West Marine
 |
|
| Public (NASDAQ: WMAR) | |
| Industry | specialty retail and wholesale |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Watsonville, California |
|
Number of locations
|
278 |
|
Key people
|
Randy Repass (Founder) Matt Hyde (President & CEO) |
| Products | boating supply |
|
Number of employees
|
5,000 (varies by season) |
| Website | www.westmarine.com |
West Marine is an American company based in Watsonville, California which operates a chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores. The company has nearly 300 retail stores in North America, including Puerto Rico and Canada, and previously had seven franchised stores in Turkey.
The company was founded in 1968 by Randy Repass in Sunnyvale, California with the name West Coast Ropes, selling nylon rope from his 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 and 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 BoatU.S. Product Division. 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 December 2007, Geoff Eisenberg replaced Peter Harris as the company's president and chief executive officer. 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. While in his previous capacity at REI, Matt served as Executive Vice President. He was responsible for Marketing, Direct Sales, Real Estate and Retail.
West Marine currently provides over 75,000 products online, in stores, and via mail-order catalog.
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Wikipedia