Congratulations on 121 Years of Service!
This month, the Exchange celebrates 121 years of serving Soldiers, Airmen and their families.
A lot has changed in those 12-plus decades. What began on the American frontier as individual Army post exchanges, often one-room stores, is now a single global $8.5 billion enterprise and No. 52 on the National Retail Federation’s top 100 retailers list. The Exchange can be found at Army and Air Force installations around the world and Marine installations in Okinawa. We also serve all four services deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
2015—an amazing year
Director/CEO Tom Shull speaks with command at Fort Hood, Texas.
Because of you, 2015 was an amazing year for the Exchange with record-breaking earnings of $401.6 million, surpassing our 2015 goal by $35.4 million, an all-time high. Furthermore, our 2015 operational performance led the retail industry.
These earnings are all the more impressive given the significant drawdown of military operations in Afghanistan and active-duty Soldiers worldwide. The active-duty Army and Air Force shrank by 30,000—3.5 percent. Compounding the smaller active-duty customer base were the seismic shifts confronting the retail industry. The retail landscape of 2015, like previous years, was very competitive, causing other retailers to close their doors or suffer weak earnings.
Our record 2015 earnings distributed $237.2 million in dividends to Army MWR and Air Force Services, $13 million more than last year! In the DoD’s constrained budgetary environment, these funds are vital to supporting quality-of-life programs on which military families depend. The better we serve Soldiers, Airmen, and their families, the better prepared they are to serve.
Few organizations have such a noble cause.
Each generation of Exchange associates must face its unique set of strategic challenges. The legacy of past associates is amazing. Today’s generation of associates is writing its own proud legacy.
Director/CEO Tom Shull greets vendors at Travis AFB, Calif.
To better serve our customers today and into the future, in 2015, the Exchange opened modern, 100,000-square-foot shopping centers, featuring food courts and service facilities like spas and dine-in eateries, at Fort Hood, Texas and Wiesbaden, Germany—a far cry from the tents and wooden shacks of a century ago. We owe our customers the best retail experience possible.
The Exchange is committed to bringing an American experience wherever our customers serve. In 2015, we started baking fresh Krispy Kreme donuts in Europe. Our strengthened relationships with movie studios enabled the Exchange to premiere blockbuster movies simultaneously as civilian theaters in the States. For example, in December, nearly 11,000 service members in the Middle East watched Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Afterwards, the four-star commander in Afghanistan wrote the Exchange had “made a real difference in the lives of those who serve our great nation,” significantly increasing morale during the holiday season.
121 years of outstanding service
Although the Exchange has grown substantially since its humble beginnings, its mission remains the same—to improve the lives of military members and their families, wherever they serve. Few organizations have such a noble cause.
Congratulations to Associates, past and present, on 121 years of outstanding service to Soldiers, Airmen and their families. The Exchange has accomplished a lot in its first 121 years. It is well positioned to continue that tradition for many decades to come.
