Bi-Mart is an employee-owned chain of retailers located in the U.S. states of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. A typical Bi-Mart houses merchandise including electronics and small appliances, housewares, hardware and power tools, sporting goods, automotive, apparel, canned and packaged food, personal care products, and, through the end of 2021, a pharmacy at many locations. The median size of a Bi-Mart store is . As of mid-2018, there are 79 store locations. Like

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

and Sam's Club, Bi-Mart stores are membership stores; unlike those chains, its members-only policy started as a workaround to

fair trade law A fair trade law was a statute in any of various states of the United States that permitted manufacturers the right to specify the minimum retail price of a commodity, a practice known as "price maintenance". Such laws first appeared in 1931 durin ...

s established in the United States in the 1930s such as the Miller-Tydings Act and those related to

suggested retail price The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

s. Membership for an entire family costs $5 and never expires.

History

The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

. Bi-Mart's first store opened in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

in 1955, but it did not open a second store until 1962. In 1976, Bi-Mart was bought by

Pay 'n Save Pay 'n Save was a retail company founded by Monte Lafayette Bean in Seattle, Washington in 1940. Over the years, Pay 'n Save was the leading drugstore chain in Washington and was the owner of several Washington-based retailers including Lamonts ...

, which itself was acquired by Thrifty Corporation in 1984. It was subsequently merged into the former Kmart subsidiary

PayLess Drug Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles-based TCH Corporation, the pa ...

, and finally purchased by Rite Aid in 1996. In 1997, Bi-Mart's management and Endeavour Capital (a Portland-based

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

firm) bought the company; they sold it to employees March 1, 2004, for $94 million, which included $12.5 million contributed from the

401(k) In the United States, a 401(k) plan is an employer-sponsored, defined-contribution, personal pension (savings) account, as defined in subsection 401(k) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Periodical employee contributions come directly out of their ...

plan. Bi-Mart is the sole surviving store name of former Pay 'n Save subsidiaries. (

Schucks Auto Supply CSK Auto, Inc. was a specialty retailer of automotive parts and accessories in the western United States. CSK Auto became a publicly traded company in March 1998, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew through a combination of acquisitions ...

retained its name until acquired by

O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. is an American auto parts retailer that provides automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment, and accessories to professional service providers and do-it-yourself customers. Founded in 1957 by the O’Rei ...

and rebranded in 2010.) In October 2003, Bi-Mart announced it was expanding eastward. Eight stores were planned with the first store in Havre, Montana. The second store opened three years later in Weiser, Idaho. In 2006, Bi-Mart exited the

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

market due to poor sales.

Pharmacy closures

In 2019, Bi-Mart announced the closure of pharmacies at their East Wenatchee, Washington location, two locations in Vancouver, Washington, and their location in

Scappoose, Oregon Scappoose is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for a nearby stream, which drains the southern part of the county. The name "Scappoose" is of Native American origin, and is said to mean "gravelly plain."

. Bi-Mart announced in November, 2019 that it will also close pharmacies at an additional 13 stores in the Portland area. The stores affected by the pharmacy closures will remain open. On September 30, 2021, Bi-Mart announced that they will close most of their remaining in-store pharmacies, and prescription files will be transferred to nearby

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

locations. In select rural areas where there is no Walgreens nearby, Walgreens will take over and operate the existing pharmacy departments inside those Bi-Mart locations. The locations that will retain a pharmacy and operate under Walgreens ownership are: Monmouth, Eugene (18th Ave), Stayton, Klamath Falls, Corvalis (53rd st), Junction City, Veneta, La Pine, Prineville, and Weiser, ID.

Cascade Farm and Outdoor

In 2014, Bi-Mart opened its first location under the Cascade Farm and Outdoor name in Walla Walla, Washington. Bi-Mart announced that they were looking at empty buildings in a variety of locations for future stores. Additional locations have since opened in Coos Bay, Oregon and Keizer, Oregon. Unlike Bi-Mart's regular stores, a membership is not required at Cascade Farm and Outdoor.

References

External links

*
Smaller and steady win the race
a December 2004 article from ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' {{ORCompanies Companies based in Eugene, Oregon Retail companies established in 1955 Discount stores of the United States Economy of the Northwestern United States Employee-owned companies of the United States Pay 'n Save 1955 establishments in Oregon