please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message shopko stores operating co. llc type private industry retail founded april 5 1962 headquarters green bay wisconsin united states number of locations 357 july 2015 area served shopko california idaho illinois iowa kansas michigan minnesota montana nebraska oregon south dakota utah washington and wisconsin shopko express wisconsin shopko hometown arizona colorado iowa idaho illinois indiana kansas kentucky michigan minnesota missouri montana nebraska new mexico north dakota ohio oklahoma south dakota tennessee texas utah washington wisconsin and wyoming key people james ruben founder peter mcmahon ceo products clothing footwear bedding furniture jewelry beauty products electronics market housewares contact lenses . owner sun capital partners number of employees 16 900 website shopko.com shopko formerly shopko until june 2007 is a chain of retail stores based in ashwaubenon wisconsin . shopko was founded in 1962 by james ruben and its first store opened in green bay . from 1991 to 2005 the company was publicly held with stock traded on the new york stock exchange under the symbol sko . in december 2005 the company was acquired by an affiliate of sun capital partners and reverted to private ownership . in 1999 shopko purchased pamida a regional discount chain that operated mainly in smaller communities of 3 000 to 8 000 people . shopko operated pamida as a separate division until 2007 when pamida was separated from shopko and reestablished as a separate company . in 2012 shopko and pamida merged into one company . shortly after most pamida stores were rebranded as shopko hometown . contents 1 history 1.1 timeline 1.2 1960s 1.3 1970s 1.4 1980s 1.5 1990s 1.6 2000s 1.7 2010s 2 organization 2.1 shopko 3 subsidiaries 3.1 shopko express 3.2 shopko hometown 3.3 payless shoesource 4 acquisitions 5 distribution 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit chicago pharmacist james ruben moved to green bay where he opened the first shopco store at 216 s. military avenue in 1962 . he envisioned a larger retail store with health care services combined with the retail operations . as a result shopco became one of the first chains to offer such services as a pharmacy and eye care center within the store . citation needed the name was later when changed to shopko by dropping the c and replacing it with an uppercase k . in 2007 the logo was updated and the spelling was changed to shopko with a lower case k . shopko express stores retained the older style logo until fall 2008 when a new store in downtown green bay wisconsin was opened . timeline edit this article contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate . editing help is available . october 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message 1960s edit march 1961 green bay mayor roman denissen and shopco stores led by chicago pharmacist james ruben and a group of investors announce plans for a 1 million department store on military avenue . april 1962 the first shopko the spelling was changed since the initial announcement opens at 216 s. military ave. a local grocery store sure way later acquired by the jubilee foods chain shares part of the building until its closure in 2004 . july 1966 shopko east opens at 1819 main st. september 1969 first shopko store in michigan opens on washington st. in marquette 1970s edit june 1970 ruben announces plans for corporate headquarters on ashland avenue in ashwaubenon . june 1970 shopko corp. becomes shopko stores inc. january 1971 shopko announces plans to merge with supervalu of minneapolis . january 1971 new ashwaubenon headquarters opens . april 1971 merger with supervalu is completed . august 1971 company announces plans to start putting pharmacies in its stores . september 1972 william tyrrell is named the new president ; ruben left green bay to become group vice president and director of supervalu stores . 1977 with 21 stores shopko exceeds 100 million in sales . 1978 expansion of ashland avenue headquarters . 1978 shopko opens its first optical center . november 1979 new ashwaubenon store opens a few months before the opening of bay park square shopping center . 1980s edit 1981 second expansion of ashland avenue headquarters . 1981 shopko opens its 30th store . 1984 company begins looking for new space for corporate offices ; de pere green bay and out of state sites are under consideration . may 1986 shopko announces it will stay headquartered in the green bay area . 1987 construction begins on new headquarters on 46 acre 190 000 m2 site just east of bay park square ; the building opens in 1988 . june 1988 shopko opens 7 new stores in utah located in sandy murray taylorsville provo ogden layton and west jordan . 1 1988 with 87 stores the company exceeds 1 billion in sales . 1988 shopko announces a new east side store will go in at east town mall replacing the 1819 main st. store . the main st. location was later home to copps food center which operated at this location from the early 1990s to august 5 2008 and is replaced with a new store on the site of the former marcus cinema movie theater located next door . the former shopko copps building is expected to be replaced with a planet fitness by 2011 . february 1989 shopko and supervalu introduce twin valu a hypermarket concept in cuyahoga falls ohio that combines the general merchandise of shopko with the grocery selection of cub foods . 1990s edit 1990 shopko opens its 100th store . 