Britton's

J&C Britton Company, Inc., doing business as Britton's, is an American department store chain. Departments inside Britton's stores include Men's, Women's, Boys', Girls', Baby, Bedding, Home, Fine Jewelry, Shoes, Lingerie, as well as leased departments such as and/or,  optical centers,  portrait studios, and  hair salons.

The company was founded by brothers James Alan Britton and Callum Henry Britton in 1902 in, during the. Most Britton's stores were initially located in downtown areas, but the chain was a early adopter of anchor tenancy in shopping malls, and by the late-1960s most new locations anchored major shopping centers. In recent years, Britton's has opened stores in power centers, as well as stand-alone stores, sometimes adjacent to competitors and/or near major shopping centers. The company has been an Internet retailer since 1996, and it has streamlined its catalog and distribution while undergoing renovation improvements at store level. In addition to physical and online retail, it is one of the largest remaining catalog retailers in the United States.

As of January 2024, the company's president and CEO is Ryan Cordray, who accepted the position after serving on an interim basis since October 2023. He replaced Valerie Fujimaki once she took a position with Hillway.

Background and early history: 1902-1960
James Alan Britton and Callum Henry Britton were born in. After graduating from high school, the brothers worked for a local dry goods store. They relocated to in 1900 on the advice of a friend, seeking to procure a fortune in the. Using money from a claim they staked, the Brittons opened the J&C Britton Store on October 10, 1902. They subsequently opened two more stores in and, two other  towns. In 1909, the Britton brothers moved their base of operations to to be closer to major banks and railroads. By 1910, the J&C Britton Company had over 33 stores in the and Alaska. The so-called "mother store", in Nome, remains open to this day.

In 1913, the company's headquarters were moved to to simplify buying, financing, and transportation of goods, as well as to expand the company's footprint across the country. By 1919, the company had over 167 stores in 23 states and the Alaska Territory.

In 1958, Britton's introduced their Scientia and Radiant house brands for electronics.

Full-line department store
The company opened its first full-line shopping-center department store in 1961 at Newark Shoppers City in.

Expansion beyond the contiguous US and Alaska
In the 1960s, Britton's expanded to include and. A store was opened in downtown, Hawaii in 1962, followed by and , Puerto Rico in 1966.

In 1967, Britton's opened the first Hudson's store.

Deaths of the Britton brothers and peak: 1970s
On August 1, 1970, James Alan Britton died at the age of 96; the company's stores were closed the morning of his funeral on August 7. That same year, Britton's' revenues reached $4 billion and the catalog business made its biggest profit in 3 years, and the company's stores began accepting cards for payment.

On January 15, 1974, Callum Henry Britton died at the age of 98 in his room aboard the  oceanliner in the.

In 1976, Britton's launched its Athens Books chain of bookstores, opening its first location in. The company later experimented with Athens Books "stores-within-a-store" within some Britton's locations.

In 1977, Britton's, through their Scientia and Radiant brands, became one of four companies (along with, and ) that started the personal computer revolution by introducing complete pre-assembled microcomputers instead of a kit. Scientia's SFC-6502 (1977) and SFC-6502 Color Computer (1980) home computers and Radiant's RHC-801 (1979) family computer were popular in the years before the became commonplace, and had wide distribution in Britton's stores at a time when there were few computer stores. To promote wide adoption of its home computers, Britton's started the Britton's Software Exchange program, which encouraged any programmer, not just professionals, to submit video games, educational software, applications, and utilities that the BSX program would make available via Britton's stores.

In 1979, Britton's launched the Crown Auto chain of automotive parts retailers, opening its first location in. That same year, Britton's started accepting cards. was accepted the following year.

1980s
In 1980, the J&C Britton Company launched it's long-running The Big Wish Catalogue, a special Christmas toy catalog jointly run by Britton's and Hudson's.

In 1982, Britton's introduced its Tesuji line of electronics and computers, most of which were Japanese designs manufactured under license from companies such as, and. Tesuji formed a pricing strategy with Radiant and Scientia; with Radiant in the "good" tier, Scientia in the "better" tier and Tesuji in the "best" tier. Also in 1982, Britton's launched the Cinema Home Movies chain of video stores, later renamed to CHM, with its first location in. In April 1983, Britton's acquired the Interstate Commerce Bank of and renamed it Britton's National Bancorp. With the acquisition of the bank, the company became able to issue its own Mastercard and Visa Inc. cards. The company also began accepting cards.

