Jefferson Stores Inc stock certificate 1960's

Nice, affordable retailer stock with a great eagle vignette printed in the color of the border.  Issued and cancelled, Dated in the 1960's.

Incorporated in 1960, this Miami-based company operated a small chain of upscale discount stores.

Jefferson Stores was purchased by Montgomery Ward in 1973 . In 1976, Montgomery Ward was acquired by Mobil. By 1980, Mobil found that the Montgomery Ward stores had been doing poorly in comparison to the Jefferson stores, and decided that high quality discount units.

Within 18 months, Mobil quintupled the size of the operation, now called Jefferson Ward, to over 40 units, with plans to convert one-third of Montgomery Ward's existing stores to the Jefferson Ward model. The burden of servicing the new stores fell to the tiny Jefferson staff who were overwhelmed by the increased store count, and who had no experience in dealing with some of the product categories they were now required to carry, not to mention their unfamiliarity with buying for northern markets.

Almost immediately, Jefferson had turned from a small moneymaker into a good-sized loss operation. The chain's 18-store Northern Division was sold to Bradlees, a division of Stop & Shop, in 1986. The remaining stores were closed.