Cloud 9

**Cloud 9**  Superstore
**Location**:
Nationwide — **First Appearance**: "Pilot"

## Background of Cloud 9

By 1940 the nation was gearing up for war. With an opportunity to serve serve his country, Anderson joined the Navy. He landed in the procurement division at Savannah, and would learn skills that would later serve him in his first retail enterprise. His cheerful demeanor in the face of stress of logistics during wartime earned him the name Doug "Cloud 9" Anderson. ("Sandra's Fight")
After two years of duty at Savannah, Anderson returned to civilian life. His Navy connections helped land him a position supplying the canteen with merchandise at the Naval Station Great Lakes, north of Chicago in late 1944. But shortly thereafter, the war ended and the needs of the Navy diminished, and his contract was canceled. ("Sandra's Fight")
With soldiers returning in droves back home, and starting families, Anderson decided the timing was perfect to strike out on his own and open his first shop. With a lease in hand and perfect location on Chicago Avenue in Evanston, only the name remained. ("Sandra's Fight")
Waiting until the last minute at the city business licensing office, he was asked by the impatient clerk for the business name, the only blank spot on his application. Anderson decided on the spot, Cloud 9, his Navy nickname, would have to do. ("Sandra's Fight")
The Evanston location was opened in March 1948 as a general merchandise store. Touting low prices and a large selection of goods. Cloud 9 saw early success at its Chicago Avenue shop. Customers loved having the selection the city, without having to leave the neighborhood and head to the Loop in Downtown Chicago to shop. ("Sandra's Fight")
By 1951, The United States had now entered into the post-war boom. Business was growing and Anderson was quick to follow his customers to the fast growing suburbs. With new homes to be furnished and families to be fed and clothed. Cloud 9 saw its business soar in the early 50's. Five new locations were added in Greater Chicago and employee count topped 100 under CEO Ray Maxwell. ("Sandra's Fight")
In 1955, Cloud 9 officially became Cloud 9 Superstore. The new name sat well with customers desires to find many categories of goods under one roof. Average square footage per store doubled during the decade of the 50's. ("Sandra's Fight")
By 1977, under CEO Jim Jensen, Cloud 9 realized its path forward would have to include the large, but competitive markets on the coasts.With stores in Virginia and California, Cloud 9 Superstores now spanned America, coast to coast. During the 1970's, Cloud 9 became the fifth largest national retailer and employed over 30,000. ("Sandra's Fight")
Following the expansion of the early 1980's, Cloud 9 began rapid expansion, not only to all of the lower 48 states, but to Canada, Mexico & Japan. The 80's later saw Cloud 9 grow from 128 to 337 stores. In 1982, employee count topped 70,000. ("Sandra's Fight")
In 1997, Cloud 9 was quick to harness the growth of computerized tracking and growth modeling. In the late 90's the previously centralized distribution channel was diversified to regional centers, helping profitability jump. ("Sandra's Fight")
After Neil Penderson became CEO in 2005, Cloud 9 realized the growing diversity of the United States and its stable of stores around the world. In 2006, Cloud 9 began its industry leading diversity hiring program, successfully lifting minority employee count from an average of 15% per share to nearly 40%. ("Sandra's Fight")
Today, Cloud 9 has stores in all 50 states, 19 countries and employs over 65,000 people worldwide. ("Sandra's Fight")
The Cloud 9 Superstores of today are dynamic market segment leaders in a number of categories like Sporting Goods and Outdoor Furniture. Growth and expansion continues today with an average new store opening every 30 days. ("Sandra's Fight")
Cloud 9 Superstores are also market leaders worldwide. In the European Union, Cloud 9 Superstores have 40% of the mass market share. In India, sales growth has been over 15% year over year for a decade. ("Sandra's Fight")

## Company Policies

* The corporation limits employee hours to under 40 per week and initially, does not offer maternity leave. ("Labor") By 2018, six weeks maternity leave is offered if the employee has worked at Cloud 9 for one contiguous year. ("Maternity Leave") It docks employee pay for bathroom breaks. ("Back to Work")
* It also does not offer health insurance or pay overtime to its employees. ("Dog Adoption Day") However in 2017, it's mentioned that the company does provide health insurance but the deductible is $4000. ("Health Fund")
* Employees can only take one bathroom break per shift, have 15 minutes for lunch and cannot buy or set aside produce while working. ("Dog Adoption Day")
* Employees cannot wear hats, skirts must be below the knee, bosoms fully covered and no racial remarks (even positive ones) can be made. ("Amnesty")
* Corporate allocates a budget of $27,000 for miscellaneous maintenance to stores.("Minor Crimes")
* Rule 17-B states, any employee who completes the Cloud 9 Academy should be granted an interview if a management position becomes available at their store.("Minor Crimes")
* In a Store Manager contract - Section 5, paragraph K salary of the Employee shall be paid at the rate of $109,000 annually ($109,000 + $10,000 annual bonus) and Section 6 refers to non disclosure agreement."("Salary")

## Spokespeople / Mascots

* Kyle
* MC Cool Cloud

**Why didn't they make it a superhero?**

**You can't handle the tooth!**

## Gallery

**Cloud 9 HQ, Chicago, Illinois**.**Cloud 9 Beijing, China**.**Cloud 9 Mumbai, India**.
## Trivia

* Cloud 9 has an awards ceremony called "Integrity Awards". ("Integrity Award")
* Cloud 9 has been featured in the show "Good Girls"

## References

1. ↑ Mentioned in Shoplifter Rehab
2. ↑ Mentioned in Managers' Conference
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Seen on display at Cloud 9 Headquarters in Sandra's Fight
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Mentioned in "Good Girls" episode "Pick Your Poison"
5. ↑ Seen in "The Mindy Project" episode "Under the Texan Sun".
6. ↑ Seen in "Good Girls" episode "Atom Bomb" and other episodes.
7. ↑ Seen in "Good Girls" Episode "Take Off Your Pants"
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Seen in Town Hall