Five Below, Inc.
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Company History
Founded 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
David Schlessinger and Tom Vellios incorporated the company in January 2002 as Cheap Holdings and changed the name to Five Below in August 2002. The idea was simple but powerful: create a place where young customers could say yes to a wide range of fun products because most items cost $5 or less.
Five Below possesses a pragmatic, experienced founding story, rooted in the realization that the traditional, heavily saturated discount retail market had abandoned a lucrative demographic. The company was founded in 2002 by David Schlessinger and Tom Vellios in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both founders possessed foundational experience in extreme-value retail. Schlessinger had previously founded Encore Books and the Zany Brainy educational toy chain (which was successful before eventually failing during a retail consolidation). Vellios was a brilliant retail executive who had served as the CEO of Zany Brainy. Following the collapse of Zany Brainy, the two founders recognized a glaring hole in the retail landscape. discount stores like Dollar General and Dollar Tree were focused on impoverished adults buying basic necessities. mall retailers were focused on expensive, high-end teen fashion. no one was creating an engaging, extreme-value store specifically designed for the 'tween' market (kids aged 8 to 14). Their foundational vision was to create a vibrant, loud, and fun store environment that felt like a treasure hunt. They heavily focused on trendy, impulsive categories (like cheap tech accessories, candy, and bedroom decor). Their disciplined execution of the $5 price point provided incredible clarity for both the supply chain and the consumer. They opened their very first store in Wayne, Pennsylvania in 2002. By heavily utilizing their past experience in retail logistics and avoiding the expensive leases of traditional enclosed malls (preferring cheaper, strip centers), Schlessinger and Vellios built a profitable, hyper-growth retail phenomenon out of cheap, trendy merchandise.
Vellios co-founded Five Below and helped develop the store prototype, merchandising approach, and early expansion model.
David Schlessinger and Tom Vellios found the company and open the first store in the greater Philadelphia area.
Five Below completes its IPO and begins trading on Nasdaq under the ticker FIVE.
Five Below launches e-commerce, adding digital reach to the store-led model.
Winnie Y. Park joins Five Below as president and CEO in December 2024.
Five Below ends fiscal 2025 with 1,921 stores across 46 states and $4.764B in net sales.
Since its establishment in 2002, Five Below, Inc. expanded from an early-stage venture into a recognized leader in Specialty Value Retail, overcoming key market challenges.
Over its history, Five Below, Inc. executed decisive strategic pivots toward scalable monetization and digital distribution, securing its current market leadership.
By continually modernizing operations and embracing workflow automation, Five Below, Inc. maintains resilience through changing technological and economic cycles.