Holman's Department Store

Holman's Department Store is a Kassmian chain of department stores formed by James A. Holman in 1956, It is currently the fourth largest and the only large national department store left from the 1940s to the 1960s. On January 12th, 2021, Holman's purchased The Roland Group and subsequently merged to form the Atenas-Holman's Group.

1956-1974: Formation of Holman's
During the 1950s, Atenas was the leading discount and department retailer, while working for said retailer, James A. Holman proposed the idea for a discount store branch of Atenas, which was currently a discount department store at the time. James A. Holman had good plans for the branch but was declined, He submitted it two times, all being refused, Holman decided if they wouldn't do it, he'll do it instead and left the company in 1956 to form the Holman's Discount Store; purchasing three locations, the stores lost money in its initial years but reported its first gain in 1959, with sales reaching 25 million, allowing a fourth store to open. By 1967, over 15 stores in different cities and locations were operating. By 1970, it had over 34 stores. With it's growth, many companies started to fund the company, In 1974, the company was bought by Plains Discount, which it's Chairman and CEO would step down a month later for James A. Holman and before hand renamed the company to Holman's Department Store. All Plains Discount stores would be rebranded, which gave Holman's over 98 stores.

1974-1986: Nationwide Expansion
In 1976, Holman's would purchase a start-up chain Valued Discount Stores and rebranded 10 out of 11 of the stores, leaving 1 location left. since the launch of Holman's, the company had focused its expansion in the north of Kassmais. In 1980, it expanded into the central market by acquiring 33 Cen-Mart stores and opening a sixth distribution center; the chain expanded to 131 units and 79.5 million in sales. Also in 1980, the last Valued Discount Store chain was closed and was re-opened later as a Holman's location. In 1985, the company acquired 50 Discway stores in Yamakaa, which made Holman's the dominant retailer in Yamakaa. In 1986, the acquired Discway units reopened as Holman's units, leading to a total of 181 units and 1 billion in sales. Also in 1986, the first Super Holman's, which were 50% larger than regular Holman's location was opened. Super Holman's today are called the Large-Format.

1986-2010: Looming doom and a close-call
By 1986, Holman's became the fourth largest discount store retailer, trailing behind Atenas (store), having expanded to South Kassmais region and had introduced the Hyper-Format, which at the time was called as Hyper Holman's and having over 493 stores after purchasing 341 Snider's Department Store chains, 100 Brittco store chains and building over 52 other stores; however, when the 1990s rolled around, the so called "Foreign Invasion of Kassmian Retailer" began, with the introduction of Walmart in 1996, Holman's and every other national retail chain had to now find a way to beat the American retailer, which was easier said then done. James A. Holman retired and Anthony Pearson was appointed as the CEO of Holman's while Markus Massey was appointed Chairman. The company was making a ton of profit through 1996 to 1999 due to how similar they looked and feel like Target stores that Target themselves tried to acquire the company in 2000, although had not succeeded and later purchased the similar Thrifties chain. With Target now in the game, Holman's started to lose profit, and had to close 15 stores. by 2004, Holman's had shrunk down to only 455 locations. It had seemed that Holman's were going to have the same fate as their competitor, but in 2005, the dying Holman's was purchased by American retailer Macy's, with the purchase, rumors started to spread that Holman's were about the meet the same fate as Thrifties, which had become Target Kassmais years earlier but Macy's announced that there were no plans to rebrand Holman's under the Macy's brand, Holman's was restructured under the ownership of Macy's and started to see some large amounts of success. In 2010, it was spun-off from Macy's with a total of 798 stores.

2010-present: Recent developments
The new Holman's would start expanding again, with it's current store count domestically in 2018. In 2013, Holman's started to expand internationally, starting the first international store in the United States on July 20th, 2014. by 2018, the company had become the 4th largest department retailer, behind Target, Amazon and Walmart. On January 12th, 2021, Holman's purchased The Roland Group and subsequently merged to form the Atenas-Holman's Group, the brand is still used today along side the new Atenas. The merger was nicknamed "The Return of National Retail" by some.

Store Concepts

 * Holman's - Discount chain. The First Holman's discount store opened in 1956.
 * Large-Format - Formerly Super Holman's, these are stores that are 50% larger than regular Holman's stores and carry more products, the last store to be branded as Super Holman's was renovated in 2014.
 * Hyper-Format - Formerly Hyper Holman's, these are Hypermarkets and expanded upon the Large-Format concept with the inclusion of a full grocery department, the last store to be branded as Hyper Holman's was renovated in 2010.
 * Small-Format - Smaller discount stores, similar to a regular Holman's. Can be also found near a gas station or in a mall.