West Marine

Last updated
West Marine
TypePrivate company
IndustrySpecialty retail and wholesale
Founded1968
FounderRandy Repass
Headquarters Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Number of locations
247 [1]
ProductsBoating and fishing
Number of employees
5,000 (varies by season)
Website www.westmarine.com

West Marine is an American company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which operates a chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores. The company has 247 retail stores in North America. West Marine also runs Blue Future [2] a non profit organization. West Marine's flagship store is in Fort Lauderdale. Opened on February 28, 2018, the store is the company's largest at over 50,000 square feet. [3]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 1968 by Randy Repass in Sunnyvale, California, with the name West Coast Ropes, selling nylon rope from Repass' garage. The first retail West Coast Ropes store opened in 1975 in Palo Alto, California. With the acquisition of assets from West Products in 1977, the company changed its name to West Marine Products, Inc. In 1978 West Marine established a wholesale division called Port Supply. In 1991, the first West Marine stores opened on the East Coast of the United States, in Miami and Annapolis, Maryland. In 1993 the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange (symbol WMAR).

In 1996, West Marine merged with E&B Marine, to target a larger customer base of power boat enthusiasts. In 2003 the company acquired the Boat U.S. Product Division.

In December 2007, Geoff Eisenberg replaced Peter Harris as the company's president and chief executive officer. [4]

By 2009, the company was more than three times as large as its nearest competitor, Boater's World, which closed that year, shutting all its stores nationwide.

In April 2012 the company announced that Eisenberg planned to resign. In June 2012, Matt Hyde, a 26-year veteran of REI, became the new president and CEO. [5]

In September 2017, West Marine was acquired by private equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners for $338 million in cash. [6] [7] In October 2017 the company announced that Hyde had left the company. [8]

In January 2018 Doug Robinson was appointed CEO; [9] he left in November 2018. [10] In December 2018, the company announced that Ken Seipel had been appointed CEO. [11]

In April 2021 L Catterton acquired West Marine. [12]

In August 2021 Eric Kufel was appointed as the new CEO. [13]

In December 2022 Chuck Rubin was appointed as the new CEO. In February 2023, Mr. Rubin announced a recapitalization. The press release also identified a new CFO, Jim Grady. [14]

Retailing history

In 1996, West Marine's VP Chuck Hawley and a team led by Webmaster & Catalog Systems Analyst Robert Kennedy launched westmarine.com. It quickly became an early leader in online retailers with catalog call center innovations such as upsell and cross-sell exported into online user experiences.[ citation needed ]

In July 2008, West Marine opened its first franchise store in Istanbul, Turkey. The newly formed company, East Marine Denizcilik ve Turizm A.Ş trades as West Marine Turkey and was majority owned by Rahmi Koç and İbrahim Yazıcı. In March 2009, the second store was opened in Kalamış and June 2009 saw the opening of the third franchise store in Bodrum. The fourth store, in Marmaris, opened in October 2010 with more stores planned around the coast of Turkey. On January 1, 2015, all seven West Marine Franchise stores in Turkey separated from West Marine and became Eastmarine. [15]

In October 2014, West Marine announced that it would close all of its Canadian stores by 2019 as their leases expired; seven of the ten stores in Canada were to close in 2015. [16] [17]

In November 2011, the company opened their largest retail store, with 50,000 square feet, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save-A-Lot</span> American retail and grocery company

Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockmann</span>

Stockmann plc is a Finnish retailer established in 1862.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Navy</span> American clothing and accessories retailer owned by Gap Inc

Old Navy is an American clothing and accessories retailing company owned by multinational corporation Gap Inc. It has corporate operations in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The largest of the Old Navy stores are its flagship stores, located in New York City, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Manila, and Mexico City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bed Bath & Beyond</span> American houseware big-box retailer (1971–2023)

Bed Bath & Beyond, currently legally known as 20230930-DK-Butterfly-1, Inc., was an American big-box retail chain specializing in housewares, furniture, and specialty items. Headquartered in Union, New Jersey, the chain operated stores in the United States and Canada, and was once counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023 and liquidated all of its remaining stores, with the last closing on July 30, 2023. Following the retail chain's liquidation, its name was adopted by online retailer Overstock.com, which acquired the company's trademarks in a bankruptcy auction. The name is also still used by the chain's former Mexican division, which is now independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hy-Vee</span> American supermarket chain

Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg in Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a small brick building known as the Beaconsfield Supply Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pier 1 Imports</span> US imported goods retailer

Pier 1 Imports, Inc., is an online retailer and former Fort Worth, Texas-based retail chain specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories, and seasonal decor. It was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker PIR. In January 2020, Pier 1 had over 1,000 physical stores throughout the United States and Canada. Pier 1 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 17, 2020, and on May 19, 2020, announced it was asking the bankruptcy court to close all stores, due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L.L.Bean</span> American retail company

L.L.Bean is an American privately-held retail company that was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean. The company, headquartered in the place in which it was founded, in Freeport, Maine, specializes in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Store</span> Company selling Disney products

