Eastbay

This article is about the sportswear company. For Northern California region, see East Bay. For other meanings, see East Bay (disambiguation).

Eastbay

File:Eastbay Logo.png
Company type	Subsidiary of Foot Locker
Industry	Supplier of athletic footwear and apparel via direct mail catalogs and online platforms
Founded	1980 (1980)
Founders	Richard Gering Art Juedes
Defunct	2023 (2023)
Fate	Integrated into Champs Sports
Headquarters	Wausau, Wisconsin , United States
Website	www.eastbay.com

Eastbay was a U.S.-based distributor of sports footwear, apparel, and equipment, operating primarily through catalog sales and e-commerce. In 1997, it became part of the F. W. Woolworth Company, which later rebranded as Foot Locker, Inc..

History

Richard Gering and Art Juedes founded the company in 1980, launching their business with approximately $7,000 worth of running shoes. They conducted shoe clinics near their hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin, selling products and distributing price lists at each location.

By 1983, Eastbay had introduced a catalog focused on track and field as well as baseball footwear. The following years saw the addition of phone operators to handle orders in 1988. In 1989, a team sales division was established, and by 1990, the company produced its inaugural in-house team sales catalog. At that point, Eastbay’s call center, shipping operations, and creative teams occupied an area just shy of one city block.

In 1990, Eastbay launched its proprietary clothing line featuring jackets, pants, shorts, underwear, socks, and tops designed in various sports team colors and styles, all branded with the Eastbay logo.

On September 29, 1995, Eastbay went public with an initial offering on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Two years later, ownership transferred to the F. W. Woolworth Company through a shareholder sale.

In July 1997, Eastbay relocated its corporate offices and retail store to a larger facility on Wausau’s near-west side. Shortly thereafter, a new 500,000-square-foot (46,000 m²) distribution center was opened on Wausau’s outskirts to consolidate shipping and warehouse functions. By March 1998, Eastbay transformed its marketing website into a full e-commerce platform. Additional call centers were subsequently established in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. The founders retired on June 30, 1999.

Eastbay’s parent company underwent significant restructuring as well: originally F.W. Woolworth Company, it reorganized as Venator Group in 1997 before adopting the Foot Locker, Inc. name in 2001.

In 2022, Foot Locker announced plans to permanently close both Eastbay and its Wausau distribution center during the first half of 2023, resulting in 210 job losses. Subsequently, on January 13, 2023, the Eastbay website was discontinued and integrated into the Champs Sports brand.

External links

• Official website