1990 shopko opens its first and only location in california in redding california on 55 lake boulevard . june 1991 supervalu announces shopko will spin off as a publicly held company . summer 1991 dale kramer becomes the company s third president . october 1991 in an initial public offering shopko stock is offered at 15 a share . shopko s vision 2000 logo used from december 1991 to may 2007 . shopko still uses this logo on some locations . december 1991 shopko introduces its vision 2000 prototype store . the new style incorporates a red white and blue logo using a variant of the crillee font 2 replaces orange with gray as a base color and uses red and navy blue as accent colors . the vision 2000 prototypes opened in sheboygan wisconsin duluth minnesota dixon illinois loveland colorado longmont colorado and lacey washington and relocated stores in marshall minnesota and mitchell south dakota . 3 4 september 1996 a merger is announced with phar mor of youngstown ohio . 1997 shopko acquires penn daniels inc. a retailer operating 18 jacks discount stores . april 1997 phar mor deal falls apart . april 1997 shopko announces it will secure independence from supervalu by buying back the other company s 46 percent share of shopko stock . july 1997 buy back from supervalu completed . november 1997 shopko bans all tobacco products including cigarettes from its stores . 1998 shopko enters new markets formerly served by venture stores by buying up most of their former locations in kentucky and iowa as well as two stores in kansas three in missouri and a small handful in illinois . those locations were leased from kimco realty . march 1999 william podany becomes president and chief executive officer . march 1999 shopko announces record earnings for 1998 earning 55.6 million or 2.23 per share . may 1999 shopko announces it will buy the 147 store pamida chain for 375 million . july 1999 shopko begins selling stock for provantage a prescription benefits company that helped spur shopko s growth . september 1999 shopko opens its first test prototype store in meridian idaho nicknamed beyond 2000 referencing shopko s then new beyond 2000 merchandising strategy the successor to the vision 2000 strategy of the early 1990s . 2000s edit march 2000 shopko reports record earnings of 3.57 per share in 2000 up 70 % from the year before . may 2000 shopko announces it will sell provantage to merck & co. for about 222 million . january 2001 shopko announces it will close 23 stores and cut 2 500 jobs including 136 at corporate headquarters . shopko exits the missouri indiana kansas and kentucky markets . shopko also closes the distribution center in quincy illinois . april 2002 podany resigns as president and ceo ; jeffrey girard replaces him on an interim basis . october 2002 sam duncan becomes president and ceo . january 2005 shopko opens three shopko express stores smaller stores competing with walgreens and cvs pharmacy . july 2005 shopko closes its colorado stores . november 2005 the shopko stores in reno nevada close because of a poor economic climate . december 2005 shopko is acquired by private investment group sun capital partners . may 2006 michael r. macdonald becomes ceo . 2007 pamida was spun off to form a separate company headquartered in omaha nebraska still owned by the same investment group . may 2007 ground breaking begins on a new 80 000 ft 24 000 m .2 shopko store to anchor the urban edge retail entertainment development in suamico wisconsin . a new shopko logo is introduced . the new logo replaces the one used since 1991 . the company also dropped the camelcase k in its logo after 45 years . september 2007 shopko began construction on two new shopko express stores in the appleton wisconsin area which opened in july 2008 march 2008 shopko opens its suamico wisconsin location . shopko announces an 80 000 square foot 7 400 m2 prototype store in iowa and an 80 000 square foot 7 400 m2 store to anchor the market place in north branch minnesota . shopko announces a shopko express pharmacy location for downtown green bay . november 3 2008 shopko express opens its downtown green bay location . april 3 2009 michael macdonald resigns as chairman and ceo to become chairman and ceo of dsw . w. paul jones takes over . october 27 2009 shopko announces the closing of its first and only urban shopko express rx location in green bay wisconsin almost a year after it opened . 5 november 2009 shopko introduces online shopping to its website . 2010s edit may 2010 shopko outsources its it services to hcl technologies based in noida india . 6 summer 2010 shopko acquires pamida stores in oconto wisconsin and kewaunee wisconsin and convert them to a new shopko store format known as shopko hometown . 7 summer 2011 shopko hometown opens stores in abbotsford wisconsin ; brillion wisconsin ; chilton wisconsin ; kiel wisconsin ; seymour wisconsin ; mora minnesota ; princeton minnesota ; calumet michigan ; and ishpeming michigan . september 17 2011 shopko announced it would be closing its stores in springfield illinois to focus more on its hometown brand . 8 january 4 2012 it was announced that shopko and pamida would merge and that the pamida stores would be rebranded to shopko hometown stores . 9 october 10 2012 paul jones resigned as ceo and mike bettiga was named interim ceo . 10 november 25 2013 peter mcmahon was named ceo of shopko 11 2015 shopko acquires 20 former alco locations and plans to convert them into shopko hometown locations . shopko also changes its slogan to the stuff that counts . 12 2016 shopko remodels all of their green bay area stores . organization edit shopko edit current store facade at houghton michigan location . the first shopko store in green bay wisconsin and the marker commemorating its status . the 1999 beyond 2000 prototype store in meridian idaho . the company operates over 360 stores