In 1962,
Charles D. Tandy and Luther Henderson of the
Tandy Corporation provided a loan to the California-based
Cost Plus Imports chain in exchange for
franchise rights. Their first franchised location opened that year in
San Mateo. By 1966, Tandy's and Henderson's franchises had grown to 16 locations in California and Texas. They rebranded their stores Pier 1 Imports, establishing a new corporate headquarters with
Radio Shack, another Tandy holding, in
Fort Worth, Texas. At this time, the company had grown to 123 stores, posted 100 percent sales gains for four consecutive years, and opened stores internationally in Australia and Europe. A Pier 1 store in
Royal Oak, Michigan, reached annual sales of $1 million in 1979. By 1985, the Pier 1 chain grew to 265 stores, with the management goal of doubling that number by 1990. Pier 1 had a presence in the
Greater Tokyo Area of Japan from April 1996 to early 2002, and its franchised stores were operated by Akatsuki Printing Co. There were 5 stores by early 1997, 16 by fiscal 1998, and 18 by fiscal 1999, but that number shrunk to just 9 by early 2000. On December 29, 2006,
Standard & Poor's bumped Pier 1 Imports Inc. down one spot and off the bottom of the S&P MidCap 400 Index when it added
Parametric Technology, a software company. As of December 2012, the company had sales of $418 million. In April 2008, Pier 1 sold its headquarters building for $104 million. In May 2017, Alasdair James became CEO following Alex Smith's departure in December 2016. In December 2018, Alasdair James was replaced by veteran CEO Cheryl Bachelder. Bachelder is served as interim CEO until the former Pier 1 CFO, Robert Riesbeck took over in November 2019. On January 6, 2020, it was announced that Pier 1 will close up to 450 stores, citing "a reduction in corporate headcount". On February 17, 2020, Pier 1 Imports, Inc. and seven affiliated companies filed
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. As part of the filing, the company is closing all their stores in Canada. On May 19, 2020, Pier 1 Imports announced that it is asking the bankruptcy court to close all stores, due in large part to the
COVID-19 pandemic and failing to find a buyer. On May 30, it was announced that Pier 1 Imports had received court approval to liquidate all locations. Pier 1 announced that they plan to close all stores by the end of October 2020. In June 2020,
Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV) acquired Pier 1 for $31 million. REV, which was founded by former NASA scientist Alex Mehr and serial entrepreneur
Tai Lopez, is a holding company that buys distressed iconic brands and revives them as e-commerce businesses. Other recent acquisitions of REV include
Dressbarn and
Modell's Sporting Goods. REV acquired control of the Pier 1 website at the end of October 2020, just about the time the last store had closed, and moved on-line operations to Dallas. On March 2, 2023, Retail Ecommerce Ventures, Pier 1 Imports' current parent, announced that it was mulling a possible bankruptcy filing. ==Merchandise==