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GNC history
GNC company history timeline
also known as: gnc founded: 1935
In 1935, David Shakarian opened a small health food store, Lackzoom, in downtown Pittsburgh.
Disaster struck with the 1936 St Patrick's Day flood, which wiped out both of Shakarian's stores.
Gary Daum was named chief executive office in February 1984.
In 1984, Shakarian died, and the following year Jerry Horn was brought in to run the company.
Analysts questioned Jerry Horn's sanity when he, in 1985, accepted an invitation to serve as president of the troubled General Nutrition Inc.
Tascarella, Patty, “Will Jerry Horn’s Prescriptions Cure GNC?”, Executive Repon, July 1986, Sec.
Started in 1987, the program was created to help finance expansion and to infuse a new spirit of entrepreneur-ialism in the organization.
In 1989, GNC was purchased by the Boston investment firm of Thomas H. Lee in a leveraged buyout, or LBO. In this type of acquisition, the buyer uses mostly borrowed funds that are secured by the assets of the firm to be purchased.
By 1992, the first year in which Lee realized a quarterly profit from the acquisition, GNC was operating about 1,125 stores and generating over $380 million in annual sales.
Carlsen, Clifford, “GNC Pepping Up Expansion; Bay Fit for 10 More Stores,” San Francisco Business Times, October 29, 1993, Sec.
The initial public offering generated $81 million, with a secondary offering in 1993 raising another $57 million.
As would be expected in an LBO, the acquisition left the company heavily in debt with large interest charges. It opened hundreds of new stores, which brought the total number of outlets to 1,553 by the end of fiscal 1993.
In 1994 GNC opened 172 company and 224 franchise stores and added another 207 units by acquiring Nature Food Centers for $61 million.
Securities and Exchange Commission Form 10-K; General Nutrition Companies, Inc., Washington, D.C.: Securities and Exchange Commission, 1994.
GNC established a foundation for expansion into the United Kingdom in 1995 by acquiring the U.K.’s second-largest, vertically-integrated self-care company, the Health and Diet Group, which operated 22 retail stores.
In 1995, vitamins and minerals accounted for 40 percent of GNC's sales, while 28 percent came from sports nutrition products and 10 percent from herbs.
murray, matt. "gnc makes ginseng, shark pills its potion for growth." wall street journal, 15 may 1996.
In August 1996 GNC acquired Nature’s Northwest, which sold gourmet and health food products.
GNC planned to open another 15 stores in the United Kingdom by the end of 1996 and saw a potential for 300-400 new locations there.
Another product, a plant oil extract linked to cardiovascular health developed by Monsanto, was due later in 1998. It had established six partnerships since 1996.
In 1997, 24 GNC centers were opened in Canada.
Compared with the first quarter of fiscal 1997, revenues were up 20 percent and net income rose 27 percent.
In late 1997, GNC concluded an agreement with Monsanto to develop and sell a line of nutritional supplement products.
As of January 1998, GNC operated 20 Health and Diet Centres and 19 General Nutrition Centres in the United Kingdom, 34 General Nutrition Centres in Canada, and 1 store in New Zealand.
The first was opened in Lake Os-wego near Portland, Oregon, in August 1998; it combined a natural foods supermarket with a pharmacy, spa, salon, and resource center.
According to the company's management, in 1998 GNC held about a 14.2 percent share of the total retail supplement market, which includes the vitamins, minerals, herbs, and sports nutrition categories.
For the fiscal year ending February 6, 1999, GNC reported net revenue of $1.42 billion, up 19 percent from the previous year, but net income declined seven percent to $98.0 million.
In April 1999 GNC announced it was ending its experiment with "wellness" grocery stores.
Lindeman, Teresa F., “Pittsburgh-Based General Nutrition Companies Sells ‘Wellness’ Stores,” Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, April 28, 1999.
At the beginning of 1999 GNC entered into an alliance with Rite Aid drug stores under which Rite Aid would open full-line GNC stores within 1,500 Rite Aid locations.
With an aging baby-boom generation, it was predicted that the national market for vitamins and dietary supplements might exceed $12 billion by 2002.
By 2005 there would be 150 million people over the age of 35.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Ares Management bought GNC in 2007.
In November 2018, the company announced they would be shuttering up to 900 stores over 3 years.
In June 2020, GNC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and indicated plans to close at least 800 stores.
Effective on June 30, 2020, the stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and shifted to the OTC Markets Group.
In 2021, GNC has revealed that Josh Burris will take over as CEO. Cam Lawrence was also named CFO by the company.
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GNC competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin World | 1976 | $258.0M | 7,500 | 55 |
| Vitamin Shoppe | 1977 | $1.1B | 4,022 | 300 |
| Sally Beauty Holdings | 1964 | $3.7B | 30,050 | 1,011 |
| Sunglass Hut | 2008 | $1.2B | 10,000 | - |
| Cato Fashions | 1946 | $575.1M | 10,500 | 59 |
| RadioShack | 1921 | $3.4B | 5,825 | - |
| Claire's | 2007 | $1.4B | 18,100 | 635 |
| Payless ShoeSource | 1956 | $3.0B | 18,000 | - |
| Abercrombie & Fitch Co | 1892 | $4.9B | 44,000 | 2,594 |
| Finish Line | 1976 | $2.0B | 10,000 | 242 |
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Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of GNC, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about GNC. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at GNC. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by GNC. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of GNC and its employees or that of Zippia.
GNC may also be known as or be related to GNC Holdings, Gnc, GNC Holdings Inc, GNC, GNC Holdings, Inc., GNC Holdings, LLC and GNC Holdings Inc.