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Story of a Gear Shop: How Neptune Mountaineering Has Survived 50 Years in a Changing Market

objmigrationbot — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 01:20:45 +0000

To walk into Boulder, Colorado’s Neptune Mountaineering—one of the nation’s most storied outdoor gear shops—is to step simultaneously into the past and the future. Founded in 1973 by accomplished climber Gary Neptune, the store is a monument to mountaineering, with a vast collection of historic artifacts on display beside shelves of new gear. It’s a museum, a state-of-the-art retail space, and a community gathering hub all in one.

It’s also lucky to be around. Like many retailers, Neptune Mountaineering has struggled with profit margins and the bottom line over the years. It dodged a few close calls, changing hands and even surviving bankruptcy, but somehow, the store has managed to do more than hang on. It’s become an icon in both the community and the outdoor industry at large.

In September 2021, the business traded hands for the fourth time in its five-decade history. With a new chapter beginning for Neptune, there’s no better time to look back at the wild ride the shop has navigated to get where it is today.

A Wing, a Prayer, and a Barefooted Businessman

The first thing anyone needs to know about Gary Neptune is that back when he founded his shop, he preferred to be barefoot as much as possible. In his younger years, the now 74-year-old mountaineer was the kind of guy who challenged himself by using minimal equipment on his climbing adventures—or none at all. Neptune’s climbing résumé, by any measure, is stacked. He’s stood on the summits of Everest, Makalu, and Gasherbrum II, as well as countless other peaks in the Himalaya, Andes, and the American West.

This is important to understand because it tells you something about the early character of Neptune Mountaineering. Initially, the retailer was nothing more than a small boot- and climbing shoe- repair operation—more a place for Neptune and his friends to tinker than��anything else. The shop’s main clientele consisted of other elite climbers in the area.

“I started the shop because there was another guy in town who repaired boots and sold a little climbing gear,” Neptune said. “But he was incredibly slow. It would pretty much take him all summer to fix your boots. A friend of mine convinced me that if we could buy some machinery, it would be a nice little niche [for us]. I liked handyman things, so I did it.”

The whole store, including the machinery Neptune needed to get started, cost about $14,000, he said. For years, the shop didn’t even have a cash register, and saw little return on Neptune’s initial investment. “We squeaked through for a number of years with a gross curve that was so flat you couldn’t tell if it was up or down,” he said.

Neptune discovered the hard way that growing a business for mountaineers meant giving up some of that mountaineering himself. One saving grace: the store’s location on the Front Range meant that he could at least climb locally on a daily basis. “That was why I located the store in Boulder and didn’t move away,” he said.

Neptune Mountaineering Hits Its Stride

After a full decade of barely making it, things finally started to pick up around 1983. This happened largely because, by then, the store had made a name for itself in the community. Talk to any climber who lived in Boulder during that time, and you’ll likely hear a Neptune Mountaineering story.

Part of that name-making involved inviting climbers and adventurers to the store to expound on their lives, work, and travels—a common practice now, but groundbreaking for a retail shop half a century ago. The events were a huge hit with customers. “Gary was always thinking about the bigger picture of the community rather than filling the cash register,” said Rick Hatfield, a ranger at Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, who often gave talks at the shop about nesting raptors and how the climbing community could help protect them. “In working with Gary, we all realized the value in collaborative efforts. Neptune has always been more than just a store.”

It was during this time that Neptune also started building out his collection of climbing and mountaineering artifacts, an effort that would eventually become the store’s renowned Neptune Museum.

An igloo constructed in the Neptune parking lot, circa 1993, with Gary atop it. The structure was built using a system invented by the Colorado-based “igloo tech” company Grand Shelters. (Photo: Gary Neptune)

Like so much else at the shop, the museum was a community effort. Though Neptune collected many of the pieces himself—including, famously, the disembodied, frostbitten toe of his friend and fellow climber Malcolm Daly—many items were donated from fans in Boulder and others around the world. (Today, you can trace the evolution of outdoor adventure equipment as you walk through the 17,000-square- foot store. Although Neptune eventually sold the shop in 2013, he never let go of the museum, which he still owns and curates.) The museum helped the store become a true destination for adventurers embedded in Boulder’s outdoor community. Even if a customer was just stopping to drop off skis for a tune-up, it was easy to linger, wandering around and marveling at the artifacts.

Neptune watched other stores in the area come and go over these years. Specialty shops that couldn’t harness Neptune’s magic cropped up here and there, lasted for a while, and then closed down. REI and other national outlets came to town as well. Through it all, Neptune kept a calm head and stuck to what he knew—offering expert advice and goods for serious mountaineers, and building community.

“I’m not afraid of competition,” Neptune said. “I like competition as long as people are trying to be better in their own way. What I really don’t like is the race for the bottom—cheaper, cheaper, cheaper. That’s not good for anyone.”

Disaster Comes Knocking

Once Neptune hit its stride, there was little competitors could do to diminish its power in the Boulder community. The store moved several times, eventually landing at its current home—an expansive building tucked into a strip mall on the south side of town—in 1993. The space expanded with each move, as did the product mix. What once had been a shop for only the most serious mountaineers became more welcoming of newcomers and more accessible to first-time outdoorspeople.

Neptune’s career fell into place, and after 40 years of running the show, he found himself ready to retire. In 2013, Neptune sold the business to Backwoods Retail, a Texas-based operation that, at the time, ran 10 specialty shops. Everything seemed in order; Neptune felt good about the future of his store and legacy.

But all was not peaceful and prosperous for long. According to Neptune, soon after the sale to Backwoods, communication became nearly impossible with the new owners.

Sales dropped off. The community feel of the store began to evaporate. Just a few years after the sale, Neptune Mountaineering was in serious trouble. By 2016, Backwoods owed nearly $70,000 in back rent on the store’s lease and far more to suppliers. The business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Many in the community thought their beloved shop was about to disappear forever.

Back from the Brink

If it weren’t for Shelley and Andrew Dunbar, the business would almost certainly be nothing more than a memory today.

The Dunbars, Boulder locals who had made a name (and a formidable living) for themselves in the outdoor industry by distributing Australia-based Sea to Summit’s products in the U.S., were longtime patrons of Neptune Mountaineering. Unwilling to see their community shop die, they swooped in and bought the business out of bankruptcy in 2017. They invested more than $1 million to renovate the space, opening it up, adding lots of light, and installing cool features like a climbing wall.

The shop needed a Hail Mary to save it. No idea was too bold. “Our personal motto was that you need to be a fearless retailer,” Shelley said. “That means you can’t be afraid to try new things. But it’s hard. Most retailers tend to take the safe path.”

