Jays Sporting Goods Turns 40 Wood n Water

8/3/2019 Jays Sporting Goods Turns 40 Wood n Water

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Maybe the best measure bywhich to gauge the longevi-ty of Jays Sporting Goods

one simple fact; that only the well-asoned among us today roamingchigans woods and fields and

ying its vast acres of wetlands andterways can easily recall the day

when Jays did not exist.As years and seasons pass, seem-

ingly at times in the blink of our owneyes, its much easier to overlook,even take for granted, what fourdecades in business represents: gen-erations...lifetimes...even traditions.

The story of Jays and how the

Michigan businessinstitution grewover the past 40years to becomethe largest independent, family-owned outdoor retailer in theMidwest, perhaps in the country, isnothing if not compelling, and inspi-rational.

Particularly so in view of statis-tics: that as few as 20 percent ofbusiness startups make it past a year,or that under 30 percent of family-owned firms pass to second and thirdgenerations, fewer yet where thedeath of a founder occurs early on.

All of which is true at JaysSporting Goods, which figurativelyat least has come a very long way

from where it all began, one mansdream, in the trunk of an automobile.

If it were a recipe, the Jays storywould include more or less equalparts of vision and drive, family andfaith, love of the outdoors and con-servation, tragedy and hardship,work ethic and success, not especial-ly in that order.

It whard to rathat, becaof that pu

er is Jays said Arlene Poet 71-year-old matriarch and stsecretary-treasurer of the Jayporate family, when considelist of ingredients.

Still, for all of its succes200 employees and a multi-mdollar inventory at two locatJays continues to flourish amote itself to the masses basthe tradition of Jays, and size.

Incorporated in 1971 by and the late Jay Poet, the firSporting Goods was, at the t

purposeful next step in Jay Pvision, which was to create astop, family-run sporting gosuperstore that local outdoorasts and travelers, alike, wouply find too tempting to pass

The Poets were in their lwith two young boys, and thture was the successor to Jay

ByJeffHarrington

Jay'sSportingGoodsturns 40

SportingGoodsco-founderArlenePoetYost,picturedrecentlyofJay'sthecompany'sClarelocation. Photocourtesy:Bob

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which Jay had established inwith a more short-term goal,f earning enough cash to fund

wn insatiable passion for hunt-hooting and fishing.ut the story behind Jays really even earlier, in the early- to960s, as impossible as the sce-is to imagine in todays world.

nd has it, and there are still(Arlene among them) who will

rm, that Jay Poet honed hispreneurial skills while buying,g and trading guns, ammo andding supplies from the trunk ofr. He did business in his rou-avels, which included his

oyment then at Dow Corning iny Midland.o federal firearms license, noance, no background checksred, such an enterprise todayy would attract the attention of apublic, not to mention all man-f authorities.Of course, the laws were a lot

ent then than they are today,e acknowledges. It was sort of-demand thing. If someoned something, hed throw it in

unk and take it in (to work)him.y eventually obtained a sales

cense allowing him to buy mer-dise at wholesale, and the opera-

tion grew, slowly at first, to fill asmall, one-car garage at the Poetshome on Clares 7th Street. Whensurgery to repair a work injury lefthim recuperating at home for amonth in the summer of 68, hebegan to invite customers to visit hisgarage and never looked back.

Jay and Arlene spent nearlyevery waking hour working, promot-ing the business and raising sons Jeff

and John Jay, or J.J. as he came to becalled. Jay Poet is said to have regu-larly put in 80- and 90-hour-plusweeks in the garage, seldom goinginto the house even long enough fordinner.

Arlene did a bit of everything,from keeping the garage and thosewho came to frequent it suppliedwith sandwiches, to helping withsales when Jay was away, to keepingthe books. Evenings were spentpreparing, hand-addressing and send-ing sales fliers to a steadily growinglist of mail order clients near and far.

The inventory continued to grow, tothe point where some who were cus-tomers of that era still talk aboutside-stepping their way throughtight, narrow passageways stackednearly to the ceiling and beyond.

Jeff Poet, who has long sinceguided the companys growth as itspresident, remembers fondly his first

job in the tiny, garage-based JaysGun Shop.

Jay was a robust, barrel-chestedman, a big guy, Jeff recalls, too bigto fit into the overhead attic opening.So it became Jeffs job when neces-

sary to climb the pull-down setsteps into the overhead and retuwith a particular make and modfirearm, the location to which h

JaysTurns40next

BrothersJeff(left)andJ.J.Poetrepresentthesecondofthreegations

(and

counting)

making

Jays

the

largest

independent,

famownedoutdoorretailerintheMidwest.JeffHarringtonphoto

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been given careful and specific direction.Soon, Jays system of mentally cataloguing stockwould expand to include a barn two doors downthe street, where his parents lived after relocatingfrom their farm outside of town.

My dad always had a great memory, alwaysknew where everything was, says Jeff.