In 1983, Britton's launched the BritFax service, available through and RKO Text teletext services, which allowed consumers to purchase items from Britton's stores by way of teletext.

In 1984, Britton's released the Scientia AFC-80, Radiant RAC-80 and Tesuji TCS-80 microcomputers, which proved to be the most successful MSX computers in the North American market, mainly due to their wide distribution throughout the chain. In July 1987, Britton's announced it was relocating its headquarters to.

Acquisitions and international expansion: 1990s
Construction on the new company headquarters on in unincorporated  broke ground in 1988 and were completed in 1990. In 1991, Britton's expanded to the, opening its first UK store at in ,.

After closed its catalog business in 1993, Britton's and  became the final two catalog retailers in the United States. In 1993, Britton's launched the Max Techno's chain of video game retailers, with a pilot location in. In 1995, the chain expanded to with a store in. In 1996, Britton's launched an online version of their catalog, followed by a full website a year later.

2000s
In 2000, Britton's sold the Crown Auto chain to. In 2001, Britton's closed or relocated 40 under-performing stores. Also in 2001, Britton's exited Indonesia, after six years operating in the country it closed down its Indonesian operations and sold off its stores in the country to. The Indonesian stores were closed due to low profitability, high expenses and the aftereffects of the. A year later, the company sold its stores in the United Kingdom to, which rebranded its six UK stores to ; its sole store in was concurrently sold to.

In 2002, Britton's sold the Athens Books brand and 110 of the chain's 150 stores to a -financed investors' consortium; the remaining 40 stores, which were deemed under-peforming, were sold to.

2010–2014
In May 2011, Douglas Harvie, who previously led the supercenter chain Squires to a major expansion outside of its core region in the 1990s and early-2000s, was named CEO of Britton's.

2015–2019
In October 2015, Britton's closed down two of its customer support call centers and outsourced part of its customer support operations to a firm in,.

In January 2017, Britton's moved its headquarters from Vinings, Georgia to a new campus in. The former Mount Wilkinson campus (which carried a "Vinings Mountain, Georgia" mailing address) was put up for sale and portions have since been leased to other companies.

In October 2018, Britton's spun off its CHM and Max Techno's chains into a separate company, CHM Stores, with headquarters in.

Current subsidiaries

 * Hudson's - a discount department store chain similar to Target, Walmart, and Kmart.

In store services

 * Auto Center
 * Zoo Land Stuffin' Safari - a similar concept to

In-house brands
Sold at both Britton's and Hudson's, or at just one of the two, depending on the brand.
 * Atlanta Design - men's casual wear
 * Balto and Togo - dog food and dog care products
 * Bellezza - fragrances, cologne and aftershave for men and women
 * Carlton - appliances
 * Elements - women's sleepwear and swimwear
 * Force - active and athletic clothing for men, women and children
 * Home Sweet Home - home goods
 * Kennesaw Trading Co. - men's, women's and children's outdoor apparel
 * Kiba - cat food and care products
 * L.F.L. - women's urban clothing
 * Linens + Looms - modern home decor, bedding and window decorations
 * MyWorld - casual wear for boys and girls
 * Pals at Play - children's toys and baby gea
 * Radiant - electronics and computers
 * Scientia - electronics, computers and software
 * Sinatra - men's vintage collection
 * Tesuji - electronics and computers
 * Titanworks - tools, lawn mowers, and hardware
 * Value Plus - Household cleaning products, laundry products, baby care, and health and beauty sold at Hudson's
 * Yesterday - women's vintage collection

Former subsidiaries

 * Athens Books - A chain of bookstores that Britton's sold off in 2002.
 * Crown Auto - A chain of auto parts supplies stores that Britton's sold off in 2000.
 * Cinema Home Movies/CHM - A chain of video rental stores that Britton's operated from 1982-2018; spun off.
 * Max Techno's - A chain of video game stores that Britton's operated from 1993-2018; spun off.