Handleman Company
The Handleman Company was a multimedia entertainment company and rackjobber founded in the 1930s by Philip Handleman and his sons Joseph, Paul and Moe.
History
[edit]In its early years, the company distributed pharmaceuticals. Eventually, it began distributing health aids as well. In 1946, the company was joined by another of Philip Handleman's sons, David. By the 1950s, the company began distributing vinyl records.
In 1967, David took charge of the company, and in December 1974, he became chairman and CEO. In 1975, Handleman began distributing books following its acquisition of record and book distributor Sieberts.
By 1980, the company stocked vinyl records at over 8,000 stores. Books and magazines accounted for approximately 9% of its revenues that year. In 1983, it began stocking home computer software. The following year, it won a contract to rack all software product at Kmart stores. By then, Handleman's clients had videocassette sales of $1.5 million. Although videocassettes were expensive at the time and most consumers rented them, Handleman was under the belief that consumers would buy them if the price was low enough. It began this tradition by sub-distributing videocassettes of movies that were in the public domain. Videocassette revenues reached $43 million in 1985.
In November 1987, it announced its plan to acquire one of its longtime rivals in the rack-jobbing industry - Viking Entertainment Corporation. At the time, Viking's library consisted of over 600 public domain titles, including titles that were believed to be there. The acquisition was completed in January 1988 and excited several of the company's analysts.
In late 1988, Handleman announced its plan to acquire home video distributor Video Treasures and its affiliated entities. For this purpose, Handleman formed VTI Acquisition Corporation. The acquisition was completed by January 1989. In May 1989, Handleman formed an umbrella distribution joint venture in Canada with GoodTimes Home Video, called HGV Video Productions. In early 1990, Handleman acquired Christmas-dedicated distributor Holly Music, which was essentially considered a "Viking in the East".
In July 1990, Handleman consolidated its software departments. During the consolidation, six of its executives were promoted to different positions.
In February 1995, Handleman formed a new corporate umbrella subsidiary, North Coast Entertainment. Video Treasures, Starmaker Entertainment, Softprime, Madacy Music Group and Sellthrough Entertainment (formerly known as Holly Music) became units of this new entity, with Louis Kircos to oversee the entity. On May 12, 1995, Video Treasures and Starmaker were merged to form Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Crew
[edit]- David Handleman - Chairman, CEO (1974-1988)
- Louis Kircos
- Laurence Hicks - Vice President of Branch Operations (19??-1990), Senior Vice President of Merchandising (1990-????)
- Samuel Milicia - Assistant Vice President of the Eastern Region (19??-1990)
- Sharon Hilliker - Assistant Vice President of Sales (19??-1990), Vice President of Merchandising Programs (1990-????)
- Steven Salsberg - Vice President of Advertising and Marketing (19??-1990), Vice President and General Manager of Premium Sales and Catalog Fulfillment Programs (1990-????)
- James Hanke - Vice President of Sales (1990-????)
List of Divisions and Subsidiaries
[edit]- Sieberts (1974-19??)
- Viking Entertainment Corporation (1988-1991)
- North Coast Entertainment (1995-????)
- Holly Music/Sellthrough Entertainment (1990-????)
- Anchor Bay Entertainment (1995-2003)
- Video Treasures (1989-1998)
- MNTEX Entertainment (1991-1998)
- Burbank Video (1988-1995)
- Starmaker Entertainment (1994-1998)
- Video Treasures (1989-1998)
- Madacy Entertainment (1995-2003)
- The Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Company (1998-2003)
Locations
[edit]- Troy, Michigan