The Dunbars were willing to take the kinds of risks that paid off. “[Customers] want to see evolution,” Shelley said. “They need to get excited about things and discover things. We fell on our faces a couple of times betting on products that didn’t sell, but people came back to us because things were different. It’s not like you have to try ideas that go against your brand and your ethos. But taking a few chances is good.”

The retail floor of Neptune Mountaineering today. (Photo: Gary Neptune)

One of the most important changes the Dunbars made was to the product mix. “We launched what we called the Neptune Lab,” Shelley said. “We found brands and products that were crowdfunded, mainly products that had been funded by Kickstarter. The reason that people use something like Kickstarter is because they can’t get into a retailer; they can’t get exposure.” The Dunbars were ready to take a chance on exactly those products. Some flopped, but some absolutely killed. “One example of a new category we tried was packrafting,” Shelley said. “We brought in a line of packrafts called Alpacka—a small Colorado company—and they were wildly successful.” The new products helped convince the Boulder community that Neptune Mountaineering was once again a place of forward-thinking expertise.

The Dunbars understood instinctively what Backwoods hadn’t: that Neptune couldn’t survive without the deep community feel that had characterized its earliest days. That understanding led to the launch of Neptune’s café, which provided a place for locals to gather and get reacquainted with the store they thought they’d lost.

Within a few years, Neptune Mountaineering had been rescued from the brink. “It was a lot of fun bringing Neptune back,” Shelley said. “We’re very proud of what we were able to do.”

The Story of Neptune Mountaineering Continues

The Dunbars will be the first to tell you that they never intended to run Neptune forever. Theirs was a rescue mission; the next chapter of leadership always belonged to someone else.

It took them a while to discover exactly who that person would be. In September 2021, after more than a year of entertaining offers, the Dunbars sold the business to Maile Spung and her father, Bob Wade, owners of another legacy retailer, Ute Mountaineer in Aspen.

Like the Dunbars, Spung and Wade are a family with deep ties to outdoor retail. Wade founded Ute Mountaineer in 1977, just four years after the launch of Neptune. The two shops grew up alongside each other, and in some ways it’s fitting they’re now playing for the same team.

“Neptune has always had this sentimental place in people’s hearts in the outdoor industry,” Spung said. “There’s a feeling of responsibility to the Boulder community to make sure the shop they know and love continues to run the way they want it to.”

For this reason, Spung is determined to maintain close ties to Gary Neptune, the business’s true beating heart. “Gary’s excited to bring some new pieces to the museum—a dogsled, some old backpacks and Nordic boots—and we want to focus on helping him keep that history alive,” Spung said.

As for Neptune himself, he feels this changing of the guard is a step in the right direction. “Maile grew up doing this, and for some reason she enjoys it,” he said, laughing. “She knows how to do pretty much everything. I think she’s a little bit like me in that she doesn’t have her nose in a computer all the time, although I’m sure she’s better at all of that stuff than I am.”

There’s a twinkle in his eye as he muses on the continuation of his life’s work. Any true adventurer would recognize it: the thrill, the challenge, the promise of unexplored territory. Neptune Mountaineering has wended its way through some tricky and beautiful terrain over the last 50 years, but the journey seems far from over. The best may be yet to come.

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Neptune Mountaineering of Boulder, Colorado, Acquired by Aspen’s Ute Mountaineer

objmigrationbot — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 05:02:21 +0000

One of the most widely known and beloved indy gear shops in the outdoor industry, Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, Colorado, has been acquired by another legacy shop, Ute Mountaineer in Aspen, the two businesses announced jointly this afternoon. The acquisition is set to finalize on September 30.

The acquisition of Neptune—which owners Shelley and Andrew Dunbar sold for an undisclosed amount to the owners of Ute, Maile Spung and her father Bob Wade—happened without the Dunbars ever officially listing the business for sale.

“There was no time pressure for us,” Shelley Dunbar told ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal today, after news of the acquisition broke. “We just wanted to find the right next owner. Because the shop is such a legend, we really wanted to make sure it got into the right hands. We didn’t put it on the market, we just started letting people know last year that it was for sale—just to see what happened.”

At that time, the Dunbars circulated an internal memo to shop employees, letting them know that the business was for sale.

“We really believe the ideal next owner should be a local with Colorado roots who understands how Neptune serves the customer and the community,” they wrote in that letter. “We will be extremely careful about who we sell the business to; what we have created here needs to be valued and preserved. We’ll want to see not only financial strength but a passionate commitment to the Neptune employees, the local outdoor community, our loyal customers for whom Neptune has become their beloved ‘home,’ and our vendor partner relationships. As we don’t need to sell, we can take our time and be selective, so we feel confident that what we’ve created these last four years will endure into the future.”

Dunbar said that she and her husband had several offers over the last 12 months or so—all of them but one from potential buyers based in Colorado—but after careful consideration and weeks of conversations, they finally landed on Ute Mountaineer as the store’s next owners.

“Ute Mountaineer was perfect in terms of who the owners are and what they bring in terms of experience, their values in their community, and so on,” Dunbar said. “We’re just so closely aligned.”

Maile Spung, who co-owns Ute Mountaineer with her father, Bob Wade (who himself co-founded the store in 1977), said she never intended to run more than one gear shop, but that the opportunity was too good to pass up. “We just couldn’t help jumping at this when it came along,” she said.

Saving Neptune Mountaineering from Bankruptcy

Neptune’s path over the years has been rocky, to say the least, which makes this latest acquisition all the more dramatic for those who have loved and frequented the shop since its founding in 1973. A mainstay of the Boulder outdoor community for decades, the shop was purchased in 2013 by Texas-based retailer Backwoods, which “effectively destroyed” it, according to Dunbar.

“When we acquired it in 2017, we bought it out of bankruptcy,” Dunbar said. “The previous owners managed to drive it into the ground. When this was going down, all of us outdoorspeople in Boulder couldn’t believe that the beloved heart and center of our community was going away. Our decision to buy it was almost like a community good deed to rescue the store from being shuttered. We never intended to make it our long-term business.”

After that 2017 acquisition, the Dunbars gutted the store, redid the interior, and rethought the product mix, all with the goal of “bringing a community treasure back to life,” according to Dunbar. It took a few years, she said, to rebuild the shop’s customer base and bring back community events that had long been cancelled.

In just four years, the couple turned the business around completely. With that goal accomplished, they wasted no time starting to look for new owners. “About a year ago, when we felt that Neptune was thriving, profitable, and had a great team in place—when the community seemed to be happy—we thought it was time to find the next owners who could take Neptune into the future,” said Dunbar.

Choosing Ute Mountaineer to Carry the Shop Forward

Dunbar said that, throughout the search for Neptune’s next owner, it was “never about the money.” Turning a profit from rescuing the store was the least of the Dunbars’ concerns when they set out on their four-year journey to find new ownership for the business. They simply wanted to preserve a community treasure that had served outdoor lovers in Boulder for decades.

