Jay's Sporting Goods turns 40!

Michigan business institution grew over the past 40 years to become the largest independent, familyowned outdoor retailer in the Midwest, perhaps in the country, is nothing if not compelling, and inspirational. Particularly so in view of statistics: that as few as 20 percent of business startups make it past a year, or that under 30 percent of familyowned firms pass to second and third generations, fewer yet where the death of a founder occurs early on. All of which is true at Jays Sporting Goods, which figuratively at least has come a very long way from where it all began, one mans dream, in the trunk of an automobile. If it were a recipe, the Jays story would include more or less equal parts of vision and drive, family and faith, love of the outdoors and conservation, tragedy and hardship, work ethic and success, not especially in that order.

By Jeff Harrington

Jay's Sporting Goods co-founder Arlene Poet Yost, pictured recently f in front of Jay's the company's Clare location. Photo courtesy: Bob Guiliani/Clare Publishing
aybe the best measure by which to gauge the longevity of Jays Sporting Goods is one simple fact; that only the wellseasoned among us today roaming Michigans woods and fields and plying its vast acres of wetlands and waterways can easily recall the day

when Jays did not exist. As years and seasons pass, seemingly at times in the blink of our own eyes, its much easier to overlook, even take for granted, what four decades in business represents: generations...lifetimes...even traditions. The story of Jays and how the

It would be hard to rank all of that, because all of that put together is Jays said Arlene Poet Yost, the 71-year-old matriarch and still-active secretary-treasurer of the Jays corporate family, when considering that list of ingredients. Still, for all of its success, nearly 200 employees and a multi-milliondollar inventory at two locations, Jays continues to flourish and promote itself to the masses based on the tradition of Jays, and not on its size. Incorporated in 1971 by Arlene and the late Jay Poet, the first Jays Sporting Goods was, at the time, a purposeful next step in Jay Poets vision, which was to create a onestop, family-run sporting goods superstore that local outdoor enthusiasts and travelers, alike, would simply find too tempting to pass by. The Poets were in their late 20s with two young boys, and the venture was the successor to Jays Gun

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Shop, which Jay had established in 1968 with a more short-term goal, that of earning enough cash to fund his own insatiable passion for hunting, shooting and fishing. But the story behind Jays really began even earlier, in the early- to mid-1960s, as impossible as the scenario is to imagine in todays world. Legend has it, and there are still those (Arlene among them) who will confirm, that Jay Poet honed his entrepreneurial skills while buying, selling and trading guns, ammo and reloading supplies from the trunk of his car. He did business in his routine travels, which included his employment then at Dow Corning in nearby Midland. No federal firearms license, no insurance, no background checks required, such an enterprise today surely would attract the attention of a wary public, not to mention all manner of authorities. Of course, the laws were a lot different then than they are today, Arlene acknowledges. It was sort of an on-demand thing. If someone wanted something, hed throw it in the trunk and take it in (to work) with him. Jay eventually obtained a sales tax license allowing him to buy merchandise at wholesale, and the opera-

tion grew, slowly at first, to fill a small, one-car garage at the Poets home on Clares 7th Street. When surgery to repair a work injury left him recuperating at home for a month in the summer of 68, he began to invite customers to visit his garage and never looked back. Jay and Arlene spent nearly every waking hour working, promoting the business and raising sons Jeff and John Jay, or J.J. as he came to be called. Jay Poet is said to have regularly put in 80- and 90-hour-plus weeks in the garage, seldom going into the house even long enough for dinner. Arlene did a bit of everything, from keeping the garage and those who came to frequent it supplied with sandwiches, to helping with sales when Jay was away, to keeping the books. Evenings were spent preparing, hand-addressing and sending sales fliers to a steadily growing list of mail order clients near and far. The inventory continued to grow, to the point where some who were customers of that era still talk about side-stepping their way through tight, narrow passageways stacked nearly to the ceiling and beyond. Jeff Poet, who has long since guided the companys growth as its president, remembers fondly his first

Brothers Jeff (left) and J.J. Poet represent the second of three generations (and counting) making Jays the largest independent, familyowned outdoor retailer in the Midwest. Jeff Harrington photo
job in the tiny, garage-based Jays Gun Shop. Jay was a robust, barrel-chested man, a big guy, Jeff recalls, too big to fit into the overhead attic opening. So it became Jeffs job when necessary to climb the pull-down set of steps into the overhead and return with a particular make and model of firearm, the location to which hed

Jays Turns 40 next page

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Jays Turns 40 Years Old:

