From Woolco to Every Season School Supplies: The Journey of Wheatland Plaza's Longstanding Family Business
SHOT AND WRITTEN BY: CLIFF STANDARD CO
Mike remembers the earliest days of Wheatland Plaza. “The plaza opened up in 1973 and we moved into our space in 1975,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot over the years.” From 1970 to 1988, the city of Duncanville more than doubled in population, largely due to the growth of local commerce. One of the big drivers was Wheatland Plaza. “We had a Minyards, a drug store, and couple of clothing stores…we had all kinds of stuff,” he said.
“The plaza opened up in 1973 and we moved into our space in 1975 ... We’ve seen a lot over the years.”
In the early 70’s, Mike graduated from Louisiana Tech and began his career in the grocery business, working with companies like Brookshires, Safeway, Piggly Wiggly, and Winn Dixie, but a couple of years in he felt like he was ready for a change. His father, who was running a Woolco store at the time, said to him, ‘Why don’t you come to work for us and learn about our business?’ Woolco, a division of Woolworth, was a full-line discount department store, unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores at the time. They eventually sold to Walmart in the 1990s. “My father was a Woolworth man,” Mike said with a smile. “So he helped me get a job in management and I learned the discount retailing business.”
Mike’s father eventually purchased a Ben Franklin Family Center and Mike decided to move to Duncanville to help him run it. Mike’s siblings and brother-in-law soon joined in and it became a family business. But after just two years, Ben Franklin’s went bankrupt and left the family with a decision to make: Do we close up shop or keep running the business under a new name? They were left with few contacts and vendors to rely on, but, on the other hand, they knew how to run the business and they balanced each other well. “I had the marketing and sales experience while he ran the accounting and finances,” he said. “We stayed out of each other’s way while playing to our strengths,” he said with a laugh.
“We couldn’t imagine leaving Duncanville–it’s run well, has good leaders and businesses, and it’s given me a good life.”
They decided to commit and launch it under a new name: Every Seasons Family Center, and this turned out to be a great choice. A few years later, they had completely paid off the debt. They began to listen to the market more closely too. In the early 80’s, they were selling many things that you would expect to find in a department store: pots and pans, house squares, curtains and drapes, and the like.
One fall day, Mike drove over to one of his wholesale suppliers to pick up some candy and some school supplies that had run out at the store. When he arrived, he was surprised to see a line out of the door. “I saw this big line and a little schoolhouse picture on the front door, and was wondering, ‘what is going on?’” It turned out to be a long line of teachers buying up supplies for their classrooms. He decided to wait in line and when he made it in, he noticed the labels on a couple of the best-selling products. “We were already selling some of their products,” he said. “But we hadn’t ventured into the school supplies space, and I thought: there’s a whole industry we’re missing here.”
Mike got the national sales manager on the line and told them they wanted to do business. “We placed an order for $2500 worth of school supplies and it all flew off the shelves in a matter of days,” he said. It was then that he knew it was time to change the direction of the business.
Soon after that, he and his wife went to a trade show to meet the other vendors in this new space. He placed a number of orders at the event, and all the product moved quickly. So he and his father systemically replaced their inventory with these products. “It was really by chance,” he said. “And it’s worked out well.”
Time flies…it’s been many years since Mike and his father pivoted their strategy. During that time, they underwent a lot of changes, especially on the technological side. “It was many years before I could convince my dad to get a fax machine,” he said. But Mike saw the necessity of the move and even introduced the business to its first POS machine in the 80s. School districts needed an itemized statement, so they didn’t have a choice. “I ended up buying this software from New York and learned the programming behind it,” he said. “We started barcoding and did our best to stay on the forefront of technology because it really sped things up.”
In 2000, Mike’s father decided it was time to retire. Mike bought out his father with one stipulation: that Every Season Family Center would become Every Season School Supplies. “He agreed and we’d made the deal in 2005,” he said.
If anyone knows about the history of Wheatland Plaza, it’s Mike. He’s been there well over 40 years. “We signed two 20-year leases at the same rate; it was a heck of a deal,” he said with a laugh. And though it’s been tough more recently, with the rise of e-commerce shops like Amazon, it’s been a good business that has supported four families for a long time. Mike’s seen the management of Wheatland Plaza change a number of times too. But he’s been most impressed with the latest owners, Options Real Estate and Monte Anderson. “Nobody’s put money into it like they are now,” he said. “And even though we’ve downsized to keep our business afloat, we couldn’t imagine leaving Duncanville–it’s run well, has good leaders and businesses, and it’s given me a good life.”
SHOT AND WRITTEN BY:
