My parents founded Townsend Bertram & Company in 1988 with the dream of creating a vibrant community of adventures. After 32 years in business, my mom will be closing the doors for the last time this Thanksgiving. Over the last few weeks, we鈥檝e held a 鈥渞etirement sale鈥� and have watched with gratitude as our loyal customers have flowed in to say their goodbyes, reflect on what the store has brought to our community, and yes, even score a good deal.

My mom stands by the door to let in one person at a time from the long line of masked customers. It is bittersweet, to be sure, but my mom greets people as if it鈥檚 a party, which it is. We have much to celebrate: our community and the many outdoor pursuits our business has enabled. And while there is certainly an underlying sadness to our closure, we choose to treat it as a celebration of our success and a reminder of how to say goodbye with grace and dignity.

It鈥檚 a lesson that my father, Scott Bertram, taught us in his final months as he battled terminal cancer in 2017. In many ways, his cancer prepared us for the closing of the shop, illuminating the impermanent nature of all things. Just as nature teaches us, everything exists in lifecycles. When my dad was diagnosed in 2013, my mom largely stepped away from the shop to be with him and I took on more responsibility. I loved running the store as I watched my parents make the most of each day. I envisioned buying it, expanding into outdoor programming, and carrying on my parents鈥� legacy. I leaned into the outdoor industry with excitement.

But my dad鈥檚 death shifted all our lives鈥� paths. My mom no longer wanted to continue the business without her co-founder, husband, and best friend. And when it came down to hard numbers and the reality of retail requiring 110 percent percent focus, I faced a tough truth: buying the shop wasn鈥檛 my dream. I longed to educate children outdoors, a calling I only realized through running TB&C. While continuing TB&C wasn鈥檛 my path, it was the vehicle that delivered me to my trailhead.

We tried to sell the store, hoping that someone else would purchase and preserve it. However, when COVID-19 changed all our lives overnight, all prospects of selling withered, and with the lease up on our space, we decided the best thing to do was to end the journey.

Our incredible staff has guided the closing of the store flawlessly which has provided time and space for my mom and me to reflect on all the good times. Although the last days of any magnificent pursuit are bittersweet, the closing of one adventure brings anticipation of new ones.

The ending of the shop takes me back to my dad鈥檚 final months when he chose to forgo intravenous chemotherapy that would have drastically compromised the last months of his life, He chose adventure instead. He and my mom outfitted themselves at TB&C for a canoe trip through the oldest cypress swamp in the world, for explorations in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and for coastal getaways to the Outer Banks.

Though the store is closing, the community continues. It brings my family joy to know the most important element of the shop will thrive throughout time in the generations of adventurers who were a part of TB&C. We held a silent auction for the cedar fixtures my dad built, signs with our compass logo, antique benches, community event posters, and other treasures from the shop. What a gift to watch loyal customers enthusiastically bid on pieces of the store that will spread like seeds across our community, rooting the soul of TB&C into the soil throughout our town.

Too often, the end of things sinks us into darkness. We dwell on the devastation of loss and often resist change. But my dad鈥檚 death taught our family the meaning of complete acceptance and admirable transition. In the end, we asked ourselves the same question about the shop that my dad asked about his life: Is it quality or quantity that matters most? And just as my dad so clearly recognized, quality triumphs. Our shop thrived for 32 years and, instead of prolonging it on life-support through COVID-19, we decided to celebrate three decades of the core values at the heart of the business: community, adventure, and passion.

We are so grateful to our local community who brought life and joy into our shop every day, to all of our vendor partners who supported us with quality products, to our sales reps who helped build our business, and to our fellow retailers who offered true comradery. We will look back on the life of TB&C with nothing but joy, and we hope you do, too. We hope our customers will continue to support speciality outdoor retailers including our local dear friend and neighbor the Great Outdoor Provision Company. We look forward to watching this industry continue to thrive.

Happy trails,

Betsy Bertram

The post Opinion: After 32 Year’s, My Family’s Shop Is Closing Down appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When you walk into most outdoor retailer shops, you see men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 sportswear sections, men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 footwear walls, pack walls divided by gender and men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 accessories. As a cis woman (a person whose gender identity consistently matches the gender they were assigned at birth), it never occurred to me how genderdized our store was鈥攁nd how we need to be more inclusive and welcoming鈥攗ntil a transgender (a person who identifies as a member of a gender other than that assigned at birth based on anatomical sex) coworker pointed it out.