For that reason, Dunbar said that she and her husband looked only for “fair market value” when discussing the acquisition with potential buyers. “Certainly we thought we deserved the amount of money we put into it,” she said. “It was a big investment on the front side. We ended up getting more back than the actual dollar amount we put in, but that was never the point for us.”

The point, instead, was to find a new owner who understood the shop’s values and customer base, and who could protect the store’s legacy for decades more. Spung, who acts as the ski and climbing buyer for Ute in addition to managing the shop as owner, was just the person for the job, Dunbar said.

“There’s so much history with Neptune,” Spung said. “After seeing what happened when the shop was sold to Backwoods and the community almost lost it, we wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. We thought we could be those people to continue it.”

Preserving the Neptune Legacy and Serving the Community

Spung said that, because Ute and Neptune operate in such different markets, the immediate goal is to keep everything in Neptune running exactly as it is now. “Our goal is to move in, observe, and take in all the information we need to operate down there,” she said. That means the product mix, layout, and general business practices will remain the same for now. If and when tweaks happen, Spung said, they will be carefully considered based on what the community in Boulder needs and wants.

One tweak that might happen in the future is to find ways to move Neptune’s product offerings slightly more in the direction of families just getting into outdoor sports, without losing any of the highly technical offerings that currently attract the shop’s more hardcore customer base.

“I have a young family, and I know that South Boulder is an area that has a lot of families, so we want to make sure we’re speaking to that population, especially those who might feel intimidated by a hardcore store,” Spung said. “At the same time, we still want to sell all the technical items that current Neptune customers expect.”

Dunbar said that, in her conversations with Spung, the topic of store changes came up frequently, but that they’re both in agreement that Neptune is “running beautifully” just the way it is.

“They respect that we understand the Boulder market,” Dunbar said. “They see that we’re answering that customer base with the product mix and strategy we have. We feel there’s really not reason to change anything.”

In fact, change may happen the other way—to Ute, rather than to Neptune. Right now, Neptune has a robust e-commerce business, while Ute doesn’t sell any of its products online. Spung confirmed that, after the acquisition, the two shops will work to merge their point-of-sale systems and start listing Ute products online.

“There are opportunities for both stores to flourish with this structure,” Spung said. “We have a great small climbing community here in Aspen, but it’s nothing like the one Boulder. We’ll be able to start offering our customers here much more specialized equipment that we couldn’t before, because we didn’t have enough demand at our single location to justify buying it in wholesale quantities. We’ll be able to do that in both the climbing and ski hardgoods categories.”

What’s Next for Neptune’s Current Owners?

As the Dunbars transition out of ownership, they plan to travel in Europe and “hopefully take lots of climbing trips,” according to the couple. They’ll sell their Boulder house early next year and split their time between Australia—where Andrew is from—and Maui, where they own a home.

“The cool thing about having a store like Neptune is it’s a lot of fun to be out on the sales floor, talking to customers,” Dunbar said. “Both Andrew and I really enjoy selling people cool stuff to go off and play outside. It’s a really fun thing to do, to talk about gear, to hear from customers about what they’re going off to do. That one-on-one engagement with people like us—that community—I think we’re both going to really miss that.”

As for the couple’s concern about the shop’s future success? Dunbar said she’s 100 percent sure selling to Ute Mountaineer was the right move.

“Maile is young and has a lot of time to grow Neptune well into the future,” Dunbar said. “It just feels like she’s the person to keep the legacy alive.”

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Behind the Rise in Branded Outdoor Retail Stores

objmigrationbot — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 00:30:50 +0000

Last March, we all got really comfortable living life online. Even my three-year-old added “Zoom” to his vocabulary—and not in reference to trucks. As for all the online shopping we’d already been doing? We did a whole lot more of it. In fact, 2020 online spending was up 44 percent year over year, according to research organization Digital Commerce 360.

And yet, this summer, many brands that have long succeeded in online, direct-to-consumer and partner-retailer sales (e.g., REI) are opening up new brick-and-mortar locations. Their reasoning: having a physical location will increase brand awareness among new customers and garner further trust with current customers. Oh, and they hope the stores will do better than break even.

Case in point: this summer, online giant Backcountry is putting its money where the customer is and opening two new retail locations in Park City, Utah, and Boulder, Colorado. The brand will rely on lessons from its 2019 pop-up presence in New York City—namely, that a store needs to offer more than just “one-and-done transactions,” said Chris Purkey, senior VP of customer experience and head of retail for Backcountry. To do that, the brick-and-mortar locations will have experts (dubbed Gearheads) on site to help customers plan trips, host events like film screenings, and organize volunteer service days with local nonprofits. Ultimately, retail locations will allow the brand to take a page from the indie gear shop playbook and add value in a way that a stand-alone website can’t.

It’s about meeting customers where they are—and that’s omnichannel, Purkey explained. “In recent years, there’s been a convergence of retail models,” he said. “You’ve got pure-play, e-commerce retailers like us now launching into brick and mortar, and traditional retailers investing heavily in digital capabilities.”

Black Diamond, which has historically sold either direct to consumers or through partner retailers, is also slowly expanding its own retail presence. Since 2019, the brand has opened flagship locations in its hometown of Salt Lake City and nearby Park City, as well as in Big Sky, Montana. Black Diamond will open a store in Boulder, Colorado, this July, and has three others in the works.

All of Black Diamond’s stores take an aesthetic approach to community integration: the Big Sky site features local tie-ins like Montana barnwood, and the Park City shop has a memorial to a hometown athlete. Said Devin Gillette, Black Diamond’s director of retail, “It’s not the quick, plug-and-play retail store where you’ll walk in and it will be like, ‘Oh, it’s a Black Diamond store.’ It’s going to be like, ‘Wow, I really want to go see another store because they’re all so different and unique and match the community.’”

While brands seem sincere in their desire to be a part of the surrounding communities, there’s considerable business strategy behind branded retail, too. Having a physical presence in an outdoor hub like Park City, Big Sky, or Boulder puts a brand front and center with outdoor-minded consumers. And custom retail shops allow brands to “tell their story from A to Z,” said Steve Stout, vice president of retail for brick-and-mortar veteran Fjällräven. Since 2010, Fjällräven has opened 33 North American retail locations.

The sites serve as a vital, in-person touchpoint with the consumer, one that has allowed the Swedish brand to explain its origins, mission, and premium price point, Stout said. “Those questions have to be answered along the way, and you have a much better chance of doing that in your own brand store.”

