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21-564: The company was founded by Sydney Lewis and Frances Lewis. Sydney Lewis, a lawyer educated at Washington and Lee University and Harvard Business School , worked with his father managing an encyclopedia sales operation in Richmond. Lewis thought of selling additional merchandise along with the bills for encyclopedias. In 1957, the Lewises sent out their first catalog. The first showroom was at 4909 West Marshall Street in Richmond, just across

42-545: A Jewish family in Richmond, Virginia , the son of an emigrant from Russia. His father sold mail-order encyclopedias to school teachers in the South. In 1940, Lewis graduated with a B.S. in business from Washington & Lee University . Though he began the study of law, he never graduated from Washington and Lee University as his legal education was interrupted by his service in the U.S. Army during World War II where he

63-799: A chain with 19 catalog showrooms in the Northeast and Ohio; and Modern Merchandising, headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, with 76 showrooms under the names LaBelle's , Dolgin's , Jafco , Miller Sales , Rogers and Great Western. This was followed by the acquisition of Ashby's, a 9-store women's clothing chain, and the opening of four Best Jewelry stores in the Washington D.C. metro area. Best filed twice for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The first bankruptcy period began in January 1991 and lasted through June 16, 1994. The second and final filing

84-624: Is now a Best Buy. Photographs of these storefronts appeared in several Best catalogs. One anchored the Eudowood Plaza in Towson, Maryland , featuring a tilted front. As of 2007, most of these distinctive buildings have been converted into conventional buildings by removing the architectural embellishments, or in a few cases, demolished. The only building to retain its distinctive features is the Forest Building in Richmond, now home to

105-565: The West End Presbyterian Church, which has stated that the forest in the entryway has been an asset to the church's environment. Their Parham Road headquarters, built in 1981 and designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer , was notable for an American Institute of Architects award and the use of Art Deco eagles rescued from a New York building. The giant BEST letters of the headquarters could be seen along Interstate 95 at Parham Road. Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer subsequently designed

126-699: The West Wing of the Virginia Museum, which was funded by the Lewises. Best employed the "catalog showroom" concept for many of its product offerings. Although some product categories (such as sporting goods and toys) were stocked in traditional self-serve aisles, the majority of products (notably consumer electronics, housewares, and appliances) were featured as unboxed display models. Customers were permitted to examine and experiment with these models, and if found to be desirable, they could be purchased by submitting orders to store personnel. Saleable versions of

147-606: The antiwar activist and entrepreneur Sydney Lewis Jr., Andrew Marc Lewis and Susan Lewis Butler. Andrew was president and chief operating officer of Best Products and his daughter was director of the corporate foundation. Sydney and Frances Lewis were awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1987. Jafco Jafco Co. was a multimillion-dollar chain of American catalog show room retail stores founded by Sidney Z. Jaffe in 1957. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington ,

168-460: The catalog business with mail-ordering and processing right at their facilities. Throughout his ownership in the company, Sidney Z. Jaffe opened nearly twenty showrooms in Washington and Oregon. Jaffe's entire family helped manage the stores, with his wife Ruby and their sons Paul and Larry as well as his daughter Susan. In his spare time, he was a philanthropist, and donated generous amounts of money to many charities, synagogues and organizations around

189-589: The company built the Peeling Wall showroom that appeared to have a peeling facade (located on Midlothian Turnpike ) as well as a Forest showroom that appeared to have trees growing out of it (located at 9008 Quioccasin Road ). The store in Sacramento also had a unique design. In the morning, its corner entryway would slide open, and would slide back shut at night. The structure, with its breakaway entry removed,

210-585: The company opened in that museum. In the 1970s, Best Products contracted with James Wines ' " Sculpture in the Environment " (SITE) architecture firm to design nine highly unorthodox retail facilities, notably a tongue-in-cheek structure called the "Indeterminate Facade" in Houston, Texas with a severely distressed facade. This building purportedly "appeared in more books on 20th-century architecture than photographs of any other modern structure". In Richmond,

