Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2019 - 36

MORE OF THE SAME
Despite their best
efforts, many outdoor
retailers simply do not
see more people of
color in their shops.
Why? How can that
paradigm change?

consumer audience of Black and brown folks
in two former Confederate states, Millsaps
admits he has some difficulty.
"Our managers seek to hire diversity the
best way that we can, but we don't really have
a brand that strikes as welcoming to where
the pool of applicants is as strong as it could
be," he says. "If you wander around the Great
Outdoor Provision Co., you're in a very highend-economic, white, 50-year-history neighborhood shopping center."
But in his efforts to improve the diversity
of his customer base, Millsaps works directly
with leaders in his community who serve
people of color. He has forged partnerships
with local organizations like the Boys &
Girls Club, the YMCA, and the Boy Scouts of
America. The Great Outdoor Provision Co.
offers these groups discounts on equipment
and apparel purchases, supports special
events at area parks that encourage outdoor
recreation, and invites youth with their families to in-store education seminars on the
basics of hiking and camping.
"What adults need are the handles to grab

36 OUTDOOR RETAILER

/ Winter 2019

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN
OF MIDDLE AGE, HELEN
BELIEVED SHE WAS BEING
MISTREATED BECAUSE
SHE IS BLACK.
onto this thing that they want to do anyway
on behalf of their family," Millsaps says. "Our
job is supporting them in that effort and then
building it in to where it becomes a habit."
Outdoor speciality retailers have a
unique opportunity to lead the way toward
better engagement with communities of
color. By working proactively to invite underrepresented segments of the population
into their stores, shop owners can convert
visitors into customers.

DIQUAN EDMONDS IS CURRENTLY A
graduate student at North Carolina State
Univeristy in Raleigh. He's working toward
a master's degree in parks, recreation, and
tourism management while serving as a

wellness graduate research assistant at the
the North Carolina Recreation and Parks
Association (NCRPA). A regular shopper at
the Great Outdoor Provision Co., Edmonds,
who is African American, has often wondered
why he doesn't see more people who look like
him out enjoying nature. "Throughout my life
I noticed there weren't many Black people in
the outdoors," he says. "You hear these stereotypes that Black people just don't go outside."
But Edmonds knew from his own experience that simply wasn't true. Working now
with the NCRPA in cooperation with the
Great Outdoor Provision Co., he's exploring
ways to make outdoor recreation more accessible to a broader audience. "I think recognizing certain things and changing what we
think of outdoor recreation as a whole might
be a way to change the narrative. I can think
of something like barbecuing," he says. "I can
remember all of my family reunions being
outside in a park. And although we weren't
doing something like hiking or other 'traditional' outdoor recreation activities, we were
still spending time outdoors. So maybe if it

Outdoor Retailer - Winter 2019

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