Smoky Joe's

Smoky Joe's was a men's clothing store that was started on Maxwell Street in Chicago, Illinois by Joseph Bublick in the late 1930s. The store was known as a trend setter in men's fashions. The name originated as a combination between Joe and his oldest son Morris (Morry) Bublick, who enjoyed smoking a pipe. Morry was purportedly an originator of the "Zoot Suit". Many black entertainers went to Smoky Joe's to have their entertainment suits made, including the Jackson Five at the beginning of their careers who traveled there from their home in Gary, Indiana. Morry also suited James Brown and other well-known black entertainers during the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s, there were three Smoky Joe's stores in Chicago.

Smoky Joe's was mentioned in a Jimmie Lee Robinson's blues song "Maxwell Street (Tear Down Blues)". "I'm talking about Maxwell Street, that's right. A place of many lives, many dreams...I remember when we use to go to the 12th Street Store. There was the Earvin, Bertells, Levetts and Smoky Joe's ..." Jimmie Lee Robinson who was one of the first Chicago-born Bluesmen. He lived a few blocks from the Maxwell Street Market.

G.I. Joe's

G.I. Joe's was a privately owned retailer of sporting goods, ready-to-wear clothing, and auto parts, operating in the Northwestern United States. Founded in 1952, the company had as many as 31 stores, located in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It was based in Wilsonville, Oregon. In 2007, the company changed its name to Joe’s. In 2009, it filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated.

20th century history

G.I. Joe’s began in 1952 when Edward Orkney purchased army surplus sleeping bags and then set up a tent in Portland, Oregon, to sell them to the public. Orkney sold out of the sleeping bags and then started selling other army surplus merchandise in a store that then doubled in size by 1956, making it Portland's largest retailer of sporting goods and outdoor gear.

During the 1960s, Orkney transitioned the company away from military surplus and towards an eclectic combination of sporting goods, automotive parts, and hardware; the 1970s saw the company become a chain within the Portland metropolitan area, with its line of merchandise expanding to include housewares, lawn and garden supplies, and apparel. In 1976, Orkney died and his son, David Orkney, took over the business. A distribution center was built in 1979 in Wilsonville, with that facility expanded in 1986. G.I. Joe's opened its eighth store, located in Eugene, Oregon, in 1983. At the time, the company also operated 16 The Jean Machine stores, and the two chains had combined annual revenue of $68 million in 1982.