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Bi-Mart
Company typePrivate, employee-owned
IndustryRetail
Founded1955, Yakima, Washington, U.S.
HeadquartersEugene, Oregon
Number of locations
79 Bi-Mart locations, 3 Cascade Farm and Outdoor locations
Productsclothing, footwear, housewares, sporting goods, hardware, toys electronics, foods, pharmacy, beer, seasonal goods
Websitewww.bimart.com

Bi-Mart is an employee-owned chain of retailers located in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.[1] A typical Bi-Mart houses merchandise including electronics and small appliances, housewares, hardware and power tools, sporting and hunting supplies, apparel, canned and packaged food, personal care products, a drugstore and, at many locations, a pharmacy. The median size of a Bi-Mart store is 31,000 square feet (2,900 m2).[2]

A typical Bi-Mart store in Ontario, Oregon

Like Costco and Sam's Club, Bi-Mart stores are membership stores; unlike those chains, its members-only policy started as a workaround to fair trade laws established in the United States in the 1930s such as the Miller-Tydings Act and those related to suggested retail prices.[1] Thus, the membership for an entire family costs $5 and never expires.

The company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. As of mid-2018, there are 79 store locations.[3] Bi-Mart's first store opened in Yakima, Washington in 1955, but it did not open a second store until 1962. In 1976, Bi-Mart was bought by Pay 'n Save, which itself was acquired by Thrifty Corporation in 1984. It was subsequently merged into the former Kmart subsidiary PayLess Drug, and finally purchased by Rite Aid in 1996.

In 1997, Bi-Mart's management and Endeavour Capital (a Portland-based venture capital firm) bought the company;[4] they sold it to employees March 1, 2004, for $94 million, which included $12.5 million contributed from the 401(k) plan. Bi-Mart is the sole surviving store name of former Pay 'n Save subsidiaries. (Schucks Auto Supply retained its name until acquired by O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. and rebranded in 2010.)

In October 2003, Bi-Mart announced it was expanding eastward. Eight stores were planned with the first store in Havre, Montana. The second store opened three years later in Weiser, Idaho. In 2006, Bi-Mart exited the Montana market due to poor sales.

Pharmacy Closures

In 2019, Bi-Mart announced the closure of pharmacies at their East Wenatchee, Washington location, [5] two locations in Vancouver, Washington, and their location in Scappoose, Oregon. [6] Bi-Mart announced in November, 2019 that it will also close pharmacies at an additional 13 stores in the Portland area. [7] The stores affected by the pharmacy closures will remain open.

Cascade Farm and Outdoor

In 2014, Bi-Mart opened its first location under the Cascade Farm and Outdoor name in Walla Walla, Washington. Bi-Mart announced that they were looking at empty buildings in a variety of locations for future stores.[8] Additional locations have since opened in Coos Bay, Oregon and Keizer, Oregon.[9] Unlike Bi-Mart's regular stores, a membership is not required at Cascade Farm and Outdoor.


References

  1. ^ a b "About Bi-Mart". Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  2. ^ Marcus Hathcock (October 30, 2009) [original January 23, 2008]. "Bi-Mart coming to town? Commercial zone's biggest hole may be filled soon". Sandy Post. Archived from the original on March 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  3. ^ "Bi-Mart Store Locations & Hours of Operation". Archived from the original on 2012-11-27. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  4. ^ "Endeavour Capital Portfolio Overview". Endeavour Capital. Archived from the original on 2011-12-30. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  5. ^ Kneedler, Reilly (Feb 25, 2019). "Bi-Mart closes its pharmacy, transfers customers to Walgreens". The Wenatchee World. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  6. ^ Macuk, Anthony (February 14, 2019). "Bi-Mart to close pharmacies at its 2 Vancouver-area stores". The Columbian. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  7. ^ https://www.kptv.com/news/bi-mart-ending-pharmacy-services-at-stores-around-portland-area/article_07f37dbc-0269-11ea-a3f6-575e5c40de2c.html
  8. ^ Francis, Mike (May 13, 2014). "Bi-Mart goes a little bit more country with farm and outdoor division". The Oregonian. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
  9. ^ www.cascadefarmandoutdoor.com
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