Everyone likes a tasty homemade cookie, and with that in mind Debbi Fields opened her first store in 1977 in Palo Alto, California. At the time, no one believed that her business would work but it did It grew very
In 1982, Tommy Hilfiger started his clothing business. He began by purchasing denim jeans and bell bottoms and customizing them. He decided to open his own shop called The People’s Place. He turned down the opportunities to be an assistant
G-Star was founded in 1989 and originally specialized in military style street clothes. They produced jeans, shirts, and other articles of clothing. Originally the stores were named Gap Star but changed to the name to simply G-Star when they went
In 1837 Charles Tiffany and Teddy Young opened their first store. At the time the store operated as a “stationary and fancy goods emporium.” Named Tiffany, Young, and Ellis they specialized in a wide variety of stationary items. In 1853
Sephora Parsi opened her first cosmetic store in France in 1969. The store remained a strictly France based company until it was purchased by the Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennesy (LVMH) conglomerate in 1997. A year after being acquired by
In 1938 Lloyd and Mary Anderson founded Recreational Equipment Incorporated, better known as REI. They originally ordered an Akadem Pickel ice axe from Austria. This purchase gave them the idea to set up a cooperative in order to help other
In 1962, Pier 1 Imports opened its first location in San Mateo, California. Originally the store’s content catered to hippies featuring items such as incense and love beads. Within four years of opening their first store, Pier 1 had grown
In 1980, PacSun opened its first store. PacSun, as the store is better known, began by selling clothing that appealed to the youth and had the vibe of Southern California.The stores started out selling casual apparel aimed at the teen
In 1978 Renzo Rosso founded the company Diesel, the Italian design company. They began producing prêt-a-porter clothing mainly for young adults. In 1991, the company began their international marketing strategy. Just a few years later they opened their flagship store
In 1964 Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman began selling shoes at track meets. Originally they called their little enterprise Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) and worked as a distributor for Onitsuka Tiger, a Japanese shoe maker. By 1967 they
In 1983, David Chu and an unnamed partner started an apparel company. They mainly focused on men’s sportswear. A year later they sold the company for cash and stock to State-O-Main. State-O-Main was an apparel company that was based out
What started out as a man’s hobby has become a legend in the retail clothing industry. In 1920, in Seattle Washington, he opened the Eddie Bauer’s Tennis Shop in the back of hunting and fishing store. During the tennis season
The Adidas brand started in a simple kitchen in Herzoenaurach, Bavaria. Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf Dassler started making shoes in their mothers wash kitchen in 1924 after Adolf, better known as Adi, returned from World War I. In
The Hilton Hotels and Resorts opened their doors for the first time in 1919. Conrad Hilton’s first hotel was the Mobley Hotel in Cisco Texas. The first hotel that bore its owner’s name, Hilton, didn’t actually open until 1925, in