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E. J. Korvette

Logo: E. J. Korvette, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

American chain of discount department stores (1948–1980)

E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvette’s, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 in New York City. It was one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting statutes. Founded by World War II veteran Eugene Ferkauf and his friend, Joe Zwillenberg, E. J. Korvette did much to define the idea of a discount department store.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1948Founded1
  • Industryretail1
  • HeadquartersNew York City1

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34th St Bway 6th Av td (2018-09-10) 04 - Herald Center
Photo: Tdorante10, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

E. J. Korvette, also known as Korvette’s, was an American chain of discount department stores, founded in 1948 in New York City. It was one of the first department stores to challenge the suggested retail price provisions of anti-discounting statutes. Founded by World War II veteran Eugene Ferkauf and his friend, Joe Zwillenberg, E. J. Korvette did much to define the idea of a discount department store. It displaced earlier five and dime retailers and preceded later discount stores, like Walmart, and warehouse clubs such as Costco.2

The story

According to Korvette's founder, Eugene Ferkauf, who died on June 5, 2012, the name "E. J. Korvette" was coined as a combination of the initials of its founders (Eugene and Joe) and a re-spelling of the naval term corvette, a nimble sailing warship and later World War II sub-destroyer. The company's founding in 1948 (two years before the Korean War) disproves the urban legend that the name was an acronym for "Eight (or Eleven) Jewish Korean War Veterans". Founders Ferkauf and Zwillenberg, however, were Jewish.

Korvette name in Canada

In the absence of the U.S. Korvette chain in Canada, a discount store chain was launched in Quebec in 1958 using the name "Korvette Stores Limited" (now "Les Magasins Korvette Ltée") without any affiliation to the American company. The chain still exists today and operates 71 discount stores as of May 2015.

From Wikipedia’s article on E. J. Korvette, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Timeline

  1. 1980Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1948Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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