Eastern Mountain Sports (or EMS) is an outdoor

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

and equipment

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

er in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

headquartered in

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 2020, the population of the city was 60,850.White Mountains in

North Conway North Conway is a census-designated place (CDP) and village in eastern Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,116 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, North Conway is the second-largest village within the town ...

, NH; and has other locations near the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

in NY, etc.

History

EMS was founded in 1967 in Wellesley, Massachusetts by two camping enthusiasts – Alan McDonough, who was running the family hotel chain, and Roger Furst, a lawyer whose office was in the McDonough complex. They targeted the outdoor equipment market in Boston. The first store on Linden St. in Wellesley carried the Gerry outdoor equipment line as well as downhill skis. Mountain Shop Ad 1967

In 1968, the two enterprises merged and built the 1041 Commonwealth Avenue store – at 10,000 sq. ft. McDonough and Furst sold the company in 1979 to The

Franklin Mint The Franklin Mint is a private mint founded by Joseph Segel in 1964 in Wawa, Pennsylvania. The building is in Middletown Township. The brand name was previously owned by Sequential Brands Group headquartered in New York City, New York. It is ...

, which was acquired by

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

in 1981. Four years later Warner sold the Mint but retained EMS, subsequently selling it to the American Retail Group, owned by the

Brenninkmeijer family Brenninkmeijer (german: Brenninkmeyer) is a Roman Catholic Dutch/German/Swiss family of manufacturers, which own an international chain of clothing stores. Originally the family came from Tecklenburger Land (Westphalia), selling linen in Frie ...

. In July 2003 Will Manzer became President and CEO and shifted the company focus back towards specialty outdoors gear. A new

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wordma ...

, store reorganization, and a shift from stores in shopping malls to freestanding community-based stores followed. American Retail Group sold Eastern Mountain Sports to investors led by J.H. Whitney & Company in 2004. Bob Mayerson was announced as new president in March 2010, as Will Manzer continued leading the company. In 2012, Versa Capital Management bought EMS from J.H. Whitney and Mark Walsh became CEO. In April 2016, Vestis Retail Group, the Versa Capital-owned unit which owned the Sport Chalet and

Bob's Stores Bob's Stores is a chain of retail stores in the northeastern United States owned by GoDigital Media Group. Founded as Bob's Surplus in Middletown, Connecticut, by Robert "Bob" Lapidus in 1954, the chain expanded gradually until it was acquired by ...

sporting goods chains as well as Eastern Mountain, announced it had filed for

bankruptcy protection Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and reorganization under

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

of the United States Bankruptcy Code. Vestis said it would reorganize and focus on the operations of Eastern Mountain and Bob's, while all Sport Chalet stores would close. On 19 April 2017, Sports Direct International plc (

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

) received permission to acquire

and Eastern Mountain Sports following Eastern Outfitters LLC's

filing. In May 2022, Bob's Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports was acquired by

GoDigital Media Group GoDigital Media Group (GDMG) is a diversified multi-national conglomerate founded in 2006 by Jason Peterson and headquartered in Los Angeles. GDMG focuses on intellectual property rights management through divisions in music, video networks, and ...

as part of its strategy to generate synergy between content, community and commerce.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Economy of the Northeastern United States Sporting goods retailers of the United States Online retailers of the United States American companies established in 1967 Retail companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in Massachusetts Sports Direct Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017