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

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you pick the slowest 
checkout line.

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Two generations keep 
Joe’s Army Navy store 
thriving.

SHARI S. COHEN 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Herman and 
Jeff Goldsmith

continued on page 104

