Lerner Shops

"An Israeli emigrant, Riklis had started out with a stake of just $ 25,000, buying and combining small companies in the 1950s. By the time he met Milken in about 1970, Riklis controlled a conglomerate, Rapid-American, which had sales of close to $ 2 billion. It included such companies as International Playtex, Schenley Industries, Lerner Shops and RKO–Stanley Warner Theatres. What Riklis had done was acquire one company and then use its assets to acquire the next, and that company’s to acquire the next, in ever larger circles. He acquired these companies by issuing mainly bonds, or debt, in exchange for the company’s stock. As Riklis liked to say, Rapid-American owed its success to “the effective nonuse of cash.”"

"An Israeli emigrant, Riklis had started out with a stake of just $25,000, buying and combining small companies in the 1950s. By the time he met Milken in about 1970, Riklis controlled a conglomerate, Rapid-American, which had sales of close to $2 billion. It included such companies as International Playtex, Schenley Industries, Lerner Shops and RKO–Stanley Warner Theatres. What Riklis had done was acquire one company and then use its assets to acquire the next, and that company’s to acquire the next, in ever larger circles. He acquired these companies by issuing mainly bonds, or debt, in exchange for the company’s stock. As Riklis liked to say, Rapid-American owed its success to “the effective nonuse of cash.”"

"In New York, he marvels at how the successful fashion chain Lerner Shops can sell inexpensive clothes in large volumes so quickly and effectively. Similar to how his father sold charcuterie. In the shops in New York, several cashiers stood at the register working solely on handling payments. No long fittings, which women usually love. Here, customers handled such things themselves. Could this work back home? Fashion sold as if it were fresh ham?"