Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2017 - 32

IDEAS

THOUGHT LEADERS

On Point
A retail shop should be a place where you do
more than buy gear. The best stores build
community. Even better? Here you can talk
shop, drink coffee and beer, even do yoga.
Name: Gwen Hobbs
Company: Redpoint Climbers Supply and Community Studio
Opened: 1988
Title: Owner
Location: Terrebonne, Oregon
Downlow: Sometimes the best MBA is the one earned on the rock. Gwen

Hobbs is simply a climber at heart. She learned the sport at Kentucky's
famed Red River Gorge back in 2004 and soon moved to the Mt.
Shasta, California, area where she learned mountaineering by scaling
the Cascades' volcanoes, backpacked wilderness areas, and volunteered for Siskiyou County search and rescue. She ended up at Smith
Rock in central Oregon, chasing routes and hanging out at the local climbing shop, Redpoint Climbers Supply. In 2013, she invested
in the expansion of the place and became an equal ownership partner. The famed climbing retailer had been open since 1988, but as the
years rolled on, it ended up losing its small-shop charm and became
a cramped version of its former glory. Gwen worked with owner Eric
Bostard, now her husband, to build a new shop that would offer more
than just gear: Craft beer, cider, mead, kombucha, local coffee, and
beta are all on the menu here. This March, the couple opened up the
Redpoint Community Studio in the adjoining space, where they offer
massage and energy healing as well as a variety of yoga classes, yogic
philosophy, and art. And somehow, Hobbs manages to also work a "real
job" as an occupational therapist and mother a 10-month-old baby.

coffee?" "Where can we get a beer?" It was then that Eric and I joined up
to move the shop to the southeast corner of Smith Rock Way and Hwy 97
and to offer what people wanted: coffee, beer, and gear.

Outdoor users need to unite. We can't have multiple factions of outdoor user groups that act independently. Our voice is larger together, as
opposed to many different, smaller groups.

I think that since the age of 'gym climbing,' safety in the outdoors has decreased. We are seeing a lot more people in the outdoors who have a false sense of confidence and that is scary. They
can lead climb at the gym, so they think they can lead climb outdoors. Unfortunately, when something goes wrong, they don't know
how to escape a belay or safely clean an anchor.

Small and seasonal will always be feast and famine-no matter how
you try to organize the system. You just have to keep strong through the
long winters and know that people will come back in the spring.
In 2013, I spent three months hanging out at Redpoint with the
owner, Eric. People kept coming in and asking, "Where can I get good

32 OUTDOOR RETAILER

/ Summer 2017

Surviving the winters is tough.
Every single person who has brought their love of the outdoors to
our store, their stories and enthusiasm for what we are doing, keeps
us going.
The outdoor industry needs to incorporate education through retailers without the retailer being held liable for content. We can offer
up space-if instructors will provide knowledge.
Dreams are expensive!

Prana's tank tops are the best for nursing. They are a one-hand
wonder.
I always say, "As long as she floats, margins don't matter that much!"
We didn't go into this to get rich. We are just trying to provide a great service for our community and enjoy what we do. O.R.

Corey McCarthy / courtesy Gwen Hobbs

Who doesn't want to hang out at a shop and talk about gear and
climbing all day?

I appreciate the perspective of looking out over a canvas of wilderness and feeling like such a small piece of the vast universe.

Outdoor Retailer - Summer 2017

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