Description
Franchise Group is an American holding company that owns retail companies and companies that specialize in the preparation of tax returns. It is the third largest tax preparation franchise in the United States. The company began in Canada in 1997 when John Hewitt, co-founder of Jackson Hewitt, acquired a Canadian tax franchisor, U&R Tax Depot. In 1998, the company became Liberty Tax Service and opened five offices in the United States. Liberty Tax Service is the company's primary subsidiary. On September 19, 2019, the company changed its name to Franchise Group, Inc.
History
Liberty Tax Service appeared on Forbes "Top 20 Franchises for the Buck" in 2012. Liberty Tax Service is well known for its wavers, people in Statue of Liberty costumes and Uncle Sam costumes, used as a form of guerrilla marketing. On October 28, 2011, a flash mob of costumed Lady Libertys danced in Times Square to promote Liberty Tax Service and celebrate the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
Diversification
On July 10, 2019, Liberty Tax completed the acquisition of Buddy’s Newco, LLC, the parent company of Buddy's Home Furnishings, a chain of 293 company-owned and franchisee rent-to-own stores with locations in the United States and Guam, 90% of which are operated by franchisees.
In August 2019, the company announced the pending acquisition of The Vitamin Shoppe, a chain of vitamin supplement stores found in malls and shopping centers. On September 19, 2019, the company changed its name to Franchise Group, Inc. to reflect the company's expansion into general retail.
On October 23, 2019, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores completed its sale of Sears Outlet to Franchise Group while Transform Holdco completed the acquisition of the remainder of Sears Hometown at the end of the same business day.
The acquisition of The Vitamin Shoppe was completed in December 2019.
In December 2019, the company announced the pending acquisition of American Freight, a discount furniture and home furnishing retail chain, from an affiliate of the Jordan Company for approximately $450 million in cash. The acquisition was completed in February 2020 after company received a $675 million loan to finance this acquisition and to restructure the debt incurred upon the previous acquisitions of Buddy’s Home Furnishings and Sears Outlet. It was also announced that the company plans to merge Sears Outlet into America Freight with the store rebranding completed by April 2020.
Founder
John Hewitt began his career at H&R Block as a tax preparer in 1969 and was later promoted to regional director of 250 offices. In 1982, he went on to found Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, which he grew to over 1,300 offices until it was sold for $483 million in 1997.
