Bob's Stores - Fashion Company Profile
Bob's Stores was the Northeastern clothing and footwear superstore chain founded as Bob's Surplus in 1954 - a TJX chain for five of its seventy years - which liquidated its last 21 stores in July 2024.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Closed - all remaining stores liquidated and closed on July 14, 2024, after a June 2024 Chapter 11 filing by its parent, GoDigital Media Group
- Type
- Was private - founded 1954; a TJX chain from 2003 to 2008 (sold to Versa Capital and Crystal Capital); last owned by GoDigital Media Group
- Headquarters
- Meriden, Connecticut, United States (founded in Middletown, Connecticut)
- Founded
- 1954 in Middletown, Connecticut, by Bob Lapidus, as Bob's Surplus
Company Profile
Bob's Stores has closed and no successor chain carries it on, so this page has no shop box and no official-site button. Its profile is kept as the record of a regional institution: the 45,000-square-foot superstores of its TJX-era description, the workwear and team apparel mix that set it apart from its off-price sisters, and the long chain of owners - Melville, TJX, Versa, GoDigital - that ended in the 2024 bankruptcy it shared with Eastern Mountain Sports.
Within the TJX record Bob's is the outlier: a superstore rather than an off-price boutique, selling workwear and team apparel alongside family clothing, in the Northeast only. The parent company's framing still applied - 'a rapidly changing assortment of quality, brand name merchandise at prices that are 20-60% less than department and specialty store regular prices, every day' - but Bob's traded on breadth and bigness where its sisters traded on the treasure hunt.
Bob's Surplus to the Last Liquidation: 1954-2024
Bob Lapidus founded the business in 1954 in Middletown, Connecticut, as Bob's Surplus. It changed hands repeatedly - Melville Corporation among its owners before TJX bought it in 2003, held it for five years, and sold it in 2008 to Versa Capital Management and Crystal Capital. Later owners included the group that paired it with Eastern Mountain Sports, and finally GoDigital Media Group, headquartered with EMS in Meriden, Connecticut.
The end came quickly in 2024: Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports filed for Chapter 11 in June, unable to secure the financing to continue, and all 21 remaining Bob's locations liquidated and closed on July 14, 2024 - seventy years after Bob's Surplus opened. This profile is kept as its record; there is no successor chain, and its disclaimer says so.
Common Questions
When did Bob's Stores close?
All remaining stores closed on July 14, 2024, after Bob's Stores and its sister chain Eastern Mountain Sports filed for Chapter 11 in June 2024 and liquidated their 21 locations.
Was Bob's Stores part of TJX?
For five years: TJX acquired Bob's in 2003 and sold it in 2008 to Versa Capital Management and Crystal Capital. The 2006 record in this profile dates from the TJX years.
When was Bob's Stores founded?
In 1954 in Middletown, Connecticut, by Bob Lapidus, as Bob's Surplus - a Northeastern chain of casual clothing and footwear superstores, later headquartered in Meriden, Connecticut.
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