G.I. Joe's plans to change its name to Joe's. The name change will be effective, April 1.
The name change surfaced in Oregon newspapers, but was confirmed by a call to G.I. Joe's offices in Wilsonville, OR. Exterior store signs have already been changed to reflect the new name, and interior retagging is in the works.
“Joes is what people have called us for years, and as we open stores in new markets, the company wants to be consistent,” Chuck Wines, store manager at G.I. Joe's location in Albany, Oregon, told the Albany Democrat-Herald.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the stores new name will be held at the Albany location at 9 a.m. on Sunday.
“We plan to run clinics all day and host a putting contest fund-raiser for the March of Dimes,” Wines told the newspaper. “Well also have cake and refreshments.”
G.I. Joes was founded in 1952, when World War II Army Air Corps pilot Edward Orkney bought 2,000 Army surplus sleeping bags for $1.50 each. He pitched a tent in a Portland field and quickly sold all his merchandise. After that, he set up shop in an old building in North Portland. The retailers sales mix shifted to sporting goods and auto parts in the seventies and eighties, and lately has shifted primarily to sporting goods and outdoor products.
Today, G.I. Joes has 26 stores in Oregon and Washington. They range in size from 36,000 to 72,000 square feet and generate total revenue of more than $240 million annually. Company headquarters remains in Wilsonville, although the chain was purchased by Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco private equity firm, in February.