I then realized that this is not just an issue in our shop, but in our industry as a whole as the transgender a population has yet to be reflected in mainstream marketing from any of the leading brands.

With the growing LGBTQ+ community鈥攁nd specifically the gender non-conforming population鈥攖he outdoor industry is poised to lead meaningful change by creating safe environments inclusive to the gender non-conforming community. At Townsend Bertram & Company, we鈥檙e taking concrete steps to decrease barriers to entry for trans employees and customers by hiring trans folks and having inclusivity trainings. We know that if we want to serve a certain population, they need representation on our team.

Meet Emmy Johnson

When we hired Emmy Johnson, 25, two years ago (who prefers the pronoun they/them) as a sales associate, they increased our awareness of the income gap and employment struggles facing the trans community, our understanding of just how gendered our industry is, and the challenges this creates for trans customers. Emmy鈥檚 trainings with our team educated on the importance of language, the origin and impact of the gender binary, intersectionality, and the concrete steps we can take as individuals and as a store to ensure our shop is safe and welcoming for all.

Emmy points out that not only do we have to hire trans folks but we have to listen to them. 鈥淭hey will notice things in your space that cis people never notice,鈥� Johnson said.

I asked Emmy about their experience as a trans employee at TB&C and they shared that us changing the bathroom sign, having a gender-neutral footwear section and adding preferred pronouns to name tags made a big difference. While not everyone always uses Emmy鈥檚 preferred pronouns, they know everyone is trying really hard.

Creating a gender-neutral footwear wall has made a big difference for our trans customers, but sadly, there are not many options, often leaving us no choice but to offer someone who is trans or gender non-conforming, a gendered option. Blundstone and Birkenstock are two quality outdoor brands making gender-neutral footwear with more size runs and widths, rather than relying on gender.

鈥淚 think there are already plenty of cis people who don鈥檛 fit the genderized shapes, sizes, and styles,鈥� said Emmy. 鈥淚 am constantly selling women鈥檚 boots to teenage boys and men鈥檚 boots to women with wider feet. It feels unnecessarily fraught to have a conversation about that fact that it is okay to wear a different gendered shoe.鈥�

Often trans folks do not fit in the size range in the gender they identify. Imagine how invalidating that is?鈥�

One of our trans customers has emphasized the need to change how we do things for the next generation so that there is more acceptance. They suggested adding smaller shoe sizes, shifting accent colors on boots, and mixing clothes in the kid鈥檚 department. The customer said the changes 鈥渨ould actually mean the world to the queer population (both young and old).鈥�

The same customer also pointed out the unnecessary gendering of hardgoods. 鈥淢aking backpacks based on gender is stupid. Patagonia should call it the Refugio and make it have two sizes or specify narrow versus wide, but gendering a pack like that is ridiculous.鈥�

If we don鈥檛 offer more gender fluid options and shift categories where genderizing communicates exclusivity, we are encouraging trans people to buy gear of lesser quality elsewhere from big box stores that offer unisex options. We know that people’s experiences outdoors are directly impacted by the gear they use and wear, thus creating a negative ripple effect if the products are lower quality. It further alienates this population.

Now as a member of the TB&C Consulting Team, Emmy is offering inclusivity trainings for brands, retailers, and nonprofits in the outdoor space. Remember: This is not the kind of thing you do once鈥攖his an ongoing, ever evolving conversation and continuing education is essential.

5 Easy Steps to Make Your Store More Welcoming to the Trans Community

1. Hire trans people and pay them a living wage.
2. Include pronoun preference on name tags.
3. Take down all gendered imagery in your store and POP and create your own social media imagery.
4. Make all fitting rooms and bathrooms in your store gender neutral.
5. Invest in inclusivity training for your staff. To book Emmy for a training, fill out an inquiry form on our consulting page.

These small steps cover a lot more ground than you might think. And not taking them can impact the accessibility of your store in a big way. Make a difference in your store, in your town, and for the next generation.

The post Opinion: Let鈥檚 Embrace Gender Non-conforming Customers in Our Stores appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Growing up in the outdoor industry, I noticed from a young age that all the 鈥渙utdoor鈥� girls featured in the magazines that my mom brought home from work were three things: thin, fit, and exceptionally attractive. Like most middle school girls, I felt uncomfortable in my own body. I looked at those magazines鈥攚hich were intended to be aspirational鈥攁nd instead felt intimidated.

