Texas Merchant: Marvin Leonard and Fort Worth (Kenneth E. Montague Series in Oil and Business History) - Hardcover

Buenger, Victoria L.; Buenger, Walter L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0890968446 ISBN 13: 9780890968444

Publisher: Texas A & M University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Few department stores symbolized the aspirations of a community or represented the identity of its citizens in a stronger or more enduring way than Leonards in Fort Worth, Texas. For over fifty years, as the store grew from a cubbyhole across from the Tarrant County courthouse into a retailing behemoth sprawling over six and a half downtown blocks, Marvin Leonard, the store's founder, and his brother Obie ran a store that was always a unique place to shop. The brothers used a combination of large volume, low mark-up, and quick turnover to keep prices low and appeal to the common people of Fort Worth and West Texas. Customers also found a stunning array of goods - fur coats and canned tuna, pianos and tractors - and an environment that combined the spectacular with the familiar. But the story of Leonards goes beyond the store and the man who made it. For Marvin Leonard, downtown Fort Worth and Leonards were always intertwined. Leonards gave Fort Worth a special identity, a distinctiveness, and an attraction to the city's center. When Tandy bought Leonards and later sold it to Dillard's, Fort Worth's image and character changed.

About this title

About the Author:

VICTORIA BUENGER, a clinical associate professor of management at Texas A&M University, studies strategy and competitive dynamics in retailing. WALTER L. BUENGER is head of the history department at Texas A&M University. They both live in Bryan, Texas.

About this edition

• Publisher: Texas A & M University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0890968446
• ISBN 13: 9780890968444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288