231-549: The company sold a wide variety of items from stereo and photographic equipment to holiday gifts. Jafco sent catalogs to all of their clients allowing for pickup at their stores or by mail-order. Though retail locations stocked the more common items, Jafco's usual technique of processing orders started with customers ordering through mail and picking up at the store. With notable locations in Downtown Seattle , Lynnwood , Southcenter , Bellevue , Northgate and Tacoma ,

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252-570: The couple donated more than 1,500 artworks to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, making it the home of the most important collection of Art Nouveau outside Paris and of an especially beautiful selection of Tiffany lamps." Lewis and his wife were to continue to remain benefactors of the museum for many years. Lewis and his wife were supporters of the progressive candidate Henry Howell . In 1948, he married Frances (née Aronson) whom he had met in college. They had three children,

273-866: The major retailer expanded until acquisition in the 1970s. Jafco was acquired by Modern Merchandising in 1972, then Best Products obtained all 17 stores in Washington and Oregon in 1982. By 1986 all the Jafco stores were converted to Best stores. In 1997, all of the Best stores in Washington state were closed down after financial troubles within the company. The Beaverton, Oregon location now hosts an Uwajimaya , another retail chain founded in Seattle. Sidney Z. Jaffe, born March 28, 1912, founded Jafco in 1957 with his wife and family in Seattle. After opening Jafco's first location near South Lake Union , Jaffe expanded into

294-463: The merchandise (usually boxed and/or in its original packaging) would then be retrieved from storage and delivered to a customer service area for subsequent purchase. As a cost-saving measure, Best jointly published its catalog with Service Merchandise (founded by Harry Zimmerman ) and Modern Merchandising (founded by Harold Roitenberg ), and had regional non-compete agreements with those chains. In 1982, Best acquired catalog competitors: Basco ,

315-530: The next 20 years they amassed an enormous collection and became close friends with many artists. He developed a barter system with young artists in New York where they could trade art for items in the Best Products catalog. In the early 1970's, the Lewises began traveling to Europe and building substantial collections of Art Nouveau and French Art Deco works. According to The New York Times , "in 1985,

336-486: The street from the new Willow Lawn Shopping Center . The company had a strong sense of promotion and artistic sensibilities; it was legend in artistic circles that it would trade store merchandise for art. As a result, the company, as well as the Lewises, gathered a significant collection of 20th-century art. Much of the Lewis Collection can be seen at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , and a café named after

357-547: Was able to circumvent Fair Trade laws that allowed manufacturers to set minimum retail prices. In 1958, he incorporated the company as Best Products Co, Inc. In 1982, Best Products acquired Modern Merchandising (founded by Harold Roitenberg ), then the third largest catalog retailer, in a stock transaction worth $ 109 million. After the merger, the now publicly-traded company had over $ 1 billion in sales, 10,000 employees and 100 showrooms in 11 states; and, at its peak, had $ 2 billion in sales and 100 showrooms in 27 states. Lewis

378-477: Was declared insolvent . Best vacated its corporate headquarters in Richmond in January 1998 and mailed out final checks to unsecured creditors the following December (paying 96 cents per dollar owed). Sydney Lewis Sydney Lewis (October 24, 1919 – March 12, 1999) was an American businessman, philanthropist , and art collector who founded the Best Products Company . Lewis was born to

399-493: Was known for his anti-union stance and successfully fought efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers to unionize Best Products' showrooms. Lewis is the namesake of Lewis Hall at the Washington and Lee University School of Law , whose construction he and his wife, Frances, funded in 1976. In the early 1960's, the Lewises began collecting contemporary art, concentrating at first on Pop Art and Photo Realism. Over

420-584: Was made in September 1996. At the time of the second filing, Best operated 169 Best stores and 11 Best Jewelry stores in 23 states, and a nationwide mail-order service. Best Products was traded on the NASDAQ exchange as "BESTQ." It was de-listed on November 29, 1996, and Best did not appeal the NASDAQ decision. The last Best stores closed on February 9, 1997. By May 1997, Best had liquidated most of its assets and

441-467: Was sent to Harvard University for coursework in business administration. Subsequently, he finished his J.D. degree at George Washington University in Washington DC. He practiced law for a brief period before taking over his father's encyclopedia business where he developed a catalog to promote sales. He expanded the business into appliances and, using his encyclopedia warehouse as a showroom,

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