Our History
1776 – Congress authorized civilian sales concessions to be established so that Soldiers in General Washington’s Continental Army could purchase items such as chewing tobacco, snuff, knives and blankets.
1806 – First official record of a “Post Trader” at a Marine Corps Post operated by Lt John Johnson, Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment at the Navy Yard, New York.
1866 – Concessionaires were abolished from Army posts because of bad practices such as charging exorbitant prices for goods, instituting usurious credit practices and providing inadequate services.
1889 – The War Department, with approval from Congress, published rules and regulations for the operation of Post Canteens, which replace “Post Traders”.
1895 – The Army set up a system of Post Exchanges and provided detailed explanations on the establishment and operation of these exchanges.
1897 – Theodore Roosevelt, then the Acting Secretary of the Navy approved the establishment of the first Marine Corps Exchange at Marine Barracks, Boston, Mass.
1900 – First overseas Marine Corps Exchanges opened at the Marine Barracks in Cavite and Olongapo in the Philippines. The MCX’s open in the United States included Boston, MA, Newport, RI, League Island, PA, Annapolis, MD, Norfolk, VA, Port Royal, SC and Bremerton, WA. The Corps also had Post Traders at Portsmouth, NH, New York, NY, and Washington, DC.
1904 – The Commandant of the Marine Corps recommended that every post in the Marine Corps be authorized to have a Post Exchange in lieu of the Post Traders store. The Assistant Secretary of the Navy approved this change on 20 June 1904 and the change from Post Trader to Post Exchange was slowly made until 1912.
1912 – MajGen Commandant W. P. Biddle issued definitive Post Exchange regulations. These regulations set forth the primary and secondary missions of the Exchanges which are followed in the same general form today.
1913 – 1940 – Little information remains but we know the Marine Corps did utilize Exchanges in France during World War I and many MCX’s were activated during World War II.
1950 – The Marine Corps Exchange system had 52 Exchanges in operation.
1965 – Exchange Marines were deployed with the FMF and landed with the expeditionary unit in the Dominican Republic where they establish the main Exchange in a hotel and two mobile units to support outlying troops.
1967 – Exchange Marines, trained to support combat units, deployed to Vietnam and under a joint agreement with AAFES operated AAFES Exchanges in the sectors where the Marines had primary responsibility. At one time, Marines operated 27 exchange outlets.
1972 – Post Vietnam, the MCX had twenty five Exchanges in operation
1988 – The consolidation of the Marine Corps Exchange and Morale Support programs into Marine Corps MWR. By joining these activities, which had the common mission to support Marines quality of life, it gave Commanders a single point of contact for those activities on an installation – the MWR Director.
1990 – 1991 – Operation Dessert Shield/Dessert Storm deployed 80 Exchange Marines to operate tactical field exchanges in Saudi Arabia Exchanges were operated under the most austere conditions – in tents, shipping containers and out of five-ton trucks.
1993 – Marine Corps Exchanges began ordering merchandise from both AAFES and NEX distribution centers which enabled the MCX to reduce prices on these goods between six and fifteen percent.
1993 – Exchange Marines support Operation Restore Hope with tactical field exchanges in Somalia.
1995 – The MCX introduced a Price Match Guarantee Program.
1997 – MCX celebrated 100th anniversary. MCX had its first million dollar sales day, at a single store, at Henderson Hall.
1998 – Centralized buying initiated at the first MCX which was Albany, Ga.
2001 – Miramar NEX becomes MCX Miramar. The MCX launched the Super Star Student program with support from our key vendors.
2002 – First item UPC scanned on new MCX merchandise system at Elmore MCX. MCX enters into an MOU with AAFES to support tactical field exchanges in Iraq. AAFES provides product and Exchange Marines operate.
2003 – Launched the new MCX branding campaign with the help of J. Walter Thompson. The new MCX logo appeared for the first time in the 2003 MCX Anniversary ad.
2004 – The MCX private label “1775” is launched and is a huge success. The Headquarters’ centralized buying team is fully established.
2005 – This was a busy year for the MCX…. Our first Civilian Marines deployed to Iraq to augment the Exchange Marines. Having Civilian Marines operate the DOX-T’s allows our Exchange Marines to operate TFEs and WES teams at our forward operating bases. This is also the year the MCX introduced MCX gift cards. We also had the grand opening of our Elmore Exchange which incorporated our new branding guidelines.
2006 - MCX was the recipient of the DBIA design award for design of the Elmore Exchange.
2007 – MCX will celebrate the grand opening of three “large format” MCX main stores in fourth quarter of 2007 after complete remodels …MCX Miramar, MCX Cherry Point and MCX Quantico.
20011-NOW – The exchange has continued to grow and evolve into the premier retail organization that it is today. One serving thousands of patrons in many different countries, every day. With your support and a firm vision towards the future, the MCX will continue to grow and support the very best customers in the world... The United Stated Marine Corps.
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8/17/07 - 115 year anniversay writeup