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been given careful and specific direction. Soon, Jays system of mentally cataloguing stock would expand to include a barn two doors down the street, where his parents lived after relocating from their farm outside of town. My dad always had a great memory, always knew where everything was, says Jeff. But eventually, doing business in a residential neighborhood attracted attention of more than just customers. City officials cited Jay for a zoning violation after a neighbor had complained, having tried unsuccessfully to start his own home-based business. Looking back, Arlene says that chapter in their history was a blessing in disguise. Soon after, Jay purchased a site two blocks away, razed an existing home and, by 1974, opened his first commercial storefront, 8,400 square feet with 16 parking spaces, on E.5th St. With what probably felt then like all the room theyd need to grow the family business, the Poets added fishing tackle and equipment, then clothing and, as bow-hunting took off in popularity, an archery department. By the late1980s that store, too, had been outgrown, and Jay and Arlene Poet took the next step. They bought a 29-acre hayfield just a couple miles north of downtown Clare on Old 27 near the US10/127 interchange, where ground was broken in 1987. On July 1, 1988 the Poet family opened the sprawling 72,000 square foot store that still beckons us there today. But they did so with heavy hearts and no small degree of uncertainty as the future. The founder, the man at the helm, had been losing strength as construction neared completion, and on the day before the opening occurred, Jay Poet was diagnosed with cancer, to which he would succumb a mere nine months later in the spring of 89. Faced with a huge new debt and a small army of new employees, Arlene and her sons, together with their own families by then, convened for the first of what would become weekly family meetings, seeking each others strength and the will to overcome the setback. But it did not seem to be enough, and Arlene eventually arrived at a fateful, and faithful, decision, calling in a higher power. It was the day that I gave this whole shootin match to the Lord, that turned the tide, she recalled during a recent interview. When Jay died it was as though wed lost the trunk to our tree, she said. We were all terrified and statistics said we couldnt do it. We needed help, 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 life over the past 25 or so years. It was there that Jeff Poet met and later married his wife, Kathy, and where Arlene would later be introduced to and marry Jim Yost in 1991, after his first wife had also died two years prior. Kathy Poet had been convinced by Jay himself to pass up a job offer at Dow and join the family business while she and Jeff were dating. As Jays health was deteriorating, Kathy moved from cashier into the marketing department, where she quickly learned her father-in-laws best secrets to success. Her efforts were instrumental in helping to continue the companys growth, including the opening of a second location in 2000, just off I-75 exit 279 in Gaylord. Sorrow and loss would strike the family again, however, just one year ago, when Kathy lost her own fight against a recurrence of breast cancer. She died in Oct., 2010, at age 56, a day before her and Jeffs 23rd wedding anniversary. Rather than bitterness, however, Kathy and those around her found even more strength in the face of her mortality, and she remained active in the business, the church and the community for as long as she was able to. Again, says Arlene, Our faith is what got us through. She noted that Kathy had made it her mission, especially near the end of her life, minister to whomever she saw in need, hoping to take as many people as she could to Heaven with her. The companys success most certainly has not been hurt, either, by the sense of commitment and desire to give back to those who have helped support them, a philosophy under which Jay Poet began operating years ago. Jays is one of the biggest benefactors of conservation and other non-profit causes anywhere, including everything from Archery -In -The Schools to hunters safety, to most every conservation group imaginable. Bob Garner, an icon of the states outdoors scene in his own right as former longtime co-host of MUCCs Michigan Out-of-Doors TV among other things, credits Jays as the biggest reason the television program returned to air in 1992 after a hiatus of several years. They were the main underwriters, Garner said. If not for Jeff, Kathy and Arlene, Im sure Michigan Out-of-Doors would not have returned to production. For the past ten years Jays has sponsored an annual fundraiser at the Clare store for MidMichigan Community College. Total proceeds of nearly $900,000 so far are likely to surpass $1 million by the time next years event is held in April. Theyre obviously very successful, but remain very classy and very humble people, Garner said of the Poet family. They just do so much, and its all unsung. Reminders of their roots help keep the two Poet brothers grounded and focused, too, according to J.J. Poet, who was just a toddler in the companys early days but took to the gun department as a teen and serves now as the companys gun buyer and vice-president. I cant tell you how many times Ive heard someone say, I bought my first gun from your dad back in the 70s. Theyll recall what month it was, the make and model, and they just want to share that memory with us. It always means a lot. We know we wouldnt be here if it wasnt for our customers, first, and our employees, Jeff Poet said. We really have been blessed. As for the future, Jeff and J.J. Poet said they have been approached on several occasions by those interested in having them add a third location. Everyone wants a Jays, said J.J. While Jeff adds that they always view such proposals with an open mind, there are no such plans in the foreseeable future. Just the cost of stocking a new store alone is astronomical, Jeff said. He noted that current emphasis has been more on extending the companys reach through expanded e-commerce opportunities. The companys milestone was marked with a 40th anniversary sale at both locations in early September.

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