Brick and mortar has been part of Stio’s strategy from day one. The apparel brand opened its first retail location in 2012 in its hometown of Jackson, Wyoming, to coincide with its website launch and first catalog mailing. “I was a little nervous [that we would be perceived as] just another catalog company out there,” said Stio founder and CEO Steve Sullivan. After all, anyone can set up a website. Opening the retail store was a strategic move to establish legitimacy. “I think it added a lot of weight for a new, direct-to-consumer brand to have that,” Sullivan said.

That proof of legitimacy is a vital step in building trust with consumers—especially when a brand is selling gear that lives literally depend on, Gillette said, referring to the climbing safety equipment Black Diamond is known for. “This really strong trust relationship comes naturally with having human interaction and connection. And what better way to do that than having a brick-and-mortar store that provides community engagement?”

Community members welcome those efforts. “We’ve had such an explosion of interest in the outdoors and so many people going out who are totally new,” said Katie Massey, a Black Diamond fan, avid rock climber, and ten-year Boulder resident who frequently attends local retail events. She’s concerned about overuse of local trails and appreciates the kind of community that builds around retail shops—even branded ones. “It helps spread the word about the right ethics outside,” she said. “[These stores] help people get into the outdoors in a responsible way.”

Some local shops hope for a symbiotic relationship with their branded neighbors. Sally Gilman, owner of Boulder specialty climbing retailer Rock and Resole, says increased awareness of brands like Black Diamond just makes it more likely that her customers will recognize the brand in her store. She also points out that her shop may be better suited to serve local customers compared to the new stores on the tourist hub of Pearl Street. “We have different niches that serve the climbing community,” she said. “Truly, I want to have a spirit of collaboration.”

Shelley Dunbar, owner of the iconic Boulder store Neptune Mountaineering, agreed that retailers on Pearl will cater more to out-of-towners. She added, though, that the brands she carries could have provided her a courtesy heads-up that they’re moving to her neighborhood to allow her to adjust her orders. “It’s better for brands to be up-front and transparent ahead of time so that we can adapt,” Dunbar said.

Cohabitating and, in some cases, collaborating with local shops offer additional�� benefits to brick-and-mortar branded stores. But the drawback? It’s expensive. Personnel and real estate cost a pretty penny, especially in prime locations like Pearl Street where lease rates can be so high that stores become more about marketing than moneymaking. In these cases, “if you break even, you’re stoked,” Sullivan said, though he was quick to note Stio’s stores have always ended up in the black.

As for the timing? The pandemic had some impact on Backcountry’s retail strategy,�� Purkey said, but it never left higher-ups hesitant. “If anything, because of quarantine, there’s pent-up desire to create epic memories outside, to create human connection,” Purkey said. “We’re probably better positioned to do this, and do it in a way that will be received by our consumer positively, now more than ever.”

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Mass Shooting Hits Close to Home for the Outdoor Industry

objmigrationbot — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 00:52:28 +0000

In the wake of Monday’s tragedy in Boulder, Colorado, in which a gunman opened fire at a grocery store, killing ten people, the outdoor industry has rushed to check in on one of its own: Neptune Mountaineering, which sits just a few steps away from the site of the massacre.

Boulder is home to numerous outdoor businesses, including apparel and equipment brands, gear shops, nonprofits, and the industry’s largest trade association. While everyone in the community has been deeply affected by the horrors of the week, Neptune Mountaineering found itself so close to the tragedy that the store’s sign and logo were visible in the background as news cameras panned across the scene unfolding Monday afternoon.

Neptune is located in the Table Mesa Shopping Center, a strip mall adjacent to the King Soopers grocery store where the shooting occurred. Monday afternoon, the shop posted on Facebook that it was on lockdown, as were all businesses in the immediate vicinity. Later that evening, shop owner Shelley Dunbar reported to ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal that several employees were still “locked up in the store with a couple of customers,” but that no one on staff had been hurt.

The Boulder gear shop Neptune Mountaineering sits adjacent to the King Soopers where a gunman opened fire on Monday, killing ten people. (Photo: Courtesy)

By Monday night, when police gained control of the situation, the shop updated its concerned customers and vendors by posting to Facebook again: “All Neptune employees are safe and accounted for. Thank you for reaching out.” On Tuesday, the shop updated its page with another post, this time expressing support for the community with the trending hashtag #BoulderStrong.

Today our hearts go out to the entire Boulder community, especially the employees of the King Soopers, the friends and…

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Later in the week, OBJ��checked in with the shop to ensure its staff was coping after the ordeal.

“While we feel very fortunate that all of our staff are physically OK, considering that many on our team visit King Soopers on a daily basis, we are certainly experiencing an emotional toll and deeply appreciate the compassion and understanding of anyone visiting our store as we heal in the days and weeks to come,” Amy Wansing, Neptune’s marketing manager, told us.

“The outpouring of love from our community so far has been profoundly touching, and we are proud to be a place that people feel connected to on such a personal level. We also look forward to helping our friends and neighbors get outdoors for their own sense of peace and recovery. Beyond that, we’d prefer to keep the focus on the victims and first responders and encourage those who can to donate to the GoFundMe supporting families of the victims,” Wansing said.

Boulder is home to numerous other gear and cycle shops as well—many of which responded similarly to Neptune, with initial safety updates posted to social media channels, followed by expressions of support for the community and sympathy for the victims and their families.

Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN), a sister publication to ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal, published an update on Boulder Cycle Sport, whose South location is in the same shopping center as Neptune. That shop, like Neptune, reported that all its employees are safe.

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Trend Report, Part 3: Going Low to Grow

objmigrationbot — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 02:49:26 +0000

Holly Phillips grew up in Ona, West Virginia, exploring the outdoors on fishing trips with her dad. The two would set out on a Friday evening, camp near a river, and start casting the next morning. Their gear consisted of what they could afford at the local Kmart or Walmart. “I always got cold in cheap sleeping bags. And if it rained, the tent walls would soak through,” says Phillips. As a result, Phillips’s earliest outdoor experiences were a combination of joy, because she was outdoors, and sufferfests, because her gear was so low quality. “But even as I grew older, I didn’t know any better because people like me—low income and outside the normal demographic of backpackers, climbers, or even avid hikers—are left out of the outdoor conversation,” she says.

It wasn’t until she moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2012 at age 29, that the single mom even heard of Patagonia or Black Diamond. One day, she ventured into one of the town’s premier outdoor stores, Neptune Mountaineering. “When I saw the price tags, I was so bummed,” says Phillips, who was making roughly $16 an hour at the time (which is more than five dollars above the national average minimum wage). “I knew I could never afford that stuff.”

