Remembering Dolgin’s

Last Updated on June 19, 2023 by Dave Farquhar

Growing up in Missouri, a lot of my Christmas gifts when I was young came from a catalog showroom called Dolgin’s. One of my earliest memories is going to Dolgin’s with my mom and aunt, who showed me some Tonka trucks and asked me which ones I liked best.

I know a lot of people remember going through Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs, but I remember Dolgin’s catalogs the best.

But they sold a whole lot more than toys: They also sold jewelry, small appliances, and consumer electronics. The latter is what I remember them for the most. They carried a lot of software for home computers and game machines, and had a lot of really old inventory that they sold at deep discounts. I remember buying Dig Dug and Defender on cartridge for the Commodore 64 there and paying around $10 for them in the 1986-87 timeframe.

They sold the computers themselves too, carrying not just Commodore but also the Coleco Adam.

Dolgin’s history

I found conflicting accounts of when Dolgin’s was founded. By some accounts, it was in the 1950s. But when Best Products executives announced their plan to change the name of the stores in 1986, they stated Dolgin’s had been in Kansas City for 17 years at the time, which would put their origin at 1969. Dolgin’s expanded into the St. Louis market in October 1973.

Originally, Dolgin’s was based in Kansas City, and by 1976, ran three stores in Kansas City and two in St. Louis. In December 1976, Minneapolis-based Modern Merchandising purchased Dolgin’s. Dolgin’s executives Yale Dolginow and Richard Dolginow stayed on with the combined firm. Dolgin’s had $41 million in sales and profit of $1.4 million in its last fiscal year as an independent.

In 1982, another catalog showroom conglomerate, Best Products, based in Richmond, Va., bought Dolgins’ parent company, Modern Merchandising. Between 1986 and 1989, all of the Dolgin’s stores were re-branded Best. Four other regional chains, Great Western, Jafco, LaBelle’s, and Rogers and Miller Sales, were part of the same deal.

Best stayed in business until early 1997, but the former Dolgin’s locations all closed by 1991.

Selected old Dolgin’s locations

According to the Linkedin profiles of several former employees, Dolgin’s had 11 locations in St. Louis and Kansas City at its peak. The old Dolgin’s store at Hanley and Forsyth roads in Clayton was on the site of what is now Centene corporate headquarters.

I was able to find the following locations from old advertisements:

• Santa Fe & Farley, Overland Park
• 105th & Metcalf, Overland Park
• 7600 Burlington, Kansas City, Mo.
• I-435 and Eastwood Trfwy, Kansas City, Mo.
• 74th and State Ave, Kansas City, Kan.
• N Belt Hwy & Cook Rd, St Joseph
• St Charles Rock Road and I-270, Bridgeton
• Reavis Barracks and Lemay Ferry, St Louis
• Forsyth and Hanley, Clayton
• Lincoln Trail and North Ruby Lane, Fairview Heights
• 1088 Manchester, Ellisville

Competition from national retailers

Best’s competition heated up in the late 1980s. Service Merchandise, another catalog showroom-type retailer, expanded into the St. Louis market, but by the late 1980s, it seemed that store format was running out of steam. In the late 1980s, three “superstore” chains also expanded into St. Louis and Kansas City, selling consumer electronics and appliances at deep discounts: Best Buy, Circuit City, and Tipton (later Silo). I didn’t like those stores as much at the time because none of them carried Commodore 64/128 software and accessories, but if you wanted any other consumer electronics, or anything IBM-compatible, they undercut Best’s prices. Best Buy and Circuit City drove Silo out of business first, but Best and Service Merchandise weren’t too far behind.

Then-company president Robert E.R. Huntley told the Kansas City Star in 1988 that the stores weren’t profitable, in spite of Best Products spending $7 million updating the stores in 1986.

Why Dolgin’s failed

Best Products (formerly Dolgin’s) pulled out of the St. Louis and Kansas City markets in the summer of 1991, ending Dolgin’s legacy. It was part of a nationwide cutback involving 39 stores, leaving the company with about 171 stores in 24 states. About 1,550 people lost their jobs as a result.

At the time, company spokespeople cited stiff competition in the St. Louis and Kansas City retail markets as the reason.

But there was one other thing in play. In 1989, Best Products went private in a $1.1 billion leveraged buyout that left the company with huge debt payments at the same time sales were stagnant. In January 1991, the company filed bankruptcy.

Although Best Products emerged from bankruptcy in 1994, ultimately, the cutbacks failed to save the chain. The firm filed for bankruptcy again in September 1996, and announced its intent in October 1996 to close all of its stores. The process of closing its stores completed by February 1997.