John Francis Geisse (September 1, 1920 – February 21, 1992) was an American businessman. He founded three successful

retail chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

s: Target Discount Stores,

Venture Stores Venture Stores, Inc. was a chain of retail stores aimed at the discount department-store market. John Geisse, formerly of Target Stores, and May Department Stores' executive vice president, Dave Babcock, founded the chain in 1968. Venture Store ...

, and The Wholesale Club (which merged in 1991 with

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

Early life and education

Geisse was born on September 1, 1920, in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

, the son of aeronautical inventor John Harlin and Esther (née Wattawa) Geisse. He grew up in the Washington, DC, area and attended St. John's College High School. He was set to graduate from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

with the class of 1942, until the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

prompted an early graduation in December 1941. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

in both the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and Atlantic theaters. He left the service in 1947 as a

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

Retail industry career

After leaving the military, he moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, where he began his retail career working for

Dayton's Dayton's was an American department store chain founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1902 by George Draper Dayton. It operated several local high end department stores throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest for almost 100 years. Although it ...

. In 1962, he and Douglas Dayton founded and launched the Target Stores for the Dayton Company, now known as

Target Corporation Target Corporation ( doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a com ...

. In 1968, he left Target Stores and was subsequently hired by

May Department Stores The May Department Stores Company was an American department store holding company, formerly headquartered in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in Leadville, Colorado, by David May in 1877, moving to St. Louis in 1905. After many c ...

, where he founded the

Venture Venture may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 *"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes *''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR Games * ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade gam ...

chain. In 1975, he "retired" from Mays and Venture, and became chairman of the struggling Ayr-Way Stores in Indianapolis. After he turned Ayr-Way Stores around, he became a long-time consultant to his friend

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's ...

and

Wal-Mart Stores Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and to

Ames Department Stores Ames Department Stores Inc. was an American chain of discount stores based in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, United States. The company was founded in 1958 with a store in Southbridge, Massachusetts, and at its peak operated 700 stores in 20 states, ...

and others. In 1982, he founded his third chain, a

warehouse club A warehouse club (or wholesale club) is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers may buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters ...

named The Wholesale Club, that inspired Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to create its

division in 1983. In 1991, he sold The Wholesale Club store chain to Wal-Mart Stores and it was merged with Sam's Club.

Honors

He authored the ''Better Quality Upscale Discount Store Concept in America'', and was inducted into the ''Discount Store News'' Discount Hall of Fame in 1984. Sam Walton, who often consulted Geisse, called him "a pioneer in innovative retailing concepts".

Personal life

Geisse was married to the former Mary Ann Wakeen. Together, they had 10 children. Geisse died of a heart attack in Indianapolis in 1992. He was buried near his parents in

Crown Hill Cemetery Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high point ...

, Indianapolis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geisse, John 1992 deaths American business writers American consultants American consulting businesspeople American retail chief executives Target Corporation people 1920 births Businesspeople from Indianapolis Businesspeople from Madison, Wisconsin United States Naval Academy alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American businesspeople Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery