jerry ellis (born gerald elovitz) founded the original store in 1964 with harry andler, when the two joined together to sell a stock of appliances. the original building #19 was located at the former bethlehem hingham shipyard, where the buildings were numbered, and the store retained the nondescript name on the building rather than pay for a new sign. harry andler was doing surplus and salvage business in the shipyard for several years. the unique combination of ellis' advertising flair and andler's expertise in finding and buying distressed merchandise accounts for the early success of the business. aldler bought "good stuff cheap" and ellis let everyone know about it with amusing advertising.