Bodek and Rhodes history

In 1955 the remaining Broder brother passed away, and Jack Brode bought the rest of the company from the Broder estate.

Soon after taking full control he expanded the company's offerings into dry goods, and in 1959 he moved the business to a new location, a building that had previously housed a draft board during World War II.

Tragically, Jack Brode and his wife both died in an automobile accident in 1981.

In 1982 Atlantic American Corp., an insurance holding company, acquired 38.6 percent of Rhodes's stock.

A catalog was started in 1984 that could be imprinted with the logo of a small business that bought from Broder, giving the latter a useful marketing tool.

Yet when it sold, the price tag was far lower than it had been in 1987: Heilig-Meyers agreed to buy Rhodes for $65 million, offering to swap one of its shares for every two of Rhodes's.

Within five months of the announced buyout, in late April of 1988, Atlantic American had found a purchaser for Rhodes.

Broder's rapid expansion continued to strain the limits of its Oak Park warehouse, and in 1989 the company again moved to a new location.

With growth still surging, the company opened its first branch warehouse in Orlando, Florida, in 1991.

But the venture continued to be a costly one until July 1993, when Rhodes again traded its stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

With its competitor Haverty "going upscale" according to a March 7, 1995 Journal and Constitution article, Rhodes began its counterattack by conducting an extensive marketing research effort, with interviews of 3,100 customers in nine cities.

By April 1996 Rhodes had grown far beyond Atlanta.

1997: Fresno, California branch opens.

As for Rhodes, its sale and the subsequent move to Richmond in early 1998 marked the end of more than 120 years of operation in its home base of Atlanta.