My stomach wasn鈥檛 flat enough. My arms were much flabbier than the girls I saw in outdoor catalogs. My thighs were thicker than the women hiking up steep mountains. The women in catalogs and ads somehow looked sexy while covered in sweat, their tiny bodies hanging off rock faces, diving into pristine, faraway waters, running up steep mountains. These images made me anxious. I wanted to participate in these activities, but I knew I wouldn鈥檛 look like these women in their tight-fitting outdoor clothes.

I implore outdoor brands to ask themselves: How can we, as an industry, change unrealistic body expectations for young girls and women? Our marketing is contributing to eating and exercise disorders.

And I know that it鈥檚 true, because it happened to me.

The Outdoors Can Be the Antidote to Eating Disorders

While the obesity crisis is regularly in the news, here鈥檚 one alarming stat that you might not know: every 62 minutes at least one person dies of an eating disorder. And anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. According to a study by the school of medicine at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 鈥�75 percent of women report disordered eating behaviors or symptoms consistent with eating disorders. Three out of four women have an unhealthy relationship with food or their bodies.鈥�

As a woman in recovery from an eating disorder, I want to use my voice and experience to help other young women see the outdoors as a safe space to begin transforming their relationships with their bodies. Our industry has the potential to be a world leader in changing the definition of 鈥渂eauty鈥� in our world. The outdoors is for everyone, so why are we not showing every body type out enjoying nature?

While more and more research shows the positive effects of the outdoors on mental health and wellness, we must ask ourselves, is our marketing as an industry fueling unhealthy expectations around body image and weight?

The outdoor industry鈥檚 heart is in the right place with the desire to encourage active, healthy, outdoor lifestyles. But the aspirational ambassador photos that adorn all our marketing materials fuel body shaming that can have lasting negative effects.

If I experienced body shaming as a young woman with two great role models in my parents who were immersed in the outdoor industry, I wonder how other women feel when flipping through outdoor magazines, scrolling Instagram accounts, and clicking through brand websites? The line between aspirational and exclusionary is far thinner than our industry recognizes.

The outdoors can be the antidote to body insecurity. It was through outdoor activities that I found gratitude for my body. Hiking, kiteboarding, yoga, surfing, and trail running has always made me feel good. I began to shift my perspective from 鈥淎m I thin enough?鈥� to 鈥淟ook at all the activities my body allows me to do.鈥� Our marketing has to show all body types before we can expect people of all sizes to see the outdoors as a space for healing their relationship with their bodies.

Marketing Materials Matter: How Brands Can Help, Not Hurt the Cause

Aside from making their marketing materials reflect diverse body types, brands can also make clothing that fits all body types. I cringe when someone comes into Townsend Bertram & Company and I can鈥檛 find clothing that fits them because they are not lean and athletic. Even XL sizes for many outdoor brands are simply not that large.

While I was excited to see prAna come out with extended sizing for spring 2019, its marketing does not align. PrAna鈥檚 models are thin, perfectly fit, flat-bellied ladies. While Patagonia has diversified the activities featured in its catalog for 2019 to showcase more accessible outdoor adventures, like a group of friends on a boat and women doing yoga, its models and ambassadors have the perfected physiques that are unrealistic to most of us.

I commend Patagonia for creating a more realistic size structure in recent years to make its clothes more accessible, and I want to see these changes follow in the company鈥檚 brand imagery.

Merrell deserves a big shout for being one of the best in our industry right now. Ambassador Mirna Valerio is a beautiful, strong, curvy woman who has a more relatable body type to their average consumer. Mirna is the kind of model I want to see in more outdoor imagery.

Texture is a women鈥檚 outdoor brand that does an incredible job with body diversity in their marketing. When I interviewed founder Teresa Remple last year for The Glass Top Counter Blog she said her mission is, 鈥渢o treat other people and myself with loving kindness.鈥� Her brand imagery reflects this: she uses models of all shapes and sizes. Brands like Texture can change how women feel about their bodies.

REI鈥檚 Force of Nature campaign exemplifies the shift I would like to see reflected in our industry. Showing all types of women in their marketing models a commitment to accessibility. The effort to diversify imagery is the first step to diversifying the outdoor adventure community.

TB&C stopped using content from brands last year. We create our own imagery in house to ensure our marketing reflects our local community. When brands show more diversity in body size and shape we may reconsider our stance.

