Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2018 - 23

CASE STUDY

"it would be a challenge because of discount
places." As for the stiff Internet competition,
she reiterated what all retailers mentioned for
this story: "I can't match online pricing."
At Sturtevants in Ketchum, Idaho, owner
Olin Glenne believes that online competition
has simply become a reality over the passage
of time, with no "aha moment" other than
that of the bubble bursting in 2008. Currently
Glenne is adverse to even attempting online
sales through his own website. Instead the
four store locations focus on service through
hiring a competent staff (see our rundown of
ski shop staffing strategies on page 48).
The stores also benefit from the myriad of
outdoor activities in Sun Valley. "Ground zero
for adventure" Glenne calls the Sturtevants'
stores' 11,000 total feet of floor space.
Weather-including climate change-affects business. "We are essentially farmers,"
Glenne said, referring to how they manage
inventory and expenses according to snowfall
and increasingly frequent forest fires that can
blanket Sun Valley in smoke and keep people
indoors and slow business. Sturtevants has
also carved out a niche as a mountain bike
purveyor during the summer seasons. "Bikes,
like skis, are service intensive. Also, like skis,
they're rentable," Glenne said, "so they are insulated from the competitive online world."
Twelve years ago, Sturtevants boosted
business with guided hiking and mountain
biking-supplemented with shuttle service
to and from the trailheads. "You can't just sell
goods, you've got to be authentic," Glenne said,
hinting at a raison d'etre and the humanity
that is missing from the Internet.

AS INTERNET PRICING CAUSED THE COLLAPSE OF
BIG BOX STORES THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA OVER
THE LAST FEW YEARS, FOOTLOOSE ONLY PROFITED,
SELLING THOSE PARTS AND PACKAGES-ALONG
WITH PERSONALIZED SERVICING-FOR THE DOWNHILL GEAR THAT THE SKI CHALET CHAIN UNLOADED
AS ITS DOORS CLOSED.

LOCATED TWO MILES FROM CALIFORNIA'S
Mammoth Mountain resort, the Footloose
shop in downtown Mammoth Lakes rose to
prominence more than two decades ago when
its founder (and original owner) Sven Coomer
patented Superfeet insoles for his custommade ski boots. Although online competition
is a worry these days for manager Zach Yates,
thanks to record dumps-that drove the lifts
into August last season-Footloose experienced record profits in 2017. While the extended winter cut into its bike sales, skiing has
long comprised 75 percent of its business.

OFF THE SLOPES, HOWEVER, AND LACKING A
a branded product like Superfeet, ordinary
merchants often take extraordinary measures. This is the case with the boutique retailer Crow's Feet Commons in Bend, Oregon.
Manager David Sword believes that his
store's stability comes through providing a service that online retailers can't touch. Started in
2012 by owner David Marchi as a coffee shop
that sold bikes out of Bend's oldest historic
home (leased from the city), Crow's Feet has
continued looking for ways to expand.
At first, the café business outpaced bike

As Internet pricing caused the collapse of
big box stores throughout California over the
last few years, Footloose only profited, selling
those parts and packages-along with personalized servicing-for the downhill gear
that the Ski Chalet chain had unloaded as its
doors closed. "We cater to service," Yates said.
"A lot of the [failing] super stores sold incompatible systems so we'd sometimes sell whole
new packages." It strikes Yates as a fine irony
that while business has justified doubling his
5,800 feet of floor space, Footloose will do it
by taking over the Bank of America building.
"They're leaving Mammoth Lakes," he added,
"probably because of the Internet."
Like most specialty ski shops, Yates hasn't
seen a pressing need to develop an online presence because the store has grown every year.
Nor does he believe that prime location is key.
"But if your service is better than anyone else's
(Mammoth Lakes, pop, 20,000 in winter,
10,000 in summer, has several competing ski
shops), your name gets out there and brings
more customers." He also believes that there's
no magic to this formula. "There's nothing
that we do that others can't," Yates said.

sales. Then, three years ago, the "David and
David Show" leased an additional storefront, solely dedicated to backcountry gear.
Like most specialty shops, it also prospers
by servicing and renting skis and bikes. The
other hook is a taproom, serving De Garde's
Mulligan, Boneyard's Armored Fist, Russian
River's Blind Pig, Ale Apothecary, and The
Bruery's Tart of Darkness. As if that's not
enough, while having second thoughts about
shelling out $7-10K for a custom ride, you can
sample a selection of local wines while sitting
in the plaza alongside the Deschutes River.
Across the country in Vermont, the Outdoor
Gear Exchange has shown that a bar or slopeside location are not necessities for success.
Ideally located on Burlington's Church Street
Mall and largely unaffected by an LL Bean
recently opening on the same block, Mike
Donohue's shop has been in business for 22
years. Although Donohue claims that there's
no single silver bullet for prospering, it's obvious that good service is essential. "Know your
customers," he would advise other shop owners, "they're paying the bills."
Outdoor Gear Exchange runs a well-balanced website-manned with store employees for live chat-but most of the shop's
sales come from personal interactions on
the floor. "Our goal is to be an educational
resource," Donohue said, "to be involved in
the community."
In 2013, Donohue established The OGE
Charitable Grant Fund in order to give back
regionally by funding local nonprofit conservation and access projects. It's an axiom that
brick-and-mortars that succeed tend to invest
in both community and conservation-but
not for profit, he hastened to add, " The challenge in our business is to have a soul ." O.R.

Winter 2018/ OUTDOOR RETAILER 23

Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2018

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