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GhostCorp Apparel - resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.
Take a little regional retail history on your travels with this Channel Home Centers passport cover. The brand’s roots reach back to a Newark lumber operation, and its growth carried the name from New Jersey into a multistate home-improvement chain. Later changes in ownership and the 1994 combination with Rickel reshaped the stores former customers remembered. This travel keepsake is made for collectors and anyone who enjoys carrying a story of local businesses and changing retail names along with them.
Channel Home Centers, also known as Channel Lumber Company and Channel, was a home-improvement chain based in Whippany, New Jersey. Accounts differ on its origins: a 1975 profile traced the business to a Newark lumber operation started in 1922 by Abraham Levy and Morris Charin, while a 1990 account and company releases gave 1908 as the founding date. Louis L. Slater, Levy’s son-in-law, opened the first retail outlet in Newark in 1948. Channel had seven New Jersey locations in 1963 and 24 by late 1975. W. R. Grace and Company bought it from the Slater family in 1977. Expansion reached New York, Connecticut, and Delaware in 1978, then Maryland and Massachusetts in 1979. In 1986, executives acquired the company in a leveraged buyout that included 202 retail locations in 20 states, among them Handy City and Handy Dan stores. Channel later operated 89 outlets in nine states. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in 1991, closed stores, and emerged in March 1992. In 1994, a venture capital firm bought Channel and competitor Rickel and combined their operations under the Rickel name. Fifty-nine of Channel’s 60 stores were rebranded; the Totowa, New Jersey, store was the exception.
Channel Home Centers Passport Cover
$28.99
Sale price
$28.99
Regular price
Take a little regional retail history on your travels with this Channel Home Centers passport cover. The brand’s roots reach back to a Newark lumber operation, and its growth carried the name from New Jersey into a multistate home-improvement chain. Later changes in ownership and the 1994 combination with Rickel reshaped the stores former customers remembered. This travel keepsake is made for collectors and anyone who enjoys carrying a story of local businesses and changing retail names along with them.
Channel Home Centers, also known as Channel Lumber Company and Channel, was a home-improvement chain based in Whippany, New Jersey. Accounts differ on its origins: a 1975 profile traced the business to a Newark lumber operation started in 1922 by Abraham Levy and Morris Charin, while a 1990 account and company releases gave 1908 as the founding date. Louis L. Slater, Levy’s son-in-law, opened the first retail outlet in Newark in 1948. Channel had seven New Jersey locations in 1963 and 24 by late 1975. W. R. Grace and Company bought it from the Slater family in 1977. Expansion reached New York, Connecticut, and Delaware in 1978, then Maryland and Massachusetts in 1979. In 1986, executives acquired the company in a leveraged buyout that included 202 retail locations in 20 states, among them Handy City and Handy Dan stores. Channel later operated 89 outlets in nine states. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in 1991, closed stores, and emerged in March 1992. In 1994, a venture capital firm bought Channel and competitor Rickel and combined their operations under the Rickel name. Fifty-nine of Channel’s 60 stores were rebranded; the Totowa, New Jersey, store was the exception.
| 3.9" x 5.8" | |
| Height, in | 5.79 |
| Width (Closed), in | 3.94 |
| Width (Open), in | 8.03 |
| Depth, in | 0.39 |
Product features
- Two card slots plus pockets for boarding passes or IDs
- Cruelty-free black PU faux leather exterior
- RFID-blocking lining to protect against skimming
- One-size fits most passports (3.9″ × 5.8″)
- Vibrant front-cover print with potential edge fading on darker solids
Care instructions
- Wipe with a damp cloth, air dry or use a soft, non-abrasive cloth