please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message eastbay type subsidiary of foot locker industry direct mail catalog and internet supplier of athletic footwear & apparel . founded 1980 headquarters wausau wisconsin usa number of employees 3 000 website www.eastbay.com 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 foot locker inc. history edit 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 wi . 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 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 friday sept. 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 in wausau s near west side . three months later it combined the shipping department and various warehouses into a new 500 000 square foot 46 000 m2 distribution center located in 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 wi and green bay wi . the green bay call center is now closed . 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 changed its name in 2001 to foot locker inc. external links edit official website v t e foot locker company f. w. woolworth company champs sports eastbay foot locker kinney shoes woolco other divisions & namesakes buildings woolworth building st. louis office shadow lawn watertown store wilmington store winfield hall winfield house other buildings culture love at the five and dime seafoam salad woolworth v. contemporary arts events foot locker cross country civil rights greensboro sit ins ezell blair jr. franklin mccain joseph mcneil david richmond international civil rights center and museum february one clarence harris lexington store nashville sit ins family f. w. woolworth barbara hutton poor little rich girl lance reventlow married to cheryl holdridge and jill st. john retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title eastbay & oldid 744194597 categories foot lockersporting goods retailers of the united statescompanies established in 1980companies based in wisconsinhidden categories articles lacking sources from august 2009all articles lacking sources navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 18 17 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view