Navy Exchange Service Command

About Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM)

The Navy Exchange Service Command enables warfighter readiness and strengthens the Navy quality of life mission by providing essential products, services and hospitality for military communities worldwide.

NEXCOM is uniquely positioned to effectively sustain the Fleet and military families by way of NEX military retail stores, Ship's Store Program, Telecommunications Program Office, Uniform Program Management Office, Navy Clothing & Textile Research Facility and the Hospitality Group that supports PCS, TDY, leisure travel and long-term mission stays.

NEXCOM is a non-appropriated fund instrumentality (NAFI) of the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy, generating sustainment and modernizations funds through operations.

NEXCOM is continuously evolving to meet the demands of today’s military operational environment. As further sustainment to Navy Warfighters and military families, 100% of the command’s earnings are directed to Navy quality of life programs, amounting to over $3.7 billion since 1946.

As an Echelon III Navy command, NEXCOM accounts for over 60% of the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Enterprise personnel, providing critical resources and a vital capability pursuant to all policy, guidance and instructions set forth by the Department of Defense and Department of the Navy

History

Navy Exchange Service Command has come a long way since the days when bumboats sold their wares to Sailors aboard Naval vessels in the 19th century. Back then, Sailors had to depend on these unreliable boats to get their personal items while aboard ship. The bumboats, small vessels that pulled alongside U.S. Navy ships, exchanged merchandise for money by pails lowered over the side by the crew of the Navy ship. Goods sold by the bumboats were normally inferior and sold at high prices.

By 1909, the Naval Appropriations Act established the first official resale activities, Ships Stores and Commissary Stores. In 1944, the Secretary of the Navy permitted ships stores to be operated on all Navy bases. Then in 1945, Captain Wheelock H. Bingham, SC, USNR, recommended all resale activities operate like a large chain of retail stores and a central office be established to oversee the operation of the ‘Navy Resale System.

The Secretary of the Navy approved the Bingham Plan which stated, in part, that the Ships Service Stores Ashore be operated with non-appropriated funds. The new central office for the Navy Ships Store Office was established in Brooklyn, New York, on April 1, 1946.

This command was later renamed ‘Navy Exchange Service Command’ and is now headquartered in Virginia Beach, Virginia.