User:Ben-jammin-beckvold/sandbox

Mitch Kucia (Pronunciation as Mitch Kucia) is an American lunatic.

David Schlessinger, founder of Encore Books and Zainy Brainy, and Tom Vellios, former CEO of Zainy Brainy and current Executive Chairman of Five Below, set out to create the “yes store!” for tweens and teens. They landed on the ultimate kids’ brand: “Five Below means you never pay more than $5 for the coolest, trendiest stuff you just gotta have!”

In 2017, Five Below’s tagline of “hot stuff. cool prices.” changed to “let go & have fun!”

Five Below opened its first store at the Gateway Shopping Center in Wayne, PA on October 4, 2002. Today, Five Below has over 750 stores employing over 9,000 associates along with two distribution centers. It began its outward expansion beyond the Philadelphia Metro area by entering the Illinois and Michigan markets in 2011; Georgia, Kansas, Missouri and Western Michigan in 2012; Texas in 2013; Tennessee in 2014; Alabama, Florida and Kentucky in 2015; Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin in 2016, California in 2017; and Arkansas in 2018. Five Below in 2019 publicly stated that they could build as many as 2,500 U.S. stores in the future. Nebraska and Iowa have already been introduced in 2019.

On July 19, 2012, Five Below went public on the NASDAQ at the share price of $17. In 2014, Joel Anderson was appointed CEO. 2016 sales hit $1,000,000,000, 2017 sales hit $1,300,000,000 and 2018 sales hit $1,560,000,000.

Products carried by Five Below offer a broad range of trendy merchandise for tween and teen customers. Five Below offers a dynamic, edited assortment of exciting products in a fun and differentiated store environment, all priced at $5 and below.

Select brands and licensed merchandise fall into the Five Below departments: Tech, Play, Room, Style, Create, Party, Candy, New&Now.

Private Label Brands

-Series-8 Fitness™, fitness/workout gear.

- room 2 room™, room décor & organization

-Metropack™, backpacks/pencil pouches

Store Experience

An average Five Below store size is 8,000 sq. ft., and each encompasses a full “treasure hunt” shopping experience. Five Below highlights the actual store experience over the necessity of shopping. “It’s being swept-up in unpredictability that’s key: surprise mixed with affordability,” said David Makuen, executive vice president of marketing and strategy. Loud music, animated store associates and copious colorful merchandise priced $1-$5 make up Five Below stores.

“If you spend time in a dollar store or mass merchant like Target or Walmart, it’s not really about letting go because you’re there to meet your needs.” said Makuen. “Our purpose is really simple: We want customers to be able to let go and have fun.”

Five Below calls their store associates “The Wow Crew.” Their purpose is to bring the WOW for $5 and below, and see how big they can make customers smile! They encourage customers to “let go & have fun”, let loose and explore the hundreds of Five Below products that jump, fly, zoom, boom, bounce, float, taste, connect, and pop in eight different departments: Tech, Style, Room, Play, Create, Party, Candy, and New & Now.

Distribution Centers

Five Below has three open distribution centers. One is located in Olive Branch, MS another in Pedricktown, NJ, and the newest opened in Forsyth, GA in May 2019.

Corporate Affairs

Headquarters

In 2018, Five Below moved its corporate headquarters, now called WowTown, to the Lit Brothers Building in the Market East section of Philadelphia, PA, and has rights to more than 200,000 square feet. WowTown has 300+ employees.

Philanthropy

Since 2005, Five Below has contributed over $19 million for organizations around the country who focus on the well-being of children. They have partnered with and supported Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation with the sale of lemonade bracelets, gift cards and pin-ups.

Since 2008, Five Below has participated in the annual Halloween Promotion benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

After Hurricane Sandy, Five Below partnered with the American Red Cross and collected over $50,000 through a $1 donation at the register program. They then doubled all donations resulting in a donation in the total of $100,000.

In 2018, Five Below became an official Toys for Tots sponsor.

Differentiation From Competitors

Five Below is a store where tweens and teens are free to let go and have fun in a treasure hunt shopping experience. Everything, every day, is always $5 or less. In 2016, Five Below launched fivebelow.com, which consisted of an edited, curated assortment of products. Today, Five Below sells thousands of products online.

= Hackney Wicked = Annual arts festival whose mission is to highlight the diverse creative talent of Hackney Wick in London.

The first Hackney Wicked festival took place from the 8th to 19th of August 2008. It was started by local artists and supported by The Residence Gallery, Elevator Gallery, Decima Gallery and The Wallis Gallery

It became an annual event with more artists and venues across Hackney Wick getting involved and supporting the event. In 2019 the official website advertised 90 artists, 55 Venues and 75 events.

The event has become popular, being listed London what's on guides.

The event receives funding from the Arts Council England. It receives support from the artists in Hackney Wick. Key supporters of the event include:

The Residence Gallery, Elevator Gallery, Decima Gallery,  The Wallis Gallery, SEE Studio, Coracle Regatta, Openvizor, Create, CRATE Brewery, Gavin Turk, Schwartz Gallery, Stour Space, Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery,  Arts Council England.

The events official website is hackneywicked.co.uk