Bi-Mart

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Bi-Mart

Bi-Mart is an employee-owned chain of retailers located in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 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). \nLike 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. Thus, the membership for an entire family costs $5 and never expires.\nThe company was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Eugene, Oregon. As of mid-2018, there are 79 store locations. 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.\nIn 1997, Bi-Mart's management and Endeavour Capital (a Portland-based venture capital firm) bought the company; 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.)\nIn 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.

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