JULY 14 • 2022 | 103

I

ndependent retail stores have faced
serious challenges for years. First,
the big-box retailers and online
outlets provided tough competitive for
neighborhood stores. Then COVID
required temporary store closings and
health precautions as well as delays in
obtaining merchandise.
However, father-and-son team Herman
and Jeff Goldsmith show that retail can
evolve and expand successfully for 50
years in Metro Detroit. Their family-
owned and operated Joe’s Army Navy has
two stores, in Clawson and Waterford, that

offer a wide range of merchandise from
army and camping gear to work clothes.
“Most stores are cookie-cutter, but
we’re completely different than anything
else. Jeff works so hard to find actual
military product. It’s a friendly place for

people to buy things that aren’t available
anymore,” says Herman Goldsmith, 91, of
West Bloomfield, who still comes to the
store every day. “I shmooze with every
customer.”
Jeff Goldsmith, 58, of West Bloomfield
explains that Joe’s Army Navy was begun
by Joe Jacobson in downtown Pontiac
in 1946. Initially, Herman Goldsmith
worked as a buyer for the store and then
bought it in 1972. Joe’s Army Navy moved
to Waterford in 1983 and opened a Royal
Oak store in 1988. In 2019, the Royal Oak
store moved to Clawson.
“My father was a garage sale guy. He
took things people didn’t want and found
a way to make them marketable,” Jeff
Goldsmith explains.
After World War II, the U.S.
government held auctions at military
bases around the country to unload
massive amounts of surplus clothing
and equipment left after World War II.

50 Years

We can’t help when
you pick the slowest
checkout line.

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B I R M I N G H A M

Member FDIC

Two generations keep
Joe’s Army Navy store
thriving.

SHARI S. COHEN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Herman and
Jeff Goldsmith

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