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Richway
Richway was the discount department store division of Atlanta-based Rich's. It was originally part of Rich's, and was later bought by Federated Department Stores when they purchased the Rich's chain. It was originally known as Richway, a Rich's Company with a more bluish logo than the later orange and black theme under Federated ownership. The sunrise logo means "Everything Under The Sun", the slogan used in advertisements from that period. The official name of the chain was later Richway Department Stores. A long tagline on commercials was "We don't look like a discount store, but our price tags give us away."
As part of Rich's $40 million five-year expansion plan announced earlier in the year, the creation of a new discount department store division named ARCO (an initialism of “A Rich's Company”) was announced on May 28, 1969. ARCO was to open three stores in metro Atlanta in January 1970: two in Atlanta and one in Marietta. On July 30, 1969, it was announced that the ARCO division had been renamed to Richway so as to not infringe on the Atlantic Richfield Company's ARCO trademark, registered just three years prior.
Richway's first stores opened on March 4, 1970 in metro Atlanta with subsequent suburban locations in Smyrna, Sandy Springs, Tucker and College Park. A location in Forest Park opened soon thereafter. These original locations were known for their distinctive raised-wedge skylights that are still found today, yet these were boarded/covered up and hidden by drop ceilings in most subsequent building uses. Richway stores were unusually large for their time, and ahead of their time with larger selections of merchandise than most discounters offered, but with a similar, more upscale line like Target.
Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, the chain spread across the Southeast U.S., with known locations in Georgia, North Carolina (Charlotte/Gastonia), South Carolina (three locations in Columbia), Florida (where it was added as a discount division of Burdines), and two locations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The three locations in Columbia were part of three malls that opened on the same day in 1977 known as Decker Mall, Woodhill Mall, and Bush River Mall. Of these three malls, Decker Mall is now home to only an ExtraSpace storage facility in the old Richway/Gold Circle/Target building, Woodhill Mall was redeveloped as "The Shops at Woodhill", and the site of Bush River Mall, demolished in 2006 after being closed for seven years, became home to a Walmart Supercenter and strip mall in 2007. The Walmart closed in early 2021 due to declining profitability. Richway also anchored the now-redeveloped Roswell Mall in Roswell north of Atlanta, which opened in 1974, another store with the retro skylights (now removed). This former location now houses a Floor&Decor.
The distinctive sunrise logo in its final and well-known form was designed by Robert Graham Sanderson, an art director for the chain in Atlanta. Mr. Sanderson also commissioned the famous "Black Santa" Richway catalogue cover painting. The Santa that the painting used for the cover artwork depicted had such a dark tan that some locals complained that Santa looked Black, claiming that it is well known that Santa is Caucasian of German descent.
In 1986, Federated Department Stores merged Richway with their discount division, Gold Circle, but retained the Richway name in some markets. Federated by then was in financial trouble and as a means to boost the company's profits, sold all Richway and Gold Circle stores to Kimco which in turn sold 31 of those stores to Dayton–Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation) in 1988. The stores were closed, remodeled, and reopened in May 1989 as Target stores; they continued to operate as such until Target began to replace the older stores in the mid-1990s.
The 1991 movie Career Opportunities was filmed at a Richway location converted into a Target store located at 4000 Covington Hwy. in Decatur, GA (location T378). That store closed in 1999, and moved five exits north on I-285 to La Vista Road. This former location now houses a church.
The 2000 movie Road Trip used the front of the location at 2400 North Druid Hills Rd in Atlanta, GA (T377) before it was rebuilt in 2002.
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Richway
Richway was the discount department store division of Atlanta-based Rich's. It was originally part of Rich's, and was later bought by Federated Department Stores when they purchased the Rich's chain. It was originally known as Richway, a Rich's Company with a more bluish logo than the later orange and black theme under Federated ownership. The sunrise logo means "Everything Under The Sun", the slogan used in advertisements from that period. The official name of the chain was later Richway Department Stores. A long tagline on commercials was "We don't look like a discount store, but our price tags give us away."
As part of Rich's $40 million five-year expansion plan announced earlier in the year, the creation of a new discount department store division named ARCO (an initialism of “A Rich's Company”) was announced on May 28, 1969. ARCO was to open three stores in metro Atlanta in January 1970: two in Atlanta and one in Marietta. On July 30, 1969, it was announced that the ARCO division had been renamed to Richway so as to not infringe on the Atlantic Richfield Company's ARCO trademark, registered just three years prior.
Richway's first stores opened on March 4, 1970 in metro Atlanta with subsequent suburban locations in Smyrna, Sandy Springs, Tucker and College Park. A location in Forest Park opened soon thereafter. These original locations were known for their distinctive raised-wedge skylights that are still found today, yet these were boarded/covered up and hidden by drop ceilings in most subsequent building uses. Richway stores were unusually large for their time, and ahead of their time with larger selections of merchandise than most discounters offered, but with a similar, more upscale line like Target.
Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, the chain spread across the Southeast U.S., with known locations in Georgia, North Carolina (Charlotte/Gastonia), South Carolina (three locations in Columbia), Florida (where it was added as a discount division of Burdines), and two locations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The three locations in Columbia were part of three malls that opened on the same day in 1977 known as Decker Mall, Woodhill Mall, and Bush River Mall. Of these three malls, Decker Mall is now home to only an ExtraSpace storage facility in the old Richway/Gold Circle/Target building, Woodhill Mall was redeveloped as "The Shops at Woodhill", and the site of Bush River Mall, demolished in 2006 after being closed for seven years, became home to a Walmart Supercenter and strip mall in 2007. The Walmart closed in early 2021 due to declining profitability. Richway also anchored the now-redeveloped Roswell Mall in Roswell north of Atlanta, which opened in 1974, another store with the retro skylights (now removed). This former location now houses a Floor&Decor.
The distinctive sunrise logo in its final and well-known form was designed by Robert Graham Sanderson, an art director for the chain in Atlanta. Mr. Sanderson also commissioned the famous "Black Santa" Richway catalogue cover painting. The Santa that the painting used for the cover artwork depicted had such a dark tan that some locals complained that Santa looked Black, claiming that it is well known that Santa is Caucasian of German descent.
In 1986, Federated Department Stores merged Richway with their discount division, Gold Circle, but retained the Richway name in some markets. Federated by then was in financial trouble and as a means to boost the company's profits, sold all Richway and Gold Circle stores to Kimco which in turn sold 31 of those stores to Dayton–Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation) in 1988. The stores were closed, remodeled, and reopened in May 1989 as Target stores; they continued to operate as such until Target began to replace the older stores in the mid-1990s.
The 1991 movie Career Opportunities was filmed at a Richway location converted into a Target store located at 4000 Covington Hwy. in Decatur, GA (location T378). That store closed in 1999, and moved five exits north on I-285 to La Vista Road. This former location now houses a church.
The 2000 movie Road Trip used the front of the location at 2400 North Druid Hills Rd in Atlanta, GA (T377) before it was rebuilt in 2002.