West Marine is an American company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which operates a chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores. The company has 247 retail stores in North America. West Marine also runs Blue Future[2] a non profit organization. West Marine's flagship store is in Fort Lauderdale. Opened on November 11, 2011, the store is the company's largest at over 50,000 square feet.[3]
History
The company was founded in 1968 by Randy Repass in Sunnyvale, California, with the name West Coast Ropes, selling nylon rope from Repass' garage. The first retail West Coast Ropes store opened in 1975 in Palo Alto, California. With the acquisition of assets from West Products in 1977, the company changed its name to West Marine Products, Inc. In 1978 West Marine established a wholesale division called Port Supply. In 1991, the first West Marine stores opened on the East Coast of the United States, in Miami and Annapolis, Maryland. In 1993 the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange (symbol WMAR).
In 1996, West Marine merged with