Store Growth and Family Change
In 1956, there was one more flood scare for those of us who lived on the Columbia River flood plain. The threat was so critical, that Dad cabled our house to its foundation. He looped heavy cable over the roof and attached it, front and back, to the cement base.
Mom and Dad decided it was best if only Dad stayed in the house while the river was so high. That is when Mom took David and me on one of the most fun vacations kids could have. We drove off to Southern California, to be away from danger, and went to Disneyland, which had just opened the year before.
Meanwhile, Dad remained. If the Columbia were to break through or over the levees, there would not be much warning. So, Dad slept on the second floor, and had a G.I. life raft tied on the roof, just outside the bedroom window. Once again, army surplus came in handy!
With much relief and gratitude, there was no flood that year, and Dad could remove the life raft from the roof.
That was also the summer that we moved from Columbia Avenue, to a home on the eastside of Portland, close to 82nd Avenue. We were near the future site of Madison High School, which was in the process of being built.
Living there was a huge change for my brother and me. For one thing, we had sidewalks. I loved to ride my bike on the sidewalks, because it was so smooth, and we had not had them at our old house. Both Gregory Heights Grade School and Madison were only a block away, making it so easy to get to school. And, there were no more sloughs to walk by on the way
There were a lot of neighborhood kids for David and I to play with, and that first summer on Sacramento Street was so fun for me. Some kids stopped by our new house to introduce themselves, and groups of us would bike around the neighborhood, and play hide-and-seek at dusk.
My brother and I had wonderful friends on Columbia Avenue and nearby, but we did not live close enough to form a bicycle gang. Friends were much more scattered, and there were not so many streets.
Things were changing at G.I. Joe’s, too. About that time, Dad and the store were invited to join World Wide Distributors, based in Seattle. This was a buying group that pooled orders of different surplus stores together, so that they could get a better wholesale price on items. G.I. Joe’s was the fourth World Wide member. The first three member stores were in Washington. They were Yard Birds in Chehalis, Bob’s Surplus in Longview, and Winter’s Surplus in Seattle.
It was fortunate that G.I. Joe’s was a World Wide member, because, in 1961, the army stopped making surplus available, according to my brother. The threat of possible military conflict was stirred up by the building of the Berlin Wall by the Russians. Therefore, Dad was forced to secure all his merchandise from commercial sources.
During that time, Dad did not expand to other locations. Instead he kept expanding the store on North Vancouver Avenue and made it two-story. However, being very cautious, he made the last large addition like a warehouse, so that it could be leased out in case the expanded retail was not successful.
When I was 17 years old, it was in that expanded store that I worked the next summer. A fun part of the day happened when Dad was took the bank deposit up Vancouver Avenue to Walnut Park. Then, either Chuck or Stan, the manager and assistant manager of the shoe department would say, “How’s the weather in Glaucamora?” If the weather was great, that meant Dad was out of the store making the deposit, and out would come the thermoses filled with coffee, from under the counter.
This was all done with great good cheer, so I have to think it was all a game. I liked working there. One reason was that Stan’s daughter worked there too, so we could visit on breaks.
Dad started a policy at the time of hiring high school students to work part-time. This worked out well for the company, because some stayed on after graduation, and moved into management positions as the company grew. Norm Daniels, who became CEO of G.I. Joe’s in the 1990’s, and then bought out the store from my brother in 1998, started working for the company in this way. I believe this was after I had gone away to college.
My favorite item from the store when I was in high school, was an army surplus parka liner, that we called a “bear coat.” It was wonderful! It slipped over my head, and was made of brownish fake fur, with real fur, probably rabbit, around my face when I had the hood on. It was great to wear while slogging in the rain.
Dad loved the challenge of making the store the best it could be. I remember him in the evenings, working on floor layouts for merchandise, while the rest of the family watched TV. And, you could see he worked on it because he loved it, not because it was something he should do.
In 1962, I graduated from high school, and went on to attend Stanford for a year, and then came back to Portland State College for a few years. Two years after me, David graduated, and then attended University of Oregon. In 1965, I became pretty removed from the store, when I married and moved away from Portland until 1978.
It was in this period that Stores Number 2 and Number 3 were built just down the street from the first store, on North Vancouver Avenue. These stores were concrete tilt-up, with very high ceilings, so that they could be turned into warehouses if the expansion did not work. Dad was adding to the merchandise selection at this time. There was a huge toy department at Christmas. And he sold foam rubber for projects, and even fabric for a while.
When I visited Mom and Dad from California, I would always go out to G.I. Joe’s, to see what was going on. Dad and I would lunch at Waddle’s at Jantzen Beach, just like my family used to do when I was a kid. The big difference was that I did not get a bib with a duck on it as an adult!
In 1970, the first branch store was built at 184th and S.E. Stark , in Portland. The merchandise varied for about two years, as the store slowly discontinued selling labor-intensive items, like foam rubber, plastic and glass. It was also in 1970 that my brother David, who had joined the business, started the first jean store, in front of the original store North Portland store.
In 1972, the Oak Grove store opened on McGlaughlin Blvd., and in 1974, G.I. Joe’s opened a store in the Beaverton Mall. This was the first location in a shopping center, and it was extremely successful.
In the fall of 1976, the largest store yet opened in Salem, Oregon, with a selling area of 55,000 square feet. This was a test to see if the company could sell outside the immediate Portland area. The answer was yes.
Shortly after the Salem opening, I came back to Portland to see my dad. In the spring of 1976, he had found out that he had cancer and had immediately started receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
I will always remember that fall visit with him, because it was the last time I saw him, before he went into the hospital. He took me to see the new Salem store, of which he was so proud. At the rear of the store, where trucks full of merchandise were unloaded, I got to see a great example of my dad in action.
There was a trash bin back there, and above it a handwritten sign, saying something like, “Put your trash in here, or else!” Dad ripped it off the wall, wadded it up, and tossed it in the trash. His comment was, “I won’t have anything negative in the store!”
We also went to Wilsonville during my visit, so that he could show me the land G.I. Joe’s had bought for a new distribution center. The company had just purchased a large parcel right off the I-5, with a railroad spur on it. Again, he was so proud of it, because it was a great location from which to move merchandise, to help the company grow.
He passed away later in the year, at 61 years of age.
In my sadness, I could be glad that he had lived to see his company expand to four locations in the Portland area, and on into Salem. And, he lived to see sales of $30 million a year, according to his obituary in The Oregonian. I could be glad that he was a part of preparing for further expansion, with the purchase of land for a new distribution center. And, I could be glad that my brother, David, had worked in the business for a number of years and was ready to take the leadership role in the company.
The main focus of my father, Edward Orkney, from the time he left the Army Air Corps in 1945, was to build a business, and he did. Money and possessions did not seem to interest him much. Instead, it was the challenge of creating something solid that was important to him. Also important to him was that, even after his death, G.I. Joe’s could continue to be a resource to the community, and offer security to the employees who had helped in its creation.
All I can say, today is, “Thanks, Dad.” You and Mom continue to be an inspiration to me. How you, together, built something out of nothing, and had the courage to keep on trying till it worked.
And, I have great appreciation for my brother, David Orkney, who stepped up to be CEO and Chairman of the Board, upon the death of our father. He led G.I. Joe’s through hugely challenging years, with store growth throughout Oregon and Washington, including into the Seattle area.
In 1992, longtime employee, Norm Daniels, took over as CEO, while my brother remained Chairman of the Board. Then, in 1998, Norm led a management buyout and took over as Chairman and majority owner.
And so, the store continued on, with new ownership. Ownership again changed in 2007when Norm Daniels sold the company to San Francisco-based Gryphon Investors, but stayed on as CEO. With the change in ownership, came a change in the store's name. Even though the business had been named G.I. Joe's for fifty-five years, management decided to change it. The name the came up with was Joe's Sports, Outdoors and More.
In 2008, the leadership changed further, and Norm Daniels was replaced as CEO by Hal Smith, former CEO of Bass Pro Shops.
The G.I. Joe's story ended in 2009, with Joe's Sports filing a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in March. According to the terms of the bankruptcy, the business had one month to find a buyer. No buyer came forward for Joe's Sports, Outdoors and More and the business was liquidated shortly thereafter.
A Pacific Northwest institution was gone, just two years after investors from outside the region bought it.
I believe that the removal in 2007 of the "G.I." from the beginning of the store name, is deeply symbolic. It showed that the new owners and continuing old management, did not really get what the store was about. Customers understood, but top management did not.
It makes me sad.
But, this is way after my time of involvement with the store, and I will put recent events behind me. What I most remember are the fun times, when G.I. Joe’s sold mostly army surplus, and it was my job to “neaten” the bins.
