Value City Department Stores

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Value City Department Stores began with a Columbus, Ohio store in 1917. Founded within the Schottenstein retail orbit, it grew into a value-focused department-store chain selling apparel, home goods and the sort of closeout discoveries that made a shopping list feel more like a scavenger hunt.

The stores operated as a division of Schottenstein Stores Corporation until Value City Department Stores, Inc. went public on June 18, 1991. In Columbus, locations used the Schottenstein’s name, while Value City carried the banner across much of the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. A 2003 reorganization made Value City Department Stores a subsidiary of newly formed holding company Retail Ventures, Inc.

In January 2008, Retail Ventures sold an 81% interest in the Value City business to VCHI Acquisition Co. The chain filed for bankruptcy protection on October 26, 2008, announced the closure of its remaining stores, and discontinued operations that year. Our Value City Department Stores collection celebrates the big-sign, bargain-bin spirit of a Columbus retail original—where the price tag could be modest, but the fluorescent-light treasure hunt was always enormous.