Organized Living, formerly known as Schulte Corp.,[3] is a company that manufactures storage and organization products for the home, sold through independent dealers in the United States and Canada.[4] Prior to 2007, Organized Living was a specialty retail chain in the United States that sold storage solutions for home and office.
History
In 1985, Mark Ferrel founded the company as Containers Unlimited, in Kansas,[1][2] with its first location in Overland Park.[5] In 1993, the then-two store chain changed its name from Containers and More to Organized Living.[6] By mid-1996, the chain had three stores (the original location plus two others in St. Louis) and next expanded by adding two stores in Las Vegas, in early 1997.[5] As it grew, the company consciously decided to focus expansion on markets not already served by The Container Store, its primary competitor.[7] As of mid-2000, the chain had grown to 11 stores.[8]
The store eventually grew to 25 stores before filing for bankruptcy in 2005, after planned financing did not come to fruition.[9][1] After private equity firm Saunders Karp & Megrue bought a majority stake in the company,[2] the former head of Bath & Body Works, Beth Pritchard, was hired in January 2004 to grow the chain into a national presence.[10] Pritchard also moved the company's headquarters from Lenexa, Kansas, in the Kansas City area, to Westerville, Ohio, near Columbus.[1] Pritchard was released in May 2005 during the bankruptcy proceedings.[11] Pritchard cited changes in Saunder Karp's commitment to finance growth as the cause of the collapse.[2]
Schulte Corp., one of the company's biggest creditors, obtained rights to the Organized Living name in the bankruptcy proceedings, and operated OrganizedLiving.com as an online retailer through 2012.[12] On January 1, 2013, Schulte Corp. changed its corporate name to Organized Living and relaunched OrganizedLiving.com as its new website.[citation needed]