She is not alone. Outdoor Foundation’s 2018 Outdoor Recreation Report shows the high cost of gear is the second most common deterrent for getting outside. (“Too busy” was number one and “Places for outdoor recreation cost too much” is number six.) For years, the outdoor industry has claimed it wants to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. If affordability is one of the biggest barriers to inclusion, are we really addressing it?

What Does Affordable Mean?

When Phillips struck out at Neptune, she headed to REI and was overwhelmed by the prices there, too. It’s a common problem says activist Cianna Walker-Flom, who has criticized the outdoor industry for being “intimidating and exclusionary for those who are underrepresented.” She believes a key way to welcome them in is for brands to partner with nonprofit organizations that serve underrepresented populations to offer them upcycled (or new) gear at greatly reduced prices for lending libraries.

The fact is, “affordable” is a relative term. But you could say several brands in the industry are already delivering. In the sleeping bag realm, for instance, Marmot, Kelty, The North Face, and Slumberjack have produced sub-$100 bags for years. But even a $79 bag would be pushing it for a minimum wage earner. [Patricia Cameron reported on this problem in our Winter 2020 issue: “It would take a minimum wage worker two full eight-hour days to afford new hiking shoes from most outdoor brands,” she wrote.] And there remains an undeniable performance gap between a $69 Kelty bag that works as a legitimate (albeit bulky) backcountry option and the $25-dollar Walmart variety that left Phillips cold.

Gear Everyone Can Afford

Brands have very different views on what’s possible when it comes to price versus performance. Durability, for example, is subjective (see p. 48), and Big Agnes founder Bill Gamber acknowledges that even his $200 “entry-level” tent is out of reach for many people like Phillips. But, he says, skimping is risky. “Check the dumpsters in Moab. They’re full of Costco and Walmart tents,” he says. “It’s just not possible to make a $100 tent that will last. At least I haven’t figured out how to do it.”

Kelty has almost cracked that nut—it offers several quality two-person tents that are just north of 100 bucks. Senior vice president and general manager Russ Rowell is content in that middle market and doesn’t intend to chase even lower prices. “Once a brand presents itself downstream, it’s very hard to go upstream,” he says. That creates a hole in the market which is precisely where two companies—Decathlon and Walmart—see opportunity.

In 2017, the 43-year-old French sporting goods giant Decathlon entered the U.S. market. The brand takes pride in providing quality gear at extremely low prices, and its one-year, 352 percent sales growth in the U.S. proves that people are hungry for decent gear at rock bottom prices. Consumers flock to the 47,000-square-foot Bay Area store for daypacks as low as $3.50 (not a typo) and tents that cost just $59. The company’s scale—it has 93,000 employees worldwide—allows it to build gear at prices so low it’s easy to doubt the quality, but review after review, from the likes of ��ԹϺ��, BACKPACKER, and Runner’s World, praise the brand’s performance-to-price ratio.

And hot on Decathlon’s heels is the icon of affordability in the U.S.: Walmart.

Walmart’s Bid for Backpackers

Eoin Comerford, CEO of Moosejaw, which is owned by Walmart, made a splash in 2018 with his efforts to bring premium brands and premium prices to Walmart customers by creating a “premium outdoor store” online. At the time, Comerford believed he was introducing high-end outdoor products to people who’d never been exposed to them. But the project failed after brands including Black Diamond, Deuter USA, Katadyn, Therm-a-Rest, and Leki pulled out, insinuating that by selling on Walmart.com, they’d take the special out of specialty brands.

Comerford learned from the failure. In April, he told The Voice, “We [moved] away from the Premium Outdoor Store because the whole idea of premium versus everyday brands ran counter to our goal of inclusivity.” Instead, he wanted to create an “everyday” brand that would offer “specialty-level performance and quality” to customers of Walmart and fill what he says is a huge gulf between mass market and specialty backpacking gear. “The most likely source of beginner backpackers are car campers who already enjoy life in a tent,” he says. “The most recent KOA North American Camping Report shows car camping is already becoming more diverse. Non-white active camper households increased from 12 percent in 2012 to 31 percent in 2018. Even more encouraging, people of color made up the majority—51 percent—of first-time campers in 2018.”

Comerford believes that price is standing in the way of more people becoming backpackers. So in May, he led the Walmart launch of two “mid-tier” brands that sell through both Walmart and Moosejaw channels and cost the same on each website. Lithic is a backpacking equipment brand that includes tents, bags, packs, stoves, and cookware (also sold in Walmart stores) for prices ranging from $25 to $148. Allforth (online only) offers men’s and women’s fair-weather (nothing waterproof or insulated) hiking apparel in regular and plus sizes with prices ranging from $13 to $40.

The products are made in China by factories with experience manufacturing enthusiast-grade outdoor equipment, says Comerford. R&D was a team effort between Moosejaw experts, Walmart development and sourcing teams, and these factory partners.

The least expensive Lithic sleeping bag is a 35-degree synthetic that weighs just under 4 pounds and costs $64, which is comparable to many price-point bags already offered by established outdoor brands. The thing is, Walmart shoppers may not be familiar with Kelty and The North Face. This effort is about bringing new and better-performing alternatives to Walmart’s huge audience—many of whom may be people who, as Phillips says, are left out of the outdoor conversation.

The new brands launched just a few weeks before press time. Reviews are still coming in, and some of them are not glowing (google it for yourself).

Performance aside, some skeptics, like Walker-Flom, see Walmart’s move as opportunistic, not altruistic. “This is an issue of stores realizing they’re missing out on a whole market segment of passionate campers with limited funds. It’s great to have access to more affordable gear, but when it’s lower quality, you’ll pay now and then pay again when it wears out or breaks.”

But Comerford remains adamant that Lithic and Allforth will break down barriers by leveraging Walmart’s massive, loyal customer base and introducing them to better quality gear. “With the current backdrop of Black Lives Matter, it’s never been more important to grow the outdoor pie by making participation more inclusive,” he says.

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The State of OIA

objmigrationbot — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 22:17:05 +0000

How do I apply for a paycheck protection loan? What if I have to furlough employees? How do I pivot my manufacturing to make PPEs? What��if I have to close my business? These are the types of questions the Outdoor Industry Association fielded when its 1,300 member businesses began calculating the economic impacts of the months-long coronavirus quarantine. OIA immediately changed course and established a COVID-19 resource hub, and redirected everyone on staff to work on coronavirus response.

It would have been a challenging pivot in the best of times, but the pandemic came at a crux moment for OIA. The crisis threatens the 31-year-old organization’s funding model—which was already under pressure—and OIA’s new executive director, Lise Aangeenbrug, took office��just a week before stay-at-home orders started shuttering outdoor businesses around the country.

“There’s no roadmap for this,” Aangeenbrug said. “Our singular goal right now is to help our members survive.”

