- published: 25 Oct 2009
- views: 43193196
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.
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.
Pops sped off
Left Mom with a bundle of
Joy ya boy
Smack dab in the jungle
Took tunnel vision
But he would soon become a mogul
But first he brought that crack back like a yo-yo
Don't play with my yo-yo
Loco ni**as in the hood
First ni**as hating on me
It's all good
I'm buying things like my sh*t don't stink
Gucci links and Gucci gooses
Watching too much movies
Bulletproof this
Had some nerve
Like pullin toothes
When you sixteen, comin thru roofless
Yeah ya boy ruthless
Like Ice Cube was
Turn the whole city on
I'm the new plug
So if this is your first time hearing this
You are about to experience someone so cold
A journey seldom seen
The American dream
From the bottom to the top of the globe
They call me HOV
They coming for me
Wanna see me fall
You know my story
I been thru it all
Nights I felt like dying
But I ain't crying
What didn't kill me
Made me strong as iron
I am
I am
Oh my God, HOV
Now I'm knee-deep in the concrete
Like the streets made of quicksand beyond deep
I got a chemical romance, two left feet
So I dance with the devil, please GOD
Save me for the life of love release me
My life like grand auto theft PSP
I'm in the Volvo puffing on the la la
Running from the po po
Every time I drive by
Say hi to the bad guy
All my momma friends is like hmm hmm hmm
Would you just look at him
Sorry dear momma for your embarrassment
Give me a couple years I pray I never sin
Got all these rival dealers trying to do me in
And all these little rappers don't know how prepared for them I am
I feel like the world is against me Lord
Call me crazy but I love them odds
Now these baby ballers toy rappers
Calling out my name to bring the boy backwards
Shooting air balls at the basket
What you call money I paid more in taxes
I got crowned came down in Africa
Down in Nigeria do you have any idea
Sold out shows in Seoul Korea
Jo-berg, Dublin, Tanzania
Lunch with Mandela, dinner with Cavalli
Still got time to give water to everybody
Everybody fall back
Y'all rapping I'm reenacting
CNN you see it's accurate
ESPN see me in action
Monday nights when the half ends