The outfitter store in Kent, CT Annie Bananie, aka Backcountry Outfitters closed and the building is for sale.
If you have a spare $560,000 and always wanted an outfitter store here is your chance.
http://www.bainrealestate.com/p/195/170155212
The outfitter store in Kent, CT Annie Bananie, aka Backcountry Outfitters closed and the building is for sale.
If you have a spare $560,000 and always wanted an outfitter store here is your chance.
http://www.bainrealestate.com/p/195/170155212
Too far off the trail. I wanted to go there last year to buy new hiking shoes, but no one would pick me up hitchhiking. Then I called them and found out they don't sell shoes. Glad I didn't get picked up.
Too far off the trail. I wanted to go there last year to buy new hiking shoes, but no one would pick me up hitchhiking. Then I called them and found out they don't sell shoes. Glad I didn't get picked up.[/QUOTE]
FYI there is a real shoe store in Kent called Sundog. They have a fairly good selection.
Boy if I could make the numbers work I think I would give it a try. But the money is what kills you in Conn.
I looked quickly on loop.net at commercial RE prices in Kent, CT vs Franklin, NC just for fun. Yeah, prices are somewhat lower in Franklin, maybe 35% on average based on $/ft² for a stand alone location. Pretty much to be expected due to the difference in demographics / income. But they aren't 300% lower. If the store were directly on Rt 7/Main St in Kent, it would be better, but they'd likely want more for the RE as well. As it was, they were a mixed enterprise - outfitter and food/ice cream, likely because neither alone can make it on their own. Selling outdoor gear from a small B&M in the age of direct sales, online retailers, and Amazon isn't a business I'd want to be in, and not just in CT. You need the perfect situation (like Mountain Crossings) to make it work these days.
Last edited by 4eyedbuzzard; 04-21-2019 at 13:57.
Niche brick and mortar stores are a tough environment to make work today.....unless have some overwhelming advantage.
i met the owner in 2010, he shuttled me. they were just about dead then, not sure how they lasted 9 more years. not surprised to hear they stopped selling shoes. he complained specifically that people came in to shop and try them on and then went home to order them online, never bought them
Much of B&M retail is in its death throes. I noticed that 3 years ago a store where I used to live in NJ, Jersey Paddler in Brick, NJ, closed its doors. While they predominantly dealt with paddle sports, they also carried higher end hiking gear (TNF, MSR, Moss tents, etc.) back in the days before online shopping. I'm hoping Campmor holds on. Haven't been there in several years, but it was like 5th Avenue in NYC at Christmas time for a hiker.
theyre online business i hope is thriving but the retail store is dying fast. REI opening down the road might have been the last straw. used to be going there on a friday night during nice weather would be a bad idea unless you liked huge crowds and long lines for checkout. now its always a ghost town.
and their product selection is way down as well. even online, which is a bad sign. and i used to love the stuff they sold that was their "own" brand (i assume someone was making it for them) that seems to have fallen away completely.
Sorry to hear that. Back in "the day" (60's-80's), the brown 20° Campmor down bag was the only affordable 3 season down bag for a lot of hikers. Gear wasn't as easy to source back then. We made a once a year trip in the spring and would spend hours at the store crawling in and out of tents, trying on packs, playing with stoves, etc. We used to wait in anticipation for the cheap paper mail-order catalogs to come in the mail. It's a different world now...
I have a few of those old catalogs. They’re still fun to look at, and I look longingly at the old prices. Remember when almost everyone had a light blue Goretex rain suit from Campmor?
I remember when they were located in the art shops and then moved out to the road shop, they have done pretty well, but not a big money maker, more of a hobby business.
I think the distance from trail doesn't put them out of reach. It's 0.7 or 0.8 miles. That's pretty close, especially for long-distance hikers with a real gear need.
Not having a good selection and not selling hiking boots is a huge problem, though.
I've watched over several years as the outfitter part of the store was crammed into a smaller & smaller space way in the back. The lil' cafe'/ice cream place and the knick-knack store that's in the same building has taken over.
Also, they stopped shuttling AT hikers. I've used them before for a shuttle. And, shuttling people can involve section hikers who have a car and usually have money to spend. If your shuttle driver points you to his local outfitter store, you're going to stop in there at the end of your hike. As I did on my first visit up there.
Yeah, but how many LD hikers have a "real gear need" upon reaching Kent, CT? Unlike the southern end, the thru-hiker herd has thinned substantially and hikers that made it this far have their gear dialed in. You need high traffic to afford to maintain shoe selections and inventories. Section hikers bring their shoes and gear (at minimum all the expensive stuff) from home, and ride sharing services dilute the shuttling opportunities. You are left competing for local customers against online retailers selling at lower prices with next day and 2nd day delivery. It's just not a realistic business model in this day and age.
do you really think selling boots and having a bigger selection was a profitable enterprise that they just decided to stop engaging in because.... they didnt want to make any money or something?
i'm sure theres a downward spiral to it, but it begins with the demand for those items not being strong enough to sustain the business
I agree. Demand not being strong enough is part of what starts that downward spiral.
I just saw that downward spiral going on. I think if you go into an outfitter store and they have a really limited selection, it's going to turn you away. Then, word gets out--- It's not worth going there.
If you visit a second time (prob'ly many people wouldn't go back) because you're in the area again and the selection is even smaller--outfitter crammed into an even smaller space as what happened with this place--it's going to turn you away even more.