GAMBLE-SKOGMO

Gamble-Skogmo, Inc. built a $2 million home office building at Highway 12 and Vernon Avenue, opening January 7, 1968 on 6-1/2 acres. The site had been Evanoff’s truck gardens. It was built by the E.R. Conry Construction Co. Co-founder Bert C. Gamble and Governor Orville Freeman were present at the Open House. The address of the building was 5100 Gamble Drive, although it mostly fronted Highway 100.  It was made of 180,000 bricks and 248 tons of stone. A tour brochure described many lavish furnishings

The facility was built to serve 550 retail stores in the four-state area. In 1966 [68?] the facility supported 300 employees. Early computers handled 65,000 “flexipay” accounts, invoice receipts for three warehouses, and tracked 25,000 items. A company spokesman said that the biggest job the computer does is to automatically read and analyze cash register tapes for the Tempo stores.

5445 Wayzata was the Gamble-Skogmo warehouse for appliances, hardware, sporting goods, faarm implements, automotive parts, and furniture.  Wayne musgrave was the warehouse manager, and Mahlon Rotzien was the regional manager.  There were 200 employees in the warehouse. 

April 7, 1982

Gamble and Phil Skogmo, boyhood friends from Arthur, North Dakota, came to Minnesota separately in 1920.  They opened a car dealership in Fergus Falls, but found that the auto parts business was the most lucrative.  They opened the first Gamble-Skogmo Auto Supply Store in 1925 in St. Cloud. Their stores went from selling only auto supplies to housewares, hardware, appliances, etc. From 1925 to 1928 they were headquartered in Fergus Falls.

By 1928 they had 55 stores and they moved to Minneapolis, most notably at 700 N. Washington for 18 years, and 8th and Hennepin for 22 years. 

Philip Skogmo died in 1949. 

A 1964 article tells us that Carl C. Raugust was president.  The company consisted of 456 company-owned stores, 40 low-margin retail units (also company-owned), and 2,404 authorized dealers for a total of 2,536 stores.

At its peak the company had almost 4,200 stores in 38 states, including Gambles Department Stores, Red Owl, and Snyder Drug Stores.

In 1977 Bert Gamble retired, and the company was sold to Wickes in 1980.  Wickes went bankrupt in 1982.  The company that was Gamble-Skogmo was sold off in pieces. 

Now we learn that there was a museum in their headquarters building in St. Louis Park that still exists. The 'Gamble Museum' was moved to, and still exists in the lobby of Walker Methodist Health Center at 3737 Bryant Avenue South in Minneapolis. The museum contains a wide variety of merchandise that was sold in the early Gambles Hardware Stores, along with awards and memorabilia highlighting Mr. Gamble's merchandising accomplishments and community philanthropic participation.

In later years, the building at 5100 Gamble Drive housed a medical and dental center for Group Health.

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.