is a chain of
Department Store s in the
United States Of America operating as a division of
ShopKo Stores, Inc. Pamida specializes in small communities, ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 people, often opening in retail spaces vacated when larger retailers such as
Wal-Mart or
Kmart leave.
Pamida had its beginnings in a service merchandise business begun in 1948 by Jim Witherspoon and Lee Wegener. Witherspoon and Wegner opened their first retail outlet in
Knoxville, Iowa in 1963 as part of the
Gibson Products Company . A second store soon followed in
Oskaloosa, Iowa and the stores quickly expanded throughout the
Midwest . By the late 1970s, the stores were no longer associated with Gibson Products and began to be called "Pamida".
The Pamida name represents the first two letters of the first names of Witherspoon's three sons, Pat, Mike, and David.
Witherspoon and Wegener sold Pamida in 1981 to employees, and in 1986 a unit of
Citicorp acquired a controlling interest in the company. In 1999,
ShopKo Stores, Inc. purchased Pamida and began operating the company as a separate division.
The Pamida motto is "Bringing smaller communities what they want".
