G. E. M. Membership Department Stores
G. E. M. Membership Department Stores, also known as G.E.X. or G.E.S., was a chain of discount stores in the United States and Canada. The chain extended membership to direct and indirect government employees; the name was an acronym for "Government Employees Mart."
Appliance and electronics departments in G.E.M. stores were operated by Wards Company, which later changed its name to Circuit City.
The stores closed during the discount store shakeout of 1973.
Canadian pharmacist Murray Koffler was an investor in the G.E.M. chain, bringing the first G.E.M. store to Toronto in 1959. He eventually subleased the G.E.M. drug department in several Toronto area stores. Following the G.E.M. discount model, Koffler later opened one of the first "big box" store chains, Shoppers Drug Mart.