The Disney Store is a chain of specialty stores selling only Disney related items, many of them exclusive, under its own name and Disney Outlet. It was a business unit of Disney Consumer Products with the Disney Experiences segment of The Walt Disney Company conglomerate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Godiva Chocolatier</span> Belgian-based chocolaterie

Godiva Chocolatier is a Belgian-based international chocolate maker which is owned by Turkish conglomerate Yıldız Holding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J.Crew</span> American retail company

J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dresses, suiting, jewelry, and shoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports Authority</span> Defunct American sporting goods retailer

Sports Authority, Inc. was an American sports retailer. At its peak, Sports Authority operated 463 stores in 45 States and Puerto Rico. The company's website was on the GSI Commerce platform and supported the retail stores as well as other multi-channel programs. A joint venture with ÆON Co., Ltd., operates "Sports Authority" stores in Japan under a licensing agreement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David's Bridal</span> Bridal retailer

David's Bridal is a clothier in the United States that specializes in wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, prom and homecoming dresses, quinceañera dresses, flower girl dresses, other formal wear, and alterations. It is the largest American bridal-store chain and sells 25-30% of all wedding dresses purchased in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RH (company)</span> American home furnishings company

RH is an upscale American home-furnishings company headquartered in Corte Madera, California. The company sells its merchandise through its retail stores, catalog, and online. As of August 2018, the company operated a total of 70 galleries, 18 full-line design galleries, and 6 baby-and-child galleries. The company also has 36 outlet stores in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crabtree & Evelyn</span> American retailer of body and home products

Crabtree & Evelyn was a retailer of body, fragrance and home care products. Beginning with one store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1971, the brand grew to an international presence, with hundreds of locations globally.

Jo-Ann Stores, LLC, more commonly known as Jo-Ann, is an American haberdashery and mercery based in Hudson, Ohio. It operates the retail chains JOANN Fabrics and Crafts and Jo-Ann Etc. The headquarters of the company is located in the former General Motors Terex plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food Fair</span>

Food Fair, also known by its successor name Pantry Pride, was a large supermarket chain in the United States. It was founded by Samuel N. Friedland, and his brother George I. Friedland who opened the first store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the late 1920s. As of 1957, Food Fair had 275 stores, and at its peak, the chain had more than 500 stores. Friedland's family retained control of the firm through 1978, when the chain entered bankruptcy.

Peter L. Harris is an American retailer and retail consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Andersons</span>

The Andersons, Inc. is an American agribusiness established in 1947, that began as Andersons Truck Terminal (ATT) in the 1940s for the grain industry, headquartered in Maumee, Ohio. It is a diversified company rooted in agriculture that conducts business in the commodity merchandising, renewables, and plant nutrient sectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boll & Branch</span> A US based e-commerce company that sells mattresses and other bedding products

Boll & Branch is a privately held, U.S. based, e-commerce company that sells luxury bedding online. Headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, the company manufactures and sells organic cotton bed linens, blankets and bath towels and are the first maker of such goods to be certified by Fair Trade USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluemercury</span>

Bluemercury is a chain of American beauty stores founded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry J. Beck in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The stores sell cosmetics, as well as in-store facials and spa treatments. In addition to selling products from other brands, the company developed its own M-61 skincare line in 2012 and Lune+Aster make-up line in 2015.

References

  1. ↑ "Press-Release-060211 - West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  2. ↑ "BlueFuture | West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  3. ↑ "Fort Lauderdale Announces Newly Updated West Marine Flagship Along with New West Marine Pro Location | West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  4. ↑ "USA. West Marine appoints Geoff Eisenberg as President and CEO to succeed Peter Harris". BYM Product and Industry News. December 11, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Matthew Hyde to Succeed Geoff Eisenberg as President and Chief Executive Officer of West Marine". West Marine: Press Releases. May 17, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
  6. ↑ "West Marine has a new owner at the helm: Monomoy Capital Partners". 5 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "WEST MARINE STOCKHOLDERS APPROVE ACQUISITION BY MONOMOY CAPITAL PARTNERS | West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  8. ↑ "West Marine CEO Matt Hyde to Depart West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  9. ↑ "NEW CEO for West Marine". www.sailingscuttlebutt.com. Scuttle Butt Sailing News. Retrieved 2020-01-06.
  10. ↑ "West Marine CEO makes sudden exit". www.tradeonlytoday.com. Soundings Trade Only Today. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
  11. ↑ "West Marine Hires Veteran Retailer Ken Seipel as CEO". Dec 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Press | L Catterton". www.lcatterton.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  13. ↑ Catterton, L. "West Marine Appoints Eric Kufel as Chief Executive Officer". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2022-01-02.
  14. ↑ "West Marine Completes Recapitalization Securing Significant Capital for Long-term Growth". prnewswire.com. Feb 28, 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  15. ↑ "East Marine - Deniz için her şey." www.eastmarine.com.tr. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  16. ↑ "WEST MARINE ANNOUNCES CANADIAN STORE CLOSURES".
  17. ↑ "West Marine Closing Canadian Locations". Boating Business. October 28, 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-01-20. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Fort Lauderdale Announces Newly Updated West Marine Flagship Along with New West Marine Pro Location | West Marine". www.westmarine.com. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.