West Marine ( West Marine)

West Marine is an American company based in Watsonville, California which operates a chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores. The company has over 300 retail stores in North America, including Puerto Rico and Canada, and also has three franchised stores in Turkey. The company was founded in 1968 by Randy Repass in Sunnyvale, California with the name West Coast Ropes, selling nylon rope from his 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 and in 1993 the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange