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GEM was one of a long line of department stores that have come and gone through the Rochester area, but GEM offered something different: membership.
The store originally opened its doors only to those who were qualified members, pioneering the way for later “membership” stores, like Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.
At GEM, the qualifications included government-, religious- and school employees, members of the armed forces, and employees of companies that did “substantial work” under government contract.
The name was an acronym that was alternately known as “Government Employees Mutual” and “Government Employees Mart.” Several departments within GEM were operated by outside firms on a lease basis. The prices were low, the selection vast, and the no-frills stores themselves were huge in size in their day.
Unlike other chains, GEM had only one store in the Rochester area, on Mt. Read Boulevard between Lexington and Ridgeway avenues. GEM opened here in September, 1962, and ads touted a “brand new concept in department store merchandising.”
“GEM caters only to you…the GEM member,” one ad read. “The public is not invited and unless you are able to show proof of eligibility for membership, you won’t get by the buzzer at the door!”
That eligibility wasn’t as strict as you might think around here, partly because of the part about companies doing “substantial work” for the government. Eastman Kodak Co. employees met the requirement, and tens of thousands of people in Rochester worked at Kodak then (including my Dad, so my family shopped there).
GEM stores included supermarkets and more within the 50-plus departments and had gasoline pumps outside. The store didn’t hold sales because prices already were marked down.
“GEM is everything from cocktail dresses to diamonds, from a single nail to a home full of furniture…all under one roof,” a 1962 ad stated. Most big stores were still in downtown areas then; GEM positioned itself elsewhere and offered free parking.
The first GEM store started in Denver in 1956. The stated goal was to create “a higher standard of living for fixed-income families by increasing their purchasing power.” Other stores soon followed in Kansas City, St. Louis and other markets. By 1962, when it debuted in Rochester, the chain counted 15 stores with 13 more coming that year.
Several people posted memories of GEM on Facebook. Aileen Fornuto of Stuart, Florida, went to the Rochester store as a school-age kid and remembered the blue, plastic membership cards.
“This was always a fun time since the store was so big and I knew we would be there a while,” she wrote. “It was always great when Dad came as we would go in the game room and play skee-ball while my mother shopped…I would be enjoying a snack while Dad filled the gas tank up. Going to GEM is a wonderful memory.”