The Container Store

The Container Store Group, Inc.

The Container Store in Schaumburg, Illinois

Type| Private
Industry| Retail
Founded| July 1978; 47 years ago (July 1978) in Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Founders|

* John W. Mullen III
* Garrett Boone
* Kip Tindell

Headquarters| Coppell, Texas, U.S.

Number of locations

| 102 (2024)[1]

Key people

| Joel Bines (Head of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer)
Revenue|  US$848 million (2023)[1]

Operating income

|  US$−105 million (2023)[1]

Net income

|  US$−103 million (2023)[1]
Total assets|  US$936 million (2023)[1]
Total equity|  US$160 million (2023)[1]
Owner| Leonard Green & Partners

Number of employees

| 4,300 (2024)[1]
Website| containerstore.com

The Container Store Group, Inc., is an American specialty retail chain which offers storage and organization products, and custom closets.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Growth
* 3 Governance
* 3.1 List of Former CEOs
* 3.2 List of Heads of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## History

The Container Store was founded in Dallas by Garrett Boone and John Mullen. With the backing of their families, they inaugurated the first The Container Store on July 1, 1978. The store introduced a new retailing category: home storage and organization.[2][3] Kip Tindell and his wife joined the founding team the next year.

In 1982, the company switched to a computerized management system, which almost drove the company into the ground. The Houston store opening in 1988 marked the start of the company's booming sales.[4] It opened its first location outside of Texas in 1991 in Atlanta,[5] its first New York area store in 2000,[6] and its first Los Angeles area store in 2006.[7] In 1999, The Container Store bought one of its main suppliers, Elfa International, a Swedish companies that specialized in shelving and storage units.[8]

The founders hired by the dozen but realized they also needed a strong company culture to maintain the spirit and attractiveness of their stores.[4] The company started giving 235 hours of training time to its new salespeople, ten times the industry average.[9] By the early 2000s, The Container Store had become a regular recipient of the Best Company to Work for in America award delivered by Fortune.[4][10]

In July 2007, The Container Store sold a majority stake of the company to the private equity firm based in Los Angeles Leonard Green & Partners.[11][12][13] After the deal, The Container Store announced plans to open 29 more stores in the next five years.[13] In 2013, the retailer was one of the hottest IPOs of 2013. However, according to Forbes, "the Container Store is a far cry from the 300 store potential investors were promised in the IPO." Since 2013, only 30 stores were added, or about 5 per year. The Container Store has not kept its promise to investors "to be the category killer of storage containers and home organization."[14]

In 2016, Kip Tindell stepped down as CEO and was replaced by Melissa Reiff. In 2021, Satish Malhotra replaced Melissa Reiff as CEO and president of the company.[15] In the same year, the company reached the billion-dollar mark in revenue for the first time in its history[16] and acquired Closet Works for $21.5 million.[17] In 2024, Beyond Inc. (formerly Overstock Inc., owner of Bed Bath & Beyond since 2023) invested $40 million in The Container Store in a deal where Bed Bath & Beyond showcase spaces were to be integrated in The Container Store, marking Bed Bath & Beyond's return to physical stores.[18][16]

On December 23, 2024, The Container Store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, expecting to complete reorganization and emerge as a private company by January 26, 2025, without closing any stores in the process.[19] In January 24, 2025, The Container Store received court approval from a bankruptcy judge regarding its bankruptcy plan to go private. The company emerged from bankruptcy on January 28, 2025 after successfully eliminating most of its debt.[20] The conversion of lender debt into company equity under the approve restructuring plan took The Container Store private, and gave ownership to its term loan lenders, which include Golub Capital, LCM Asset Management, and Glendon Capital Management. [21] On March 20th, 2025, Malhotra resigned as CEO to "pursue other opportunities".[22] In wake of his resignation, the company's board of directors formed an "Office of the Chief Executive Officer", with board chairman Joe Bines leading the new office as its head.[23][24]

## Growth

The Container Store in Pasadena, California Year  | Stores  | Revenue

(in million dollars)

|
|

1998  | 18[25] |
2004  | 33[26] |
2006  | 38[7] |
2016  | 80[27] |
2021  |  | 1 000[16]
2023  |  | 848[16]
2024  | 102[16] |

## Governance

### List of Former CEOs

* Kip Tindell (1978 – 2016)
* Melissa Reiff (2016 – 2021)
* Satish Malhotra (2021 – 2025)[15]

### List of Heads of the Office of the Chief Executive Officer

* Joel Bines (2025 – Present )

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Form 10-K for fiscal year ended March 30, 2024". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. May 28, 2024. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1411688/000162828024025287/tcs-20240330.htm.
2. ↑ Hoover's Inc. fact sheet on The Container Store
3. ↑ "Container Store's workers huddle up to help you out". USA Today. Apr 29, 2002. https://www.usatoday.com/money/covers/2002-04-30-container-store.htm.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Kline, Laurie (2001-07-01). "Street Talk : The Secret of their Success" (in en-US). https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2001/july/street-talk-the-secret-of-their-success/.
5. ↑ "Getting it together in vogue in the '90s". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Mar 23, 1991. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AT&p_theme=at&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB7D0A277323802&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM.
6. ↑ Beller, Peter (Sep 24, 2000). "The Container Store Opens Its First New York Site". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/24/nyregion/in-business-the-container-store-opens-its-first-new-york-site.html?scp=1&sq="the container store"&st=cse.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Container Store finds right box in Denver". Rocky Mountain News. Oct 10, 2006. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/other_business/article/0,2777,DRMN_23916_5054649,00.html.
8. ↑ Howell, Arnesa A. (June 5, 2007). "Lessons from a colossal cleanup". CNNMoney.com. https://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/06/01/100050981/index.htm.
9. ↑ Harnish, Verne (2002-12-01). "The X Factor TO BUILD A BUSINESS THAT DOMINATES, YOU NEED TO DISCOVER AN EDGE THAT PUTS YOUR COMPANY WAY AHEAD OF ITS COMPETITORS.". https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2002/12/01/333869/index.htm.
10. ↑ "The Container Store". NPR. 2000-12-18. https://www.npr.org/2000/12/18/1115691/the-container-store.
11. ↑ "Container Store put on market: Retailer wants to use equity but preserve workplace culture," The Dallas Morning News/KRT, February 17, 2007
12. ↑ "Container Store Agrees to Partner with Leonard Green". The New York Times. July 3, 2007. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/container-store-agrees-to-partner-with-leonard-green/?scp=4&sq="the container store"&st=cse.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Container Store says expansion plan on track". The Dallas Morning News. March 7, 2008. http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/030808dnbuscontainerstore.2fd4d8c6.html.
14. ↑ Verdon, Joan. "The Container Store Needs To Do A Better Job Of Thinking Outside The Box" (in en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2019/07/31/the-container-store-needs-to-do-a-better-job-of-thinking-outside-the-box/.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "The Container Store Group, Inc. Announces Plan for CEO Succession; Satish Malhotra to be Appointed CEO and President Effective February 1, 2021". http://investor.containerstore.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2020/The-Container-Store-Group-Inc.-Announces-Plan-for-CEO-Succession-Satish-Malhotra-to-Be-Appointed-CEO-and-President-Effective-February-1-2021/default.aspx.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Parton, Mitchell (2024-10-22). "'An act of desperation': Why The Container Store needed a lifeline from Beyond Inc." (in en). https://www.modernretail.co/operations/an-act-of-desperation-why-the-container-store-needed-a-lifeline-from-beyond-inc/.
17. ↑ Jansen, Caroline (2002-01-04). "The Container Store acquires Closet Works for $21.5M" (in en-US). https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-container-store-acquires-closet-works-for-215m/616620/.
18. ↑ Delesline III, Nate (2024-10-16). "Beyond to invest $40M in The Container Store" (in en-US). https://www.retaildive.com/news/beyond-invest-40m-container-store/729995/.
19. ↑ Valinsky, Jordan (2024-12-23). "The Container Store files for bankruptcy" (in en). https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/23/investing/container-store-bankruptcy/index.html.
20. ↑ Wilson, Marianne (January 28, 2025). "Container Store exits bankruptcy" (in en). https://chainstoreage.com/container-store-exits-bankruptcy.
21. ↑ "Court Approves Container Store Lender-Backed Bankruptcy Exit Plan - ABF Journal" (in en-US). 2025-01-27. https://www.abfjournal.com/court-approves-container-store-lender-backed-bankruptcy-exit-plan/.
22. ↑ Howland, Daphne (March 20, 2025). "The Container Store CEO Satish Malhotra is out | Retail Dive" (in en-US). https://www.retaildive.com/news/container-store-ceo-satish-malhotra-exits/743061/.
23. ↑ Goel, Dominick Reuter, Shubhangi. "The CEO of The Container Store resigns weeks after the company exited bankruptcy" (in en-US). https://www.businessinsider.com/the-container-store-ceo-resigns-satish-malhotra-2025-3.
24. ↑ Cao, Sean (2025-03-21). "Container Store CEO exits, replaced by a team" (in en-US). https://insideretail.us/container-store-ceo-exits-replaced-by-a-team/.
25. ↑ Hays, Constance L. (Dec 23, 1998). "Service Takes a Holiday; These Days the Customer Isn't Always Treated Right". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/23/business/service-takes-a-holiday-these-days-the-customer-isn-t-always-treated-right.html?pagewanted=all.
26. ↑ Powers, Vicki (Nov 1, 2004). "Finding Workers Who Fit". CNNMoney.com. https://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2004/11/01/8189362/index.htm.
27. ↑ "Store Locations". http://www.containerstore.com/locations/index.htm.

## External links

* Official website

Template:Leonard Green

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