Fretter
Fretter was an electronics store based out of Detroit, Michigan, with locations nationally, founded during the 1970's. In 1992, Fretter acquired their biggest competition of the time Silo Electronics, a company that had previously not turned a profit since the 1980's. This was an attempt by Fretter to compete with its new major competition, electronic superstores Circuit City and Best Buy, which were much larger stores than Fretter. This move would lead the company into serious debt and Chapter 11 bankruptcy and forcing the chain to close many locations by 1993. All Silo Electronics stores were closed by 1995, with the following of all Fretter locations closing by May 1996.
Of note is the founder, Ollie Fretter, who was well known in the Detroit Area in the 1970’s via his comical TV commercials in which he hawked – “I’ll give you five pounds of coffee if I can’t beat your best deal. The competition knows me, you should too!” Ollies very first store was located on Telegraph Road just north of Interstate 96 in the city of Redford, MI, and the main warehouse, warehouse store and company headquarters, was located on Schoolcraft Road (I-96 service drive) in Livonia, Michigan.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Fretter". Image Credit.
