Gamble, Bertin C.

Bertin Clyde Gamble was born on March 1, 1898 in Chicago, the son of William Clyde and Florence Mae (Moody) Gamble. Gamble grew up in Hunter and Arthur, North Dakota, where his father was a general merchandiser and bank cashier, respectively. As a boy in Arthur, Gamble first met his future partner Phil Skogmo. Following high school, he and Skogmo worked together briefly (1917-1919) for a diary supply firm in Minneapolis.

Gamble married Gladys Lucille Pearson on November 24, 1927; she died in 1978. The couple had two children: Jerry, who died in 1963, and Karen (Hubbard). Gamble died March 1, 1986.

In 1920 Bertin C. Gamble and Phil Skogmo purchased the Hudson-Essex automobile agency in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which they sold in 1921 after acquiring both the Ford and Dodge agencies in that city.

Discovering that the little parts department yielded as much profit as did the sale of cars, the partners opened an auto parts and supplies retailing firm in St. Cloud, Minnesota, which they named the Gamble Auto Supply Company. This firm formed the basis of the rapidly expanding Gamble-Skogmo organization, which went on to comprise more than 4,200 retail outlets (doing business under a number of different store names) operating in 39 states and 10 Canadian provinces, and producing more than $1.5 Billion in annual sales.

The original Gambles store in St. Cloud (1925) was so successful that four more stores opened in the Dakotas within ten weeks. The partners decided to incorporate Gamble-Skogmo, Incorporated 1n 1928, and shortly thereafter moved the headquarters and central warehousing to Minneapolis. By the end of the year there were 55 Gambles retail outlets in five states. By 1933 they had added 100 more outlets and grown annual corporate sales to $10 million. Franchised dealerships were inaugurated in 1933 and, in 1941, clothing and other "softlines" were added to the staple "hardlines" business, a diversification made necessary by the unavailability of consumer hard goods during World War II.

The corporation went international in 1945 with the acquisition of the 270 Macleod hardlines retail outlets in Western Canada. Gamble-Skogmo went public in 1947, and partner Phil Skogmo died in 1949. The company expanded into mass merchandising by forming its Tempo Stores division in 1962, which grew into a chain of 50 discount shopping centers. The following year saw the acquisition of the 286-store Stedmans chain, which operated throughout Canada. In 1964 Gamble-Skogmo entered the catalog merchandising field by acquiring the large Aldens operation, including its life insurance subsidiary. In 1966 Founder's, Incorporated was merged into the corporation, bringing it a women's wear chain (Mode O'Day), and a group of variety stores including Cussins & Fearn, Buckeye Marts, and Rasco stores. In the same year the corporation also acquired the House of Fabrics chain and formed Gambles Import Corporation to direct the purchase of goods made overseas. In 1967 Gamble-Skogmo formed a real estate subsidiary, Gamble Development Company, to develop and lease shopping centers, and also acquired the 400-store Red Owl supermarket chain, which also included 62 Snyder's drug stores. Between 1969 and 1972 the corporation several leasing business lines, launched Gambles home improvement centers, and acquired the 24-store Woman's World clothing chain.

Gamble served as president and chief executive officer of Gamble-Skogmo, Incorporated, the umbrella firm that controlled the myriad operating companies, into 1963. He continued to serve as chairman of the board of directors and corporate CEO until retiring in September 1977.

Three years after Gamble retired, the Gamble-Skogmo enterprise was sold (1980) to Wickes Corporation, following the latter's entry into receivership in 1984, the Gamble-Skogmo businesses were returned to a new company formed by five Gambles Division officers, who reincorporated Gamble-Skogmo, Incorporated, with an initial capitalization of $15 million.

From the guide to the Bertin C. Gamble papers., 1894-1985., (Minnesota Historical Society)