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J. Jill history
J. Jill company history timeline
In 1959, J.Jill began as one specialty store in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and evolved into a direct catalog business.
Selling by Catalog Only: 1987-95
DM Management Co. was founded with venture capital funds in 1987 to build a business by purchasing undervalued and poorly performing catalogs.
1988:Recently founded DM Management purchases J. Jill.
In fiscal 1990 (the year ended June 30, 1990), for example, it lost $9.63 million on sales of $23.88 million.
In fiscal 1993, the company earned $1.55 million on net sales of $47.51 million.
1993:DM Management becomes a public company.
In fiscal 1994 the company enjoyed its best year to date, earning $3.27 million in net income on net sales of $63.34 million.
1994:Company buys Carroll Reed, its fourth regular catalog.
Circulation of all DM catalogs came to 44.2 million in fiscal 1995, with Nicole Summers leading The Very Thing! and J. Jill, Ltd. (As a recent acquisition, Carroll Reed was not included in this tabulation.)
Business was so good in 1997 that to fulfill its orders DM Management had to rent 150,000 square feet of space in Meredith to supplement the activities at its own 93,120-square-foot warehouse, plus additional rented quarters in nearby Laconia.
Sales soared to $135.53 million in 1997, and net income rose to $3.9 million.
The company, in January 1998, began construction of a 400,000-square-foot operations facility in Tilton, New Hampshire.
DM Management entered the home furnishings market by adding a 24-page section of sheets, towels, and other domestic goods to its October 1998 issue of J. Jill.
The company enjoyed an even better year in 1998, earning $8.4 million on sales of $218.73 million.
Beginning in 1998, it consolidated its four distribution centers into one new automated location.
In the April 1999 issue of Catalog Age, Lois Boyle wrote, 'J. Jill hires many of the same beautiful models with streamlined bodies who appear in other books, but it photographs them with a keen difference.
Extended size offerings accounted for 47 percent of total J. Jill apparel offerings in 1999.
Launching Retail Stores and E-Commerce in 1999
These accounted for 28 percent of sales, which totaled $287 million for the year, up 16.5 percent from 2000.
Early in 2001, J. Jill sold 1.2 million shares, using the nearly $30 million to fund new stores and for working capital.
In 2002, J. Jill announced a three-for-two stock split in June and made some changes in the size and layout of its stores.
Founded in 2002, The J.Jill Compassion Fund is committed to providing support to community-based organizations that help disadvantaged and homeless women become self-sufficient.
Miller, Paul, and Mark Del Franco, "J. Jill Merges Direct, Retail Units," Catalog Age, September 1, 2003.
Lackluster sales combined with the attraction of J. Jill's retail and direct marketing operation led to takeover talk in 2005.
On March 9, 2017, J.Jill became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading under the ticker symbol JILL.
The first shock came from an instance of lackluster guidance in late 2017 and the second related to snags with the e-commerce site.
"The J. Jill Group Inc. ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Retrieved June 21, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/j-jill-group-inc
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J. Jill history FAQs
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J. Jill may also be known as or be related to J. Jill, J.Jill, Inc., JJill Inc, Jill Acquisition LLC and Jill J Inc.