! As you can tell, there definitely has been a market for them in Mississippi over the years. It's a two-way street on that, too... the customers in rural Mississippi are underserved, so the retail option is welcome, while -- as Walls describes it -- the retailers and manufacturers trying to discard of their unwanted goods often wish to do so in such a way as "to protect [the] names, brands, and labels," and markets like Mississippi are perfect as "rural areas that will not upset your normal market place." The Walls website also has a great page describing the various different sources of goods and buying tactics utilized; at that same link, click "how we get our merchandise."
Returning to our Laurel Hudson's tour now, above is a shot looking back across towards the right-hand wall, followed by a shot of the remaining aisles, running perpendicular to the first set we saw, located along the left-hand wall. Whereas the back set of aisles had food products and health and beauty items, this set was stocked with home goods and other such merchandise.
A look at the back wall (watch out for the spilling ceiling insulation!), followed by an inner aisle shot. From those peghook items, to the bins filled with candy, to these shelves with candles and home decor: I will give Hudson's a lot of credit for being super organized! This is far from the environment one would come across at Dirt Cheap, which can be an awful mess. Granted, to some extent this may speak to a lack of customer volume at Hudson's here, but I'd also argue that Dirt Cheap could have put more care into tidying up each day if it bothered.
They even have a couple bikes for sale! Plus a very strange Wrangler advertisement featuring Drew Brees, looking like it came straight off the wall at a former VF Outlet store... not sure if Hudson's was trying to sell this just for the frame only, or if the actual picture is what they thought someone would buy it for. (Based on the price tag [before discount] of $129.99, I guess it must have been the latter!)
Since I mentioned "before discount," now is as good a time as any to fully explain how the shopping system works, if I haven't already. All goods are marked at their MSRP or otherwise comparable retail price; then, shelves all around the store have discount percentages affixed to them, and that percent is what you get to take off of the items on those shelves (e.g. 70%, in the above image). At this Laurel store, that model seems doable, but at your typical disorganized Dirt Cheap location, a lot of frustration could be had by merchandise winding up on the wrong shelf and ringing up at a less-favorable discount at the register. But we'll discuss that in more detail in my future Dirt Cheap post; CCM did come up with a way to at least somewhat counteract that mystery element.
I talked over it, but in that last photo with the shelves forming the left-hand "wall" of the store, you can see that the building interior stretches onward behind those shelves (looking at the ceiling and lights)... for whatever reason, that section of the store was blocked off from the public. Meanwhile, making our way out of those aisles now, this shot shows a large area of the front left salesfloor dedicated to pallet drops of various home improvement store merchandise, I believe. (Salvage stores truly do stock anything and everything! Note also that there *is* a difference between true salvage and other sources/buying tactics... hence why Dirt Cheap became more prevalent and its merchandise more heavily oriented towards customer returns, as discussed earlier.)
At the very front of the building, along the storefront windows, were some tables of paper and stationery products, DVDs, books, greeting cards, etc. A lot of this merchandise doesn't seem to have turned over in ages: examples include the early 2000s Nickelodeon small-size greeting cards, and the endless stacks of sun-faded Zoey 101 Scholastic chapter books!
In the very center of the store, straight ahead as one entered, was this bank of locked glass display cases, used to hold jewelry and other such expensive items, such as the belts in the front two cases visible here. Additionally, on top of the cases was an assortment of further western- and Native American-looking statues, which I'm sure were quite pricey as well -- but available for 75% off at Hudson's!
Back outside the store, here are our final parting shots of the building. In late February 2023 (about seven months after my visit, which took place in July 2022), Hudson's announced that their lease in Laurel was up and that they were "moving" the store to Hattiesburg, which would "open" in April -- both of those terms in quotes because the Hattiesburg Hudson's Salvage already existed, as we discussed at length earlier in The Blogger's Court. The Laurel building, like Magee, is now a storage facility, and as I said previously, it seems Hattiesburg has since closed as well.
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I hope you guys enjoyed this post and learning about the lost history of Hudson's Salvage, Treasure Hunt, and Dirt Cheap! I certainly enjoyed writing it and getting to share it with you. This post has been in the works for a while now, and Channel Control Merchants' sudden bankruptcy gave me the motivation to finally crank it out while a brief window of timeliness actually exists. As I mentioned, I'll have a further post focusing on a separate Dirt Cheap store tour in the future, and in that one we'll discuss a bit more of the Dirt Cheap brand given this post focused more on Hudson's and the history element. Plus, in other future posts I'll have more broken chains from Laurel, a lost history from another retail chain mentioned in this post, and plenty more other content -- so until next time and as always, thanks for reading, and have fun exploring the retail world wherever you are!
EDIT: I also just noticed that the blog broke 300,000 pageviews yesterday, November 12, 2024 -- thanks everyone!
Retail Retell
