History
Service Merchandise was originally founded in 1934 by Harry and Mary Zimmerman as a five-and-dime store in the town of Pulaski, Tennessee, near Nashville. The first of what evolved into a huge chain of catalog showrooms opened in 1960 on Broadway St. in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Service Merchandise was the nation's top catalog-showroom retailer. At its peak, the company achieved more than $4 billion in annual sales. As the company expanded, it began to open showrooms nationwide, mostly in the vicinity of major shopping malls, which were coming into vogue in the mid-1970s. In the early 1980s, the Service Merchandise headquarters moved from Nashville to nearby Brentwood, TN, becoming one of the first businesses to plant itself in the area that is now known as Cool Springs. In May 1985 the H. J. Wilson Co. was acquired by Service Merchandise for approximately $200M. Raymond Zimmerman, CEO was attracted to Wilson's stores to gain a firmer foothold in the Sunbelt states. Several of these Wilson's locations included an off-priced apparel department of about 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2). Service Merchandise also had other wholly owned subsidiaries featuring retail stores such as Zim's Jewelers, HomeOwners Warehouse (later called Mr. HOW Warehouse), The Lingerie Store, and The Toy Store.
Service Merchandise was a prominent sponsor of Wheel of Fortune. During that game show's shopping era (1975-1989 in daytime, 1983-1987 in syndication), contestants could opt to take a gift certificate from the company if they didn't have enough money to purchase any of the prizes shown. In addition, they also provided some of the prizes on The Price Is Right, Shop 'til You Drop on The Family Channel, and Shopping Spree.
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“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“In front of these sinister facts, the first lesson of history is the good of evil. Good is a good doctor, but Bad is sometimes a better.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)