But eventually, doing business in a residentialneighborhood attracted attention of more than just

customers. City officials cited Jay for a zoningviolation after a neighbor had complained, havingtried unsuccessfully to start his own home-basedbusiness.

Looking back, Arlene says that chapter in theirhistory was a blessing in disguise.

Soon after, Jay purchased a site two blocksaway, razed an existing home and, by 1974,opened his first commercial storefront, 8,400square feet with 16 parking spaces, on E.5th St.With what probably felt then like all the roomtheyd need to grow the family business, the Poetsadded fishing tackle and equipment, then clothingand, as bow-hunting took off in popularity, anarchery department.

By the late1980s that store, too, had been out-grown, and Jay and Arlene Poet took the next step.They bought a 29-acre hayfield just a couple milesnorth of downtown Clare on Old 27 near the US-10/127 interchange, where ground was broken in1987. On July 1, 1988 the Poet family opened thesprawling 72,000 square foot store that still beck-ons us there today.

But they did so with heavy hearts and no smalldegree of uncertainty as the future.

The founder, the man at the helm, had beenlosing strength as construction neared completion,and on the day before the opening occurred, JayPoet was diagnosed with cancer, to which hewould succumb a mere nine months later in thespring of 89.

Faced with a huge new debt and a small armyof new employees, Arlene and her sons, togetherwith their own families by then, convened for thefirst of what would become weekly family meet-ings, seeking each others strength and the will toovercome the setback. But it did not seem to beenough, and Arlene eventually arrived at a fateful,and faithful, decision, calling in a higher power.

It was the day that I gave this whole shootinmatch to the Lord, that turned the tide, sherecalled during a recent interview.

When Jay died it was as though wed lost thetrunk to our tree, she said. We were all terrifiedand statistics said we couldnt do it. We neededhelp, and we did depend on the Lord.

The familys involvement at Brown Corners

United Brethren in Christ Church, near Harrison,has been central to several factors in the Poets lifeover the past 25 or so years.

It was there that Jeff Poet met and later mar-ried his wife, Kathy, and where Arlene would laterbe introduced to and marry Jim Yost in 1991, afterhis first wife had also died two years prior.

Kathy Poet had been convinced by Jay himselfto pass up a job offer at Dow and join the familybusiness while she and Jeff were dating. As Jayshealth was deteriorating, Kathy moved fromcashier into the marketing department, where shequickly learned her father-in-laws best secrets tosuccess.

Her efforts were instrumental in helping to

continue the companys growth, including theopening of a second location in 2000, just off I-75exit 279 in Gaylord.

Sorrow and loss would strike the family again,

however, just one year ago, when Kathy lown fight against a recurrence of breast caShe died in Oct., 2010, at age 56, a day beand Jeffs 23rd wedding anniversary.

Rather than bitterness, however, Kathythose around her found even more strengtface of her mortality, and she remained acthe business, the church and the communilong as she was able to.

Again, says Arlene, Our faith is whatthrough.

She noted that Kathy had made it her especially near the end of her life, ministewhomever she saw in need, hoping to takmany people as she could to Heaven with

The companys success most certainlybeen hurt, either, by the sense of commitmdesire to give back to those who have helpport them, a philosophy under which Jay Pbegan operating years ago.

Jays is one of the biggest benefactorsservation and other non-profit causes anywincluding everything from Archery -In -ThSchools to hunters safety, to most every ction group imaginable.

Bob Garner, an icon of the states outdscene in his own right as former longtime of MUCCs Michigan Out-of-Doors TV aother things, credits Jays as the biggest retelevision program returned to air in 1992hiatus of several years.

They were the main underwriters, Gsaid. If not for Jeff, Kathy and Arlene, IMichigan Out-of-Doors would not have reto production.

For the past ten years Jays has sponsoannual fundraiser at the Clare store for MiMichigan Community College. Total procnearly $900,000 so far are likely to surpasmillion by the time next years event is he

April.Theyre obviously very successful, but revery classy and very humble people, Garnof the Poet family.

They just do so much, and its all unsReminders of their roots help keep the

Poet brothers grounded and focused, too, ing to J.J. Poet, who was just a toddler in panys early days but took to the gun depaas a teen and serves now as the companybuyer and vice-president.

I cant tell you how many times Ive someone say, I bought my first gun fromdad back in the 70s. Theyll recall whait was, the make and model, and they just share that memory with us. It always mea

We know we wouldnt be here if it wfor our customers, first, and our employeePoet said. We really have been blessed.

As for the future, Jeff and J.J. Poet saihave been approached on several occasionthose interested in having them add a thirdtion.

Everyone wants a Jays, said J.J.While Jeff adds that they always view

proposals with an open mind, there are noplans in the foreseeable future.

Just the cost of stocking a new store astronomical, Jeff said. He noted that curemphasis has been more on extending thenys reach through expanded e-commerce

nities.The companys milestone was marked40th anniversary sale at both locations in September.

Jays Turns 40 Years Old:frompage29

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Jays Sporting Goods Turns 40 Wood n Water

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