But by prioritizing its members, OIA is putting off a question of its own, one that it must answer from within: How will OIA survive this? Is OIA itself healthy and strong enough to be the beacon of leadership that the industry needs right now, and in the future?

OIA’s Complex Relationship with Outdoor Retailer

Even before the crisis, OIA faced a potentially unreliable long-term funding model, with most of its eggs in the basket of Outdoor Retailer. OIA’s $8.9 million annual revenue comes, in large part, from Outdoor Retailer royalties (58 percent). The remaining revenue comes from Outdoor Foundation donations (18 percent), membership dues (16 percent), and other sponsorships (8 percent).

In many ways, it’s a smart model because OIA doesn’t have to constantly ask its members for more money, says Phyllis Grove, OIA board member and VP of marketing and ecommerce at Hydro Flask. (Annual membership fees range from $250 to $30,000 depending on the size and type of the organization.)

However, it also puts OIA at risk. Even with healthy reserves, Aangeenbrug says, OIA needs the national trade show, otherwise it would be in trouble. Now OIA is in that troubling situation. In response to the pandemic, Outdoor Retailer canceled the 2020 Summer Market. A few weeks later, VF Corporation chipped in 15 percent ($55,000) of its Summer Market refund to OIA, recognizing that the cancellation creates “a critical funding gap in OIA’s traditional revenue stream,” Smartwool (part of VF) Brand President Jen McLaren said in a news release. A few other brands—Patagonia, W.L. Gore, Hydro Flask, and NEMO among them—followed suit. And on June 1, OIA made��the tough ask to the broader industry. Nora Stowell, board chair, in a letter urged members to make a donation that replaces the royalty fee brands would have paid through exhibiting costs. “The health of OIA is tied to the health of the industry,” she wrote.

“When they canceled this year’s show, I thought, ‘I don’t know how OIA is going to survive,’” said Carolyn Brodsky, co-founder of Sterling Rope Company. She has been among those in the industry to question Outdoor Retailer’s relevance and cost structure, as well as protest OIA’s dependency on the trade show, but she believes the association has an important leadership role to play.

Peter Sachs is of a similar mindset. As the general manager of LOWA and a member of OIA, he relies on the trade show for business. But, “To me, [OIA] sold their soul when they agreed to endorse Outdoor Retailer exclusively,” Sachs said. “I wish they had owned it and then gotten an organization like Emerald Expositions to run it for them. OIA’s future is controlled by a corporation that’s not in the outdoor, ski, or bike industry. They’re in the trade show industry.”

Wrestling with Revenue

Revenue diversification has been on OIA’s slate for the entire 11 years Travis Campbell, VF president of emerging brands and Americas platforms, has served on the board. Because the partnership with Emerald Expositions, Outdoor Retailer’s owner, remains strong, he says, nothing signaled to the board that they needed to make a sudden, drastic change. Change has always been incremental. For example, new programs like the Skip Yowell Future Leadership Academy and the Futurist Project brought in $100,000 in (combined) sponsorship funds.

In January, OIA gathered a task force to discuss funding alternatives—part of its ongoing efforts to tackle the problem. By March, when it became clear that its members were focused on trying to meet their own basic financial needs, OIA��decided to table the discussion about its own funding model. “It’s hard to talk to people about money when they’re hurting,” Aangeenbrug said.

The majority of OIA’s 2018 revenue came from royalties and activities connected to Outdoor Retailer. Just 16 percent came from membership dues. ��(Photo: Courtesy)

Another new, revenue-producing program, the Outdoor Industry Business Certificate, was due to launch in early 2020. OIA now expects it to go live later in 2020, with university partners like Utah State University and Western Colorado University. Still, the annual revenue it would generate is small potatoes compared to the more than $5 million from Outdoor Retailer.

“It’s time to have a more transparent conversation with our members about funding,” Hydro Flask’s Grove said. “It’s very clear that with the cancellation of the summer show, we have to accelerate the way that we request more money from members.”

Shifting to a direct dues model—a much higher cost for members—is the only real solution for relieving OIA entirely of its dependency on Outdoor Retailer, says Campbell. But to do that, he said OIA has to be clear on its value proposition: “You have to deliver a lot of value if you’re going to ask for more money and that’s the part we continue to wrestle with.”

Shelley Dunbar, co-owner of Neptune Mountaineering and former co-owner of Sea to Summit, says she would much��rather pay a higher OIA membership rate and see OIA put on its own smaller show than pay gobs of money to the for-profit trade show that’s often unattainable for the smaller brands who make the industry competitive. “It’s the single biggest expense in our marketing budget,” she said.

As Campbell sees it, though, it’s not an either/or conversation. He believes that while trade shows overall are struggling, OIA’s cut from Outdoor Retailer will never drop to zero because he has faith in OR. “Who knows, they may not even be called trade shows in the future,” Campbell said. “But OR will figure out an economic model that works for them that supports this industry.”

Time to Shine

During crisis, a trade association has the opportunity to be an invaluable resource. OIA was quick to establish a COVID-19 hub, which Grove found invaluable.

Dunbar, however, wishes OIA used this time to refocus on the trade membership. Yes, fighting for public lands is important, she says, but there are other groups that can and should take the lead, like The Conservation Alliance and The Access Fund. Retailers are a subset of the industry that has been underserved, Brodsky and Dunbar say. “It would be beneficial for me if OIA enabled retail members to share information like best practices, best software, and point of sale systems, or if they brought back the Retail Benchmarking Report,” Dunbar said.

There’s also work to do on the diversity front, both internally and externally. OIA knows it has a responsibility to better integrate more BIPOC voices and make JEDI progress across all programs. And to help members do the same, OIA says it will host facilitated sessions this summer with people from diverse backgrounds educating industry leaders.

Once the pandemic crisis settles down, Aangeenbrug says she looks forward��to getting back to moving the outdoor industry forward. She cites the Climate Action Corps, a program launched in January to help companies reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, as one such initiative. And of course, OIA’s future funding model will be top of mind as the industry moves into an uncertain trade show future.

Whatever the fix, Brodsky wants to see OIA lead and innovate: “This is a time when retailers and organizations and members need their association the most.”

This story originally ran in the Summer 2020 issue of The Voice.

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Malcolm Daly, Industry Legend, Needs Your Love and Prayers

objmigrationbot — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:50:46 +0000

Malcolm Daly, a veteran of 45 years in the outdoor industry, suffered a stroke yesterday after returning home from a trail ride on his e-bike. Malcom’s wife, Karen, reported on Facebook that the stroke was the result of a clot in a large artery in the left side of his brain. Malcolm was helicoptered to Boise ICU, where doctors successfully removed the clot.

