Tried & True – Paul Voorhees Shares His Recipe For 60 Years of Success at Ranger Joe’s

“The most valuable thing in my life is the unconscious influence of my father”

Paul Voorhees, 78, explains of the man who started his family’s iconic local business, Ranger Joe’s, now celebrating its 60th year.

Paul recalls his father, the late Jack Paul Voorhees, as “a very gifted human being who could do anything he wanted to do.” His dad moved to Columbus from Corning, New York, in 1942 to be a paratrooper and met his mom at North Highland Church. After World War II ended, the couple spent two brutal winters in Corning before settling in her hometown. His mother explained after his father’s passing in 1983 that, when Paul was a baby, the average salary in Columbus was $40 a week. His dad worked for the railroad during the day and dug trenches for septic tanks at night. The two jobs netted $100 a week income, his mother told him, “but we lived off $40 a week.”

Growing up off St. Mary’s Road, Paul recalls doing homework in the back of his father’s TV and appliance repair shop. In a “shop in the back of the shop,” his dad created stained glass that still shines in some of the grandest sanctuaries in the city.

In 1963, two of his father’s friends approached Jack about a army-surplus store downtown on Broadway that was up for sale. Jack grabbed the opportunity. The store was given the name Ranger Joe’s by soldiers who called Jack by his nickname “Joe”. The store opened a week after President Kennedy was assassinated.

Paul was working there from day one. He had twice tried to join the Army but, due to childhood injuries from football and horseback riding, failed the physical when drafted, then failed again when he attempted to enlist. Still, he soon developed a deep, almost devout, mutual respect with soldiers. This would ultimately be the hallmark of his business career – and it explains why he was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame, and why he was invited to preach to a capacity crowd of soldiers in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s palace during the Iraq War on Thanksgiving in 2003 — the same year he was named a Small Business Giant by the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

The 78-year-old’s memory brings the past to life during a recent interview at his office on Moon Road, headquarters for his various community efforts, including Back Columbus Blue, Paul Voorhees Ministries (supporter of Teen Challenge, Valley Rescue Mission, and other charities), and the professional recording studio from his long-running “God & Country” radio show.

“In 1965, a sergeant from Third Company came in,” Voorhees reflects on his sink-or-swim introduction to doing business with Rangers from Ft. Benning (now Ft. Moore). “It was Sgt. Schroeder. They called him Red Dog. Huge man. At that point, he had trained every general who’d gone through Ranger School. He looked down at me and said, ‘Here’s a list of stuff I want you to sell to my Rangers. If you sell them stuff they don’t need, I’m going to come back down here, and it won’t be good.’ I was 20 years old. It put fear in my heart. I had an artist come illustrate a poster with a list that at the bottom read nice and big, ‘You Don’t Need Anything Else.’ After that, Sgt. Schroeder and I became like brothers.”

“My dad told me, ‘When a soldier comes in, they’ve had a tough day,” Voorhees explains. “The last thing they need is anything grumpy. You don’t know what a soldier feels like away from home. How you treat that soldier when they come in, they’ll remember forever. When they know your heart, they will shop with you.”

His father added, “Give them more than they expect, and do it cheerfully.” A sentiment that applied to everyone.

That spirit of generous good cheer is felt by employees at the Ranger Joe’s just as well, according to Kelvin Smith, who has worked for the company since 2003 and served as store manager for the past 12 years.

“He cares about everybody,” he says of Voorhees. “During the pandemic lockdown, he made sure everybody kept their job, made sure everybody got paid.”

Smith, who was recruited by Voorhees after impressing the owner by his job performance at the Columbus airport, says there is a “close knit” bond between employees. The business model has changed, Smith says, noting that Ranger Joe’s no longer sells Army surplus. “Everything is new,” Smith says of the merchandise, with boots by far being the biggest seller at the store.

Paul’s wife of 37 years, Janice, laughs a little during a recent phone call when she describes her husband as “generous — to a fault.”

Janice Voorhees, owner of Ranger Joe’s International, says her husband “does his best to help anyone in need.” This help might be sponsoring a local charity. It might be giving a soldier enough cash to fill up his car with gas. Paul is the visionary and our face,” she says, adding that she’s content to do the “back office work,” having overseen the day-to-day operations in tandem with Janet Morris, who has led Ranger Joe’s as CEO for the past 38 years. “He’s a people person. He’s genuine. You get this feeling being around him, ‘this person is different.’“

“I am honored to be his friend,” says Jed Harris, local realtor and political figure. “I joke to him that I am the little brother he never had. We’re very close.”

Harris said about eight years ago, at a time “when police in our country were on the defensive,” he and Voorhees sat across from each other during one of their regular visits and wondered what they could do to help. The pair came up with an idea that eventually formed as Back Columbus Blue, a 501(c)(3) that benefits Columbus police, fire, and EMTs, to provide financial and moral support. Harris calls Voorhees “the spiritual leader” of the organization.

Voorhees once planned to walk away from Ranger Joe’s. Business had grown several times over during the Vietnam War, when Paul was able to procure, then sell, supplies the Army was out of, such as jungle boots and parkas. After Vietnam, Ranger Joe’s in 1976 moved from its Broadway location to a new spot closer to base on (4030) Victory Drive, where it still stands today.

While training to be a minister at a seminary in Florida, Voorhees and his father were actually planning to sell Ranger Joe’s to develop Christian summer camps. But Jack died during open heart surgery in 1983 and everything changed. Paul bought his mother’s stake in the business. After he married Janice, he handed her the reins. “My wife had a tremendous amount of business experience,” he says. “She was exceptional with accounting and with organizational structure. I ran it like a lemonade stand.”

Janice led the charge into the mail-order business. They purchased the warehouse on (325) Farr Road in the late ‘80s and, in 1992, added 10,000 sq. ft. to make it a 22,000 sq. ft. distribution center and office headquarters. The company next added the Ft. Stewart location. They also added to the Victory Drive property in 1992, which includes 600 feet along Victory Drive with outbuildings that now feature a tattoo parlor, a barber shop, and a Subway.

“We take good care of people” Voorhees cites as one of the reasons for Ranger Joe’s sustained success for the past 60 years.

“I try to do no harm,” Voorhees says of his life philosophy. “You can go a whole lifetime and not show anyone your heart. But if people know your heart, they will remember you. That’s what happened at Ranger Joe’s. People know who we are. People know they can trust us. They know our hearts. That’s what lasts.”

By Frank Etheridge