Handy Dan Home Improvement was an American home improvement store Amnon Barness, an Israeli immigrant. It went out of business in May, 1989.http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SAEC&p_theme=saec&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAFE7444964D657&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
By 1972, the company operated 30 stores in California, Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma. It made an initial offering in November, which led to Daylin, Inc. owning 81% of Handy Dan.[1] Daylin filed for bankruptcy in February 1975, though it's subsidiaries we're not including in the Chapter 11 proceedings.[2] Handy Dan was one of the few assets the company didn't sell during this time.[3]
Bernard Marcus was CEO of Handy Dan in 1978 when he was fired along with company vice president Arthur Blank amid a corporate power struggle with Daylin CEO Sanford C. Sigoloff. Marcus and Blank went on to found Home Depot.[4] [5]
Daylin was purchased by W. R. Grace and Company in 1979.[6] In 1986, Grace's retail home improvement division, which included Handy Dan and Channel Home Centers, was sold to the division's executives through a leveraged buyout.[7]
Handy Dan played a major role in getting Texas's religion-based blue laws repealed in 1984 by opening on Sunday and using white price stickers for goods that could be sold seven days a week, and blue price stickers for items that could not be sold on Sunday.[8]