Wigwam Stores Inc. - History

History

After World War II there was an over-abundance of army surplus. The army sold many goods in bulk to try to offset the enormous cost of the war. As a college student Homer had no means of purchasing the surplus. He went to his basketball coach at Northwest Nazarene College to get a loan for his business venture. His basketball coach, Lloyd Adler, did not just gave him his first loan of $500 but became his first partner in business. He took the $500 loan and $500 of his own money and decided to purchase a $1000 worth of sleeping bags since he knew he could sell them quite easily without a huge risk. He sold them for about $11,000.

Homer Powell then got another tip. He found a sale of a war surplus plane in Texas. From Seattle, he and his brother-in-law and future business partner, Dallas E. Ortman, set out for Texas. When they got there they purchased a North American T-6 Texan trainer. Homer flew the plane back to Seattle Washington, and later flew around the country purchasing more army surplus goods. After his trip around the country he opened a makeshift store from a 150-foot-long (46 m) tent right across the street from the Boeing Company aircraft plant in Seattle. The makeshift store was an instant hit. Homer was making about $5000 a day in profit. At the end of the year the company’s net profit was 39 percent. While this store was operating in Seattle, Washington, his partner, Dallas Ortman, was running a similar army surplus store in Portland, Oregon. Homer Powell told him it would be a good idea to move up to Seattle and open up a second tent store in Seattle. Dallas loaded up about $6500 worth of goods and traveled up to join Homer. Adler, Homer’s basketball coach and lender, became a partner and the two invested another $6500 to combine with Dallas’ goods to make a second store. Now there were two locations in Seattle. Homer’s dream was becoming a reality. Wigwam became the name after their two original stores made from a large tent. A wigwam is a Native American dwelling from the Northeastern United States, typically domed in shape and containing only one room.

The business’s success did not waver but continued to grow, but Homer Powell and the partners knew that they could not just count on the army surplus to be there. They knew that one day it would run out since there was only so much army surplus. So, they decided to plan ahead and think of ways they could continue the Wigwam business. Homer Powell, from the beginning, always was the innovative thinker; so, he decided they needed to go towards retail business since it was most similar to what they had been selling in army surplus. Specifically he wanted to be a discount merchant, a relatively new idea in retail business. When they made enough profit from their tents stores they soon built large department stores with foundations, four walls and a roof. They made it this far without very much knowledge in business or marketing, but they knew if they wanted it to expand any further they would need some business expertise.

A woman named Lillian Titel was hired to do all the company’s buying. She previously was a merchant for Bloomingdale's. She was soon in charge of all of the buying that took place in the company. After years of work she was named at one time one of the top five female buyers in the nation. So after the hire of Lillian Titel, Wigwam moved from selling just army surplus to selling varied items. The stores are best described as being between Kohl’s department store and a K-Mart. The stores sold everything from power screwdrivers to men’s swimwear, which sold for ninety-nine cents.