No one who knows Marc Perlman was surprised to see Ocean State Job Lot distribute $15 million worth of personal protective equipment to COVID-19 pandemic first responders and enough fabric for 1.8 million cloth masks in 2020.
Stepping up to meet community needs has long been part of the business model for the discount retailer Perlman started with his brother and a friend in 1977 in North Kingstown. The company started its first food donation program in 2005. And the more the family-owned business has grown – to now more than 140 stores in nine states – the more it’s given back to employees and the communities that support it.
Perlman’s commitment to employee wellness programs has regularly earned accolades from PBN and others, including Forbes magazine. The latter named the company among the country’s best midsized employers in 2017 and 2018.
In 2019 Perlman extended that commitment outside his stores, joining the company’s charitable foundation to open a community wellness center in North Kingstown.
In 1983, company sales passed $5 million. In 2020, sales exceeded $750 million.
After years of bucking the trend toward online selling, the company finally relented amid the pandemic in 2021, offering a host of items that can be purchased online.
Under Perlman’s direction, Ocean State Job Lot’s philanthropic efforts have become as recognizable in Rhode Island as the discount prices that have fueled the company’s remarkable growth story.