We spoke to Karen to get an update on Malcom’s condition. The couple had just moved to Hailey, Idaho, two weeks ago. “We were so excited and happy to be off the Front Range and be able to Nordic ski and hike and mountain bike out the door,” Karen said by phone.

“When he arrived at the hospital he was paralyzed on the right side,” she said. “But the best news is that when they removed the clot, his dexterity and mobility was completely and immediately restored. He’s shaky, but he should regain full mobility.”

Malcolm’s biggest challenge will be the neurological damage, she told us. “They are still testing and assessing, but the language center in his brain is damaged. We don’t know the full extent yet, but he will have a long road back when it comes to language. It will be hard, because Malcolm is such a talker, such an extrovert. But he loves a good challenge.”

Malcolm is a proven survivor. In 1999, he suffered a terrible fall while climbing in Alaska. Stuck on a ledge alone for 48 hours in below freezing temps while his climbing partner went for help, his determination to survive got him through, albiet with two frostbitten feet. One of his legs was later amputated.

Malcolm Daly is an outdoor industry treasure. He started working in the outdoor industry in 1975, as a sales associate in a climbing shop while attending Colorado State University where he earned a degree in outdoor recreation. He has held just about every role imaginable since then: sales representative, shop manager, wildland firefighter, climbing guide, waiter, cook, marketing director, and product line manager for Lowe Alpine. In 1991 he founded Great Trango Holdings to manufacture innovative climbing gear and women’s activewear.

Malcolm is known and loved for many things, but two seem particularly relevant right now: his winning personality and his penchant for giving back. He was a founding board member of the Access Fund, an organization dedicated to keeping climbing areas open, and served on its board for 13 years. In 2007, Malcolm helped found Paradox Sports to help make climbing accessible to people with disabilities. Malcolm was also a founding board member of the non-profits, No Barriers and the Action Committee for Eldorado.

As a straight shooter with an untouchable wealth of knowledge and insight into all things outdoors, Malcolm has been an invaluable contributor and regular source for us here at ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal. Most recently he regaled us with stories via video for our He lit up the screen and dropped bombs of knowledge throughout the courses.

Malcolm’s son, Mason, a rep for Patagonia, has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family. “My dad has always been the first person to step up and help people, rally fundraising, and build community. He’s done so many good things for so many people. Now his community has a chance to rally behind him.”

Be strong Malcolm!

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Sea to Summit Buys North American Distributorship from Andrew and Shelley Dunbar

objmigrationbot — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 06:00:00 +0000

For the last 22 years, Andrew and Shelley Dunbar have been the faces of Sea to Summit in North America. They tenaciously and steadily grew the Australian brand in North America by cultivating deep relationships with retailers, responsibly managing its channels of distribution, and aggressively marketing and courting media hits with influencers.

Today, Sea to Summit founder and president Roland Tyson announced that the company is buying back North American distribution rights from the Dunbars (for an undisclosed amount) and will fully integrate the North American team and operations into the company’s global brand strategy, with the intent of “facilitating direct collaboration and leveraging synergies between the North American office and the global headquarters in Perth,” according to the press release.

Tyson explained the decision and thanked the Dunbars for their stewardship of the brand: “As Sea to Summit continues to grow at a significant pace globally, we recognize the importance that the North American market has to the brand and we believe this is the right moment to establish a direct relationship with our U.S. and Canadian retailers and consumers. I’d like to thank Andrew and Shelley for the strong foundation they have built for the brand in North America over the past 22 years.”

Long-time Sea to Summit sales director, Josh Simpson, will become the general manager of North America effective May 1, 2020. (Photo: Courtesy)

Sea to Summit plans to retain all 50+ of its North American staff and keep its North American headquarters in its current Boulder, Colorado, location. Josh Simpson, long-time director of North American sales will be the general manager. Sea to Summit also maintains offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong, and Germany with more than 230 total staffers.

We caught up with Simpson on a busy transition day to get his take. “On a personal side, this brand has been a big part of my life for 17 years and I’m happy to continue on with them into this new chapter,” said Simpson. He noted that Sea to Summit is really an innovation and design company and he looks forward to moving U.S. retailers closer to that design process through direct relations with the global brand. “This transition will speed up our innovation by bringing us closer to the U.S. retailers, which is the largest market for the brand globally,” he said.

Simpson also revealed that Sea to Summit will launch a big new category at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. “I can’t yet talk about it,” Simpson said, “but I’m excited about it.”

What’s Next for Andrew and Shelley Dunbar?

The Dunbars are not entirely ready for retirement, though Shelley told OBJ that she and her husband were looking forward to getting outside and playing more than they’ve been able to in the last two decades.

In February 2017, the Boulder-based couple bought Neptune Mountaineering out of bankruptcy and have transformed it from the dusty, sad, struggling specialty outdoor shop it had become after its founder,Gary Neptune, sold it to Backwoods.

By all accounts, Neptune has been returned to its former glory—and then some—thanks to some heavy lifting by the Dunbars, who undertook a massive renovation, installed a climbing wall and coffee shop, brought Gary Neptune’s famous museum back to life, and reinvigorated a robust calendar of events.

“We’re not looking to get more involved at Neptune,” Dunbar said. “It’s doing well, it’s growing, and we have a great leadership team in place there.”

Shelley and Andrew Dunbar owned the North American distribution rights for Australian company Sea to Summit for 22 years. Now they will concentrate their energies on their Boulder, Colorado, outdoor retail shop, Neptune Mountaineering. (Photo: Eric Henderson)

Dunbar said she’s extremely proud of the Sea to Summit business they’ve built over the last 22 years. “When we started, it was just Andrew and I, and now we have over 50 employees. Sea to Summit gear wasn’t available in North America at all, and now we have more than 700 retail accounts. We’re ubiquitous; we’re everywhere we need to be. We’re proud of our business, how we treat our customers, how well our team serves those customers, the reputation we’ve built. I think people trust us and like doing business with us,” she said. Dunbar said she’s gratified that Australian Sea to Summit acknowledges that and will keep her team in place.

The ownership transition will go into effect April 30, 2020, and all parties expect it to be business as usual for all its retailers and customers.

As for Shelley and Andrew, they’re looking for ways to give back to the outdoor industry through mentoring or board positions. They’re also researching beach vacations for May. “I think I deserve a little beach time,” Shelley laughed.

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New Owners for Neptune Mountaineering

objmigrationbot — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 02:33:47 +0000

Get ready for a comeback story. On Friday, Shelley and Andrew Dunbar, the Boulder couple who own the North American distribution rights for Sea to Summit, purchased the floundering outdoor shop, Neptune Mountaineering, out of bankruptcy. They will assume ownership this coming Friday, February 17.

