Eastbay


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 the F. W. Woolworth Company, now known as 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, Wisconsin. 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, they 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 September 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 on Wausau's near-west side. Three months later, it combined the shipping department and various warehouses into a new distribution center on 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, Wisconsin and Green Bay, Wisconsin. 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 changing its name in 2001 to Foot Locker, Inc.