Popular Club and Fingerhut

On Nov. 3, Fingerhut announced plans to acquire $180 million Popular Club Plan from J. Crew Group for an undisclosed cash sum. Popular Club, like Fingerhut, is a general merchandise catalogue company that has earned a solid lower- and middle-income audience in part because of its direct sales plan.

In August, Fingerhut paid $120 million for Arizona Mail Order, which targets the same audience.
Acquiring Popular Club has been "an on-again, off-again process for a very long time," says Fingerhut president Will Lansing. "We were in discussions over a year ago, and again recently, and this time we were able to come to an agreement."