For Boulder climbers and outdoor enthusiasts, as well the broader community of outdoor specialty retail shops, it’s cause to celebrate.

Shelley and Andrew Dunbar, the new owners of Neptune Mountaineers, pose in the back of the store the night before the deal was inked. (Photo: Eric Henderson)

“We are excited and a little awed by the opportunity to revive this legendary store,” said Shelley Dunbar. “Our first step is to get right back to Neptune’s roots as a destination mountain shop with great gear from both the leading and lesser known brands to go along with the extensive staff experience and knowledge. Neptune will once again be a place for inspiration with the return of Gary’s museum and a place to dream of and plan your next adventure. We intend to carry on the tradition of being the community hub for climbers and skiers, while welcoming the visitors who journey to Boulder and visit Neptune for its history and local knowledge.”

Neptune has long been a pillar of the Boulder outdoor community. And even in recent months, with inventory so low that there were only a few sad, lonely carabiners hanging from pegs on a wall that used to proudly bear 105 different models, and big swaths of white paper covering the ample storefront windows, the community never gave up on Neptune.

In fact, despite the lack of new inventory and the paired back staff, the store has continued to host events that draw local crowds, like the one last week that featured adventure athlete and filmmaker Michael Brown.

“Neptune has always been a hub for the outdoor community in Boulder,” said Fred Knapp, who’s not only been a customer for 30 years, but also an employee in the ’80s and a vendor to Neptune as the owner of Sharp End Publishing, purveyor of climbing guides. “Sometimes a store can be so much more than a store,” said Knapp. “The internet is great, but sometimes you just want face to face advice from people who not only know the gear, but know the local climate and where to send people. I hope—and I know—that Neptune can be that place again.”

A Roller Coaster for Neptune

In January 2013, Backwoods, an Austin, Texas-based, family-owned company that was founded just weeks before Neptune was in 1973, purchased the store from Gary Neptune. Backwoods CEO, Jennifer Mull, grew her father’s business to ten stores, added online sales, and started sister company, Backwoods ��ԹϺ��s, a global adventure travel company.

At the time of her company’s acquisition of Neptune, optimism ran high. Gary Neptune was looking forward to retirement after 40 years in business, and Mull was intent on continuing to build on the powerful community that the founder had built. “We plan to maintain the atmosphere and culture of the store and continue the successes of the company’s rich history in this community,” Mull said in a statement shortly after the sale.

But it’s hard to cater to the community when you’re not in that community, and Mull ran the ship from afar. In what Mull calls a tumultuous time in retail; things didn’t go quite as expected either for Neptune or parent company Backwoods, which is currently for sale.

When asked to summarize what went wrong, Mull was open and humble: “Hindsight is always 20/20. Sure, I can point to this decision or that, but I think that our industry is in a lot of turmoil. It’s changed a lot, and retail has changed a lot. For a company that’s our size—too big and too small at the same time—it’s been tough to adjust quickly enough to some of those changes. It’s just been really difficult to juggle all the balls.”

Mull took on a partner in 2011. He was from the equity side with no retail experience. “We had a growth strategy, but for many reasons that growth didn’t happen to the degree that we had built infrastructure for,” said Mull. “Our rents went up, taxes increased dramatically, and we didn’t have the manpower or the resources.”

Neptune Heading Back to Its Roots

Founded in 1973 by Gary Neptune, Neptune Mountaineering has a long and storied history. Much more than just a retail store, in its heyday, Neptune’s also served as a sort of clubhouse for local climbers, who gathered there to share stories, talk trips and gear, and present slideshows to the community.

Gary Neptune in the mountaineering museum he curated in the shop. (Photo: Courtesy)

Gary Neptune, now 71, still owns what may be the best collection of climbing relics and memorabilia on the planet. Once proudly on display in the store, it’s currently stored away in boxes. The collection includes gear dating back to the 1800s, photos, news clippings, and some of Neptune’s favorite items: the down suit that Peter Habeler wore on his historic 1978 ascent of Everest (the first without bottled oxygen), a boot and crampon from Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1953 Everest climb, and the end of his friend Malcom Daly’s frostbitten toe swimming in a jar of formaldehyde.

The Dunbars, who shared a celebratory dinner with Neptune on Friday night after the deal was signed, intend to bring back the museum. “It will be different, though,” said new co-owner Shelley Dunbar. “We want people to come into the store and explore. We plan to scatter different displays throughout the space, so customers will discover them as they wander around and shop.”

And that’s not all they will bring back. The Dunbars’ dream is to recreate the energy and vibe of the old days, when Neptune was the type of store that climbers congregated in. Of course, there will be a total renovation (long overdue). There will be a new bouldering��wall, a robust calendar of community events ranging from slideshows to gear workshops to kids’ programs, and shelves stocked with must-have gear.

“I really hope the new owners will kickstart the Thursday night presentations, which can range from how to pack your backpack to climbing a Colorado 14er, to hosting famous climbers talking about Everest,” said long-time patron and climber Jordan Campbell. “Despite there being low levels of inventory [right now], I will be patronizing the store in the days and weeks ahead just on principle. Neptune’s has given a lot to Boulder, and to me.”

Gary Neptune is excited for his namesake store’s next chapter. “Jen [Mull] had her heart in the right place,” he said. “But she was buried with all her other stores and she couldn’t get into this one like she should have. Shelley and Andrew are local climbers and skiers—just like me—and that will bring authenticity back to the shop.”

Neptune also points out that the Dunbars’ intimacy with the vendor side of the outdoor industry, after having successfully run Sea to Summit for 19 years, will be a huge advantage for them. “They understand the back side of things,” he said. “And they’re coming into this with eyes wide open.”

The Staff Stoke at Neptune

Since word of the sale, spirits are high at Neptune. “There’s an incredible amount of energy in the place now,” said Malcolm Daly, long-time industry veteran and founder of Great Trango Holdings who has been working part time in the store for about three years now out of pure loyalty.

Devoted Neptune employee, Malcolm Daly, made up a bunch of hats for his friends in anticipation of what he call’s “Neptune 3.0.” (Photo: Eric Henderson)

“The employees are dreaming about what [Neptune] 3.0 is going to look like, customers are coming in every few days for the update, and the amount of community support for the store is nothing but humbling.”

People like Daly, who believe in the store’s local community and know what a vibrant, vital place it can be for an outdoor mecca like Boulder, just might prove to be Neptune’s greatest asset.

That, and new owners who part of that community. On Friday evening, after the Dunbars closed the deal, Andrew swung by the store to high-five his skeleton staff.

“There were only three of us working the floor and we were actually jamming hard in the rental department,” said Daly. “Without hesitating, Andrew jumped in and started helping a customer with mountaineering boots. That’s the best kind of owner we can have.”

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