These are just a few examples I鈥檝e noticed. There are certainly other brands that are working to diversify the body images they project, but I want to encourage every brand to keep working on it. There’s plenty of room for buff, fit outdoors models, but adding more imagery representing more relatable body types will help us, as an industry, embrace people that struggle with their own body image.

What if the outdoor industry made it our mission to inspire women to love their bodies?

What if the outdoor industry could change the way our culture views beauty?

What if our industry could save lives by helping to reduce the obesity and anorexia epidemics plaguing our country?

As a woman who has spent four years healing my relationship with my own body, I want to support and invest in brands that make clothing to fit all bodies, brands that use real women in their marketing, and brands that promote outdoor activities that all people can do instead of the most extreme ones.

国产吃瓜黑料 of work, I want to share my own struggles so that other woman can feel more comfortable voicing their body image challenges. Through my actions in my professional and personal life, I want to be the change I wish to see industry and in the world.

Let鈥檚 shift the paradigm one photo at a time.

The post Opinion: Let鈥檚 Get Real About Body Image and Outdoor Models appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Before Amy Kleissler was hired in June of 2014, she had been a loyal customer for years. She noticed a call for interested applicants at the bottom of a TB&C newsletter. With her four boys coming home from school for the summer, she said,鈥滻 had to get out of the house and thought it would be exciting to be in a setting outside my box, exposed to new ideas and education. I would get to learn more about gear to pursue outdoor hobbies and find a deeper connection to the community.鈥�

Here at Townsend Bertram & Company, where our unofficial motto is 鈥渢reat customers as if they are guests at your party,鈥� we鈥檝e tapped into a golden hiring pool for outdoor retail: stay-at-home parents ready to go back to work.

While the stereotypical outdoor retail sales associate is the AT through-hiker in their early twenties living the adventure lifestyle, our target customer base is actually young families and retirees. Parents make exemplary team members, sales associates, and guides on the retail floor drawing from a wealth of real life experience over diverse terrain. All our parent employees (we have 26 of them currently) started off as customers of the store, so they know what it鈥檚 like to be on the other side of cash register. But their value goes way beyond that.

Here Are 5 Reasons to Hire Parents in Your Store:

1. They have life experience. With far more years of wisdom, first hand stories of adventuring with kids, and the compassion and patience to mentor younger staff, our parent staff elevates our team and customer experience.

2. They bring street cred. When parent customers see parents they know from the community working on the sales floor, we gain instant credibility. The ability of our parent staff to relate to the trials and tribulations of trailblazing with kids nurtures a natural bond, breaking the barrier between customer and sales associate. Interacting with other parents creates a comfortable environment for the customer, especially when asking about camping equipment for a kid-friendly outing. They listen exceptionally well and readily offer suggestions for solutions to customers鈥� needs. Drawing from their own kids鈥� experiences with products in addition to their own gives parent sales associates a depth and breadth of examples to use in conversations with customers.

3. They have patience galore. When a customer is particular, it doesn鈥檛 faze our parent staff. If customers are shopping with their kids, our parent staff members make both the parents and kids feel welcomed, often referencing times shopping with their own children. Parents鈥� high levels of empathy and practice in patience show in their calm approach to challenging customers and the chaos of outfitting kids.

4. They make your staff diverse. Age diversity on your staff makes for a more grounded and well-rounded team. Kleissler shared how her parenting experience helps her be a better mentor to younger staff: 鈥淲hen you have different aged kids, their abilities can be really spread apart and as a parent you鈥檙e trying to find ways for everyone to be able to participate and feel valued. It鈥檚 the same on the retail floor. Be creative, watch people grow, and encourage others to develop their ideas.鈥� One of our younger employees, Evan Fitch, 26, agrees. 鈥淕etting parents with more experience with life and work helps younger employees grow as people and the older staff glean the energy of youth. The different energies balance one another.鈥�

5. They鈥檙e hospitable. Kleissler said, 鈥淚 treat customers as if they鈥檙e visiting me at my home. I greet them and show them where everything is. My experience as a stay-at-home mom helps me to be more natural and guide the customer to what they need. My goal is always to make customers enjoy their time here, feel welcome, and at ease so they want to come back.鈥�

The truth is that everyone one of us was raised by someone, be it a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, mentor, foster or otherwise. We are all