G.I. Joe's was a privately owned retail chain for

sporting goods Sports equipment, sporting equipment, also called sporting goods, are the tools, materials, apparel, and gear used to compete in a sport and varies depending on the sport. The equipment ranges from balls, nets, and protective gear like helmets. ...

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing ...

clothing, and

auto parts This is a list of auto parts, mostly for vehicles using internal combustion engines which are manufactured components of automobiles: Car body and main parts Body components, including trim Doors Windows Low voltage/auxiliary ele ...

; that operated stores in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

region of the

northwestern United States The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...

. ''Growing Up With G.I. Joe's — From war surplus store in a tent to Pacific Northwest retail chain, how Ed Orkney built G.I. Joe's''
by his daughter Janna Orkney; Columbia Press 2015; . Founded in 1952, the company had as many as 31 stores, located in

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 o ...

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 ...

. It was based in

Wilsonville, Oregon Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. It was founded as Boones Landing because of th ...

. In 2007, the company changed its name to Joe's. In 2009, it filed for

bankruptcy 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 was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

20th-century history

G.I. Joe's began in 1952 when Edward Orkney purchased

army surplus Military surplus are goods, usually matériel, that are sold or otherwise disposed of when held in excess or are no longer needed by the military. Entrepreneurs often buy these goods and resell them at surplus stores. Usually the goods sold by ...

sleeping bags and then set up a tent in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, to sell them to the public. Orkney sold out of the sleeping bags and then started selling other army surplus merchandise in a store that then doubled in size by 1956, making it Portland's largest retailer of sporting goods and outdoor gear. During the 1960s, Orkney transitioned the company away from military surplus and towards an eclectic combination of sporting goods, automotive parts, and hardware; the 1970s saw the company become a chain within the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro, ...

, with its line of merchandise expanding to include

houseware Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the rooms of a house, such as a bed or refrigerator. Economic role Businesses that produce household goods are categor ...

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...

and

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

supplies, and apparel. In 1976, Orkney died and his son, David Orkney, took over the business. A distribution center was built in 1979 in Wilsonville, with that facility expanded in 1986.Joe's Sports & Outdoor plans to expand distribution center.
''

Portland Business Journal Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

'', August 28, 2007. G.I. Joe's opened its eighth store, located 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 ...

, in 1983. At the time, the company also operated 16 The Jean Machine stores, and the two chains had combined annual revenue of $68 million in 1982. In 1991 the chain expanded to the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

market and had increased to 14 stores with revenue of $135 million. The next year David Orkney stepped down as the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and longtime-employee Norm Daniels assumed the role. The new Seattle store was about the same size as the Portland area stores, but re-focused on two product lines: automotive parts and sporting goods. In 1998, the company made plans to go public by issuing an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

(IPO) of stock to the general public. The plan was to use the cash from the sale of shares to fund an expansion program in order to become more of a regional chain. The company even filed with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

in late 1998 for an IPO, but the next year the plan was withdrawn when the expected price per share was not as high as had been hoped for by the company. By 2000, revenue had increased to $161 million from 17 stores, making G.I. Joe's the 12th largest sporting goods retailer in the United States, and largest in the Pacific Northwest. It was also the 142nd largest retailer overall in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by revenue in 2000.

G.I. Joe's changes to Joe's

On February 5, 2007, G.I. Joe's was sold to Gryphon Investors in a

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

deal that was later reported to be for about $50 million. In March 2007, the newly acquired company announced that it was dropping the "G. I." from its name to become simply Joe's in order to better reflect its product line, which had not included military surplus in many years. The name change took effect on April 1, 2007. Also that year, the company opened its 28th store, and first in Idaho with a store in

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

, and announced plans to build a new distribution center at its headquarters in Wilsonville. The company was a regular presenting sponsor of the annual C.A.R.T. race in Portland before the event ended after the 2007 race. In January 2008, Hal Smith replaced Norm Daniels as the company's CEO.Joe's names new president.
''

'', January 14, 2008. The company hit a high of $274 million in revenue for the sales year ending in 2008.

Demise

December 2008 sales dropped off by 10%, partly due to winter snowstorms in the Northwest that paralyzed major cities as Christmas approached. Joe's then fell into violation of several loan covenants with its main lenders. Despite some efforts by the owners to infuse capital into the company, the lenders declined to restructure the loans and loan more money to Joe's. On March 4, 2009, the chain filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy 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, whe ...

reorganization with hopes of selling the company. Although the company had hoped "that some portion of the business could survive", "insufficient sources of capital" meant that the company had to accept a bid from a liquidator,

Gordon Brothers Gordon Brothers Group, which has its headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, is a liquidation and restructuring firm that was founded in 1903 by Jacob Gordon. Notable liquidations *CompUSA * G.I. Joe's *KB Toys *Linens 'n Things *Music World *Th ...

. The company began liquidation sales on April 10, 2009, and all stores were closed by the end of May with 1600 employees laid off. In June 2009, a general contractor for

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized as "DICK'S Sporting Goods") is an American sporting goods retail company, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The company was established by Richard "Dick" Stack in 1948, and has approximately 854 stores an ...

announced it would begin renovating the former Joe's location in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many high-technology companies, ...

, into what will be the second Dick's Sporting Goods in the state. Dick's later took over five other former Joe's locations in Oregon, and along with the Hillsboro site, all had been part of the plan by the former managers to resurrect a small part of the company. Another Joe's in

Meridian, Idaho Meridian is a city located in Ada County in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, the population of Meridian was 117,635, making it the second largest city in Idaho after Boise. Meridian is considered the state's fastest-growing city an ...

was acquired by Dick's in January 2010 for a March opening.

Restart attempt

In January 2010, former Joe's executives established a small storefront in a strip mall in the Portland suburb of

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West B ...

, in attempt to start a new version of the old company, but using the original G.I. Joe's moniker. Within six months, the attempt had failed after the former executives, a group that included the son of the G.I. Joe's founder Edward Orkney, were sued for trademark infringement by UFA Holdings, the company that had acquired the right to the name and related trademarks such as "Seize the Weekend". The former executives had thought they had

legal standing Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. ...

since the UFA wasn't actively using the name.

Online subsidiary

In addition to the retail stores, G.I. Joe's operated an online subsidiary called Joe's Direct. Joe's Direct was created in late 1998 when Timberline Direct, a catalog and electronic commerce firm based in

, was acquired by the company for $5.4 million. The online presence was operated by

GSI Commerce eBay Enterprise, Inc. (formerly GSI Commerce, Inc.) was a multinational e-commerce corporation that specialized in creating, developing and running online shopping sites for brick and mortar brands and retailers. The company also provided a varie ...

, and was sold to Canada-based UFA Co-operative Limited. As of June 2010, UFA uses the domains it acquired to redirect traffic to a website for its U.S. sporting goods business, Wholesale Sports.

History book

''Growing Up With G.I. Joe's'' was published in November 2015 by Columbia Press. It was written by Janna Orkney, the store founder Ed Orkney's daughter, and tells the story of G.I. Joe's founding and growth.

References

External links

Growing Up With G.I. Joe's Blog''Growing Up With G.I. Joe's''
— ''book by Janna Orkney''. {{Authority control Defunct retail companies of the United States Automotive part retailers of the United States Sporting goods retailers of the United States Defunct companies based in Oregon Companies based in Wilsonville, Oregon American companies established in 1952 Retail companies established in 1952 Retail companies disestablished in 2009 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009 1952 establishments in Oregon 2009 disestablishments in Oregon