as nasdaq conn industry retail founded 1890 as eastham plumbing and heating company 1934 as conn s headquarters the woodlands texas u.s. number of locations 112 key people edward eastham founder carol washington conn sr. chain s namesake norm miller ceo products consumer electronics revenue us 836.7 million 2010 operating income us 27.4 million 2010 net income us 7.7 million 2010 total assets us 551.4 million 2010 total equity us 344.3 million financials for fiscal 2010 1 2010 number of employees 2 800 2010 website conns.com conn s clearance center in houston tx . conn s inc. is an electronics furniture mattress and appliance store chain headquartered in the woodlands texas united states . the chain has stores in alabama arizona colorado georgia louisiana mississippi nevada new mexico north carolina oklahoma south carolina tennessee and texas . within texas conn s has stores in greater houston the dallas fort worth metroplex greater san antonio greater el paso greater corpus christi southeast texas and south texas . 2 contents 1 history 2 news 3 references 4 external links history edit in 1890 edward eastham founded eastham plumbing and heating company in beaumont tx . first national bank of beaumont took over the company and renamed it plumbing and heating inc. in 1931 . plumbing and heating inc. hired carol washington conn sr. in 1933 . 3 he purchased the company one year later and changed the name to conn plumbing and heating company . in 1937 conn s began selling refrigerators and soon added gas ranges to its inventory . by 1940 conn had purchased a store building and moved the company to 268 pearl street in beaumont . the company s second store opened in 1959 on eleventh street in beaumont . c.w. conn jr. joined the company in 1953 after serving in the korean war . he recognized that customers needed dependable quality service and founded conn s retail service repair and maintenance subsidiary company appliance parts and service in 1962 . in 1964 he cofounded conn credit corporation a retail credit financing services company to provide retail credit financing services to conn s customers . conn jr. was named president and chief operating officer in 1966 and served in those capacities until 1976 . the year 1966 found the company with four stores and a total sales volume of 4 million . lake charles louisiana was the site of conn s first out of state store opened in 1969 . a second out of state store was opened in louisiana that same year making it a landmark year . in 1975 conn s opened stores in port arthur orange and baytown texas as well as one in lafayette louisiana . a second location in lafayette and new stores in new iberia and opelousas louisiana soon followed . conn sr. died in 1975 and conn jr. became chairman of the board . under conn jr. s direction conn s first location in houston was opened in 1983 with many others to follow in subsequent years . in 1993 conn s experienced its first 100 million sales volume year and opened its first san antonio texas location . thomas frank sr. became chairman of the board of conn s in 1994 . under frank s leadership the company continued its growth trend and established itself as a major player in the retail sales industry as total sales volume grew to more than 200 million in 1997 . in july 1998 the company reorganized and brought in a new financial partner the stephens group inc. conn s market reach was broadened in 1999 when it opened its first store in baton rouge louisiana and again in 2001 2002 and 2003 when it opened its first stores in austin corpus christi and in the dallas ft. worth metroplex respectively . in 2012 conn s expanded into arizona with the start of a location in tucson arizona later in july they opened a location in mesa arizona near us 60 and stapley drive and in august 2013 they opened 2 locations in phoenix arizona at 75th ave and thomas road across from desert sky mall and tempe arizona at arizona mills mall . in november and december 2013 they added 3 new arizona locations in the cities of scottsdale goodyear and yuma . in january 2014 the same day the 2nd albuquerque new mexico location they entered chandler arizona . a 2nd phoenix location near metro center opened in june 2014 . a future arizona location is scheduled in north tucson at marana marketplace at thornydale and orange grove roads . in 2014 they welcomed new states as colorado tennessee south carolina and mississippi it s soon in north carolina and georgia . the company now offers a full range of products and services at 125 retail locations ranging in a variety of states coast to coast . there was a recent grand opening in albuquerque in 2014 . by the 2000s the chain historically based in beaumont expanded . 4 conn s inc. became a publicly traded company on november 25 2003 when it sold 4.6 million shares in its initial public offering . the company s shares are traded on the nasdaq exchange under the symbol conn. today in addition to appliances electronics furniture and mattresses the company offers its customers service distribution financing insurance and other related services . news edit on july 3 2014 conn s was featured in the new york times in the biweekly column called the haggler . 5 the article sparked a social media backlash concentrated around the hashtag talktothehaggler . a follow up column continuing the critique of the company s customer service was printed on july 19 . 6 on november 9 2014 the haggler column reported that conn s did not return inquiries about its alleged practices of offering credit to high risk customers a lawsuit over which is currently underway . 1 . segal reported that bonuses for the company s chief executive theodore m. wright ; its chief operating officer michael j. poppe ; and its chief financial officer brian e. taylor named defendants in the suit were largely tied to the company s operating income . wright s maximum bonus of 850 000 would be achieved if conn s booked 165.8 million in operating income in 2014 according to the suit . the company came close with 162 million . mr. wright took home a 820 000 bonus . the complaint also states that both he and mr. poppe also sold shares of conn s in 2013 the period when the plaintiffs maintain that those shares were artificially inflated . mr. wright had not sold any shares since 2007 . in 2013 he sold enough to yield 1.9 million . mr. poppe cashed out 2.6 million the same year . so top executives at conn s made out quite nicely courtesy of the credit for all strategy with big bonuses and marvelously timed stock sales . 2 . references edit businessweek.com 2010 10 08 . conn s inc conn nasdaq gs . retrieved 2010 10 08 . investor relations . conn s appliances . retrieved on july 13 2010 . conns.com . about conn s . retrieved 2010 10 210 . check date values in access date help wallach dan . conn s appliances continues to grow . the beaumont enterprise . july 22 2001 . retrieved on july 13 2010 . segal david . how to pierce a deafening silence maybe an army can help . the new york times . july 3 2014 . retrieved on july 19 2014 . segal david . many are knocking but the door stays closed . the new york times . july 19 2014 . retrieved on july 19 2014 . external links edit texas portal companies portal conn s retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title conn % 27s & oldid 741540424 categories consumer electronics retailers in the united statesonline retailers of the united statescompanies based in the woodlands texasretail companies established in 1890companies listed on nasdaqhidden categories cs1 errors datespages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what 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