Eastbay
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| Company type | Subsidiary of Foot Locker |
|---|---|
| Industry | Direct mail catalog and internet supplier of athletic footwear & apparel. |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Wausau, Wisconsin, USA |
Number of employees | ~3,000 |
| Website | www.eastbay.com |
Eastbay is an American supplier of athletic footwear, apparel and sports equipment, which sells by direct mail. Since 1997, it has been the direct-to-mail division of Foot Locker, Inc.
History
The company began in 1980 when Richard Gering and Art Juedes set up a shoe sales company. With about $7,000 worth of running shoes, they set up shoe clinics near their hometown of Wausau, WI. At each stop they sold their shoes and provided price lists.
In 1983, they developed a catalog for track and field shoes and baseball shoes. In 1988, phone operators were hired to take orders. In 1989, the company began a team sales division and in 1990 created and produced its first in-house team sales catalog. By 1990, Eastbay's call center, shipping and creative departments occupied just under one city block.
Eastbay established its own clothing brand in 1990, offering jackets, pants, shorts, underwear, socks and tops in various sports teams' colors and styles, with the Eastbay logo.
On Friday, Sept. 29, 1995 Eastbay made an initial public offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Two years later, shareholders sold the company to F.W. Woolworth Company.
In July 1997, Eastbay moved its downtown corporate operation and retail store to a larger space in Wausau's near west side. Three months later it combined the shipping department and various warehouses into a new 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m2) Distribution Center located in the outskirts of Wausau. In March 1998, Eastbay converted its marketing website into an e-commerce site. Two additional call centers were subsequently opened in Oshkosh, WI and Green Bay, WI . The Green Bay call center is now closed. Juedes and Gering retired on June 30, 1999.
Eastbay's parent company, F.W. Woolworth Company, also underwent a major revision, being reorganized as Venator Group in 1997 and changed its name in 2001 to Foot Locker, Inc.