130 Years of Family Serving Family: Jimmie Burris, Fairchild AFB and Malmstrom AFB Exchanges

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 130 years of family serving family

Who he is: Jimmie Burris, general manager, Fairchild AFB and Malmstrom AFB Main Exchanges

Years at the Exchange: Burris will celebrate 26 years with the Exchange on Aug. 25.

Military connections: Burris’ father, Chief Master Sgt. Richard Burris, served 28 years on active duty and 15 years in civil service with the Air Force. His late father-in-law, Master Sgt. Abel Rojas, also served in the military. Both his father and father-in-law retired at Fairchild Air Force Base.

Both his grandfathers served in the Navy, with one serving during World War II and fighting in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

“It was awesome growing up with a military family, because I got to live in places like Japan, Germany and Hawaii before moving here to Spokane 26 years ago. I got to live all over the world. When we got to a new base, the big thing was going to the Exchange to see how cool one BX is compared to others,” Burris said.

“It was just awesome because it’s that little touch of home when you’re overseas and there’s not a whole lot that you can really watch and understand. Getting over to the BX and being able to find things like CDs back then was so awesome to be a part of. So, the Exchange played a big part of my life for sure.”

Fairchild AFB/Malmstrom AFB Exchange General Manager Jimmie Burris during a Vietnam War Veterans Day pinning ceremony at the Fairchild Exchange.

Exchange family connections: Burris credits his father for his initial interest in starting a career with the Exchange. His family was living in Hawaii before his dad received orders to come to Fairchild. Burris initially wanted to stay in Hawaii, but after seeing the cost of living for that state, plus potentially being so far from family, he decided to join his father in coming to the mainland.

“It sounds weird, but some of it was comfort. I’m so used to military life as far as being a military brat dependent. And then when I started interviewing with places and I would get job offers, I’d always keep looking at it, thinking, ‘You know, I’m not serving anybody, and I really felt the need for that.’ So when the Exchange position opened up, I knew this would be a great opportunity to make an impact.”

His first job as a sales associate was not intended to be long term, but after working at the Exchange, Burris realized he was in the midst of a great opportunity, which ultimately led to his eventual appointment as general manager and meeting his wife.

“Ironically, I met my wife at the Exchange. The first time I met her, she was returning a portable CD player. There was a call for assistance at customer service because her CD player wasn’t working, and when I saw her, I told everybody, ‘Hey, I’ve got this one.’ It sounds smoother than probably how it actually went, but it was a cool experience to talk to her, and later on, she came to work at the Exchange too.”

Burris and his wife recently celebrated their 21^st wedding anniversary. His brother worked in the Exchange Burger King for a while and met his wife at work, as well.

“We have a lot of connections with the Exchange as far as families, Family Serving Family for sure. We’re a family meeting family, even.”

Fairchild AFB/Malmstrom AFB Exchange General Manager Jimmie Burris with his family, from left: Jimmie, Amy, Norah, Lucas and Layla (with dog Kelce). Burris met his wife when she returned a portable CD player to the Exchange; they’ve been married 21 years. After they met, she came to work at the Exchange.

Being a general manager: “There is never a boring day as a general manager,” Burris said. “There are some things that come to you that you just never expect would ever happen. There have been times when we needed to help support the military on short notice, and it is just so important and so exciting to be able to do.

“I never realized how much impact outside of work that we [general managers] have. When someone is sick, going to the hospital to be by them for a little while and saying, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ It’s something that you don’t do anywhere else, and I’m not sure if off-site, at other big-box retailers, they do that as well. That’s one of the cool things about us, with being such a close-knit family, is being able to be there for people in both good and tough times. Somebody was getting their citizenship, and I got to be a part of it and be with them. So it’s something that I never realized until I got into it and went, ‘Wow, this, this could be huge.’ I mean, there’s so much impact you have as a GM that makes it pretty interesting.”

Support in times of tragedy: A few years ago, Burris and his family lost their home and household pets to wildfire. Burris can never forget the support he felt from his Exchange family during his time of need.

“I can’t thank everyone enough. From the top, Mr. Shull reaching out to me to me, my bosses, my colleagues and everybody else calling and supporting us during that time. You hope you never have to go through what I did, and it was a hugely heartwarming thing for me to see.

“Mr. Shull even at one point goes, ‘I know a guy with USAA’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I actually have a different company, sir’ but he was ready to make a call for me. My leadership and even some of the military community and our commanders reached out to me asking if I needed a place to stay. It was just amazing to see.

“I try not to talk about the fire too much because I don’t want it to define me or my family as to what we went through. However, in this instance, it was amazing how much of my Exchange family came to us and helped us bounce back.”

Family Serving Family: “I discovered my family here. There are folks that I’ve met as customers, coworkers and mentors that I will consider family now for the rest of my life.

“I’ve literally gotten to serve my dad, which is an honorable thing to be able to be a part of. By no means have I impacted the way he was in the military, but I know I’m able to take a little bit of that legacy with me and help pass it on to the next group of folks as they come through. Every day when I come in, there’s going to be somebody that I see that I’ll consider family even after I retire.”