By Sharon Oliver
Contributing Writer
BEVERLY – The off-price retail chain Marshalls is well known for offering apparel and homewares at low prices. But founder Alfred Marshall’s initial focus was on entirely different items for sale. Born in Lawrence into a wealthy family in 1919, Marshall witnessed his father abandoning the family after losing his fortune during the Great Depression.
Photo/Wikimedia Commons
Expansion of original supermarket
His love for buying and selling stemmed from living with an aunt who ran a variety store. Marshall began his career after World War II by working as a welder and contractor. He eventually opened a fruit and ice cream stand with money borrowed from his aunt to purchase land in Beverly where he sold banana splits for 29 cents on Sundays to avoid tossing out old, ripened bananas. By the 1950s, Marshall was selling wholesale products out of his expanding supermarket, including cosmetics, baby supplies and sundries. This location became the first Marshall’s (before dropping the apostrophe) department store.
Contemplating increased spending habits due to growth in the suburbs, Marshall and his associates came up with more ideas. He had a concept of giving consumers brand names at prices they could afford so he sold deeply discounted merchandise from boutiques and coupons for 5-cent ice cream sandwiches made by his children. The original store also had a soda fountain and grill, which was a sublet of floor space, the “A & M Luncheonette” (for Alice & Mickey Masters, the proprietors).
Several people fondly recalled some of Marshalls’ early days on Facebook.
John Baxter wrote:
“I worked for Al Marshall for many years growing up, at the auctions down under department store and in the grocery store. He was a great guy.”
Janet Lessard shared:
“I worked at that snack bar in late 60s!”
Joe N. Lorraine DiVincenzo added:
“Early on, in the storage area behind one of his Beverly stores, he’d hold an auction type evening where folks would bid on simple items and once someone bid on the winning amount he’d sell the item at the price bid to anyone who wanted to buy it! He continued grow from there.”
Todd Kerr confessed:
“I did not know that they were a supermarket at one time.”
Children of founder worked hard
The Marshall family lived near their first store where the children would work after school. According to the oldest son, Ronald, he and his siblings would help by sweeping the floors and stocking shelves. He added that his father would buy bricks of ice cream that they would have to cut into pieces for sandwiches. Although they were not paid for the job, the siblings were allowed to eat as much ice cream as they wanted. After having their fill, they didn’t want to eat ice cream for a month.
During the holiday season, the Marshall children would cut sheets of wrapping paper from bulk rolls for packages filled with mixed assortments. On Christmas Day, their father allowed them to pick three or four toys from the store shelves. One year after his kids discovered the best toys had already been sold, they came up with a plan to hide their favorites in the stockroom. Ronald Marshall felt their father knew of the scheme but never scolded them for it.
Rapid growth
Marshalls had 36 locations throughout New England and California by 1976, which were directly owned by Marshall and three other business partners. By April 1987, there were 261 stores across the country.
In 1995, Marshalls was purchased by TJX, the parent company of its main rival, TJ Maxx. There were 496 stores at the time. By 2021, there were 1,131 Marshall stores worldwide. Not bad for a store that started out as a supermarket.
Alfred Marshall died in 2013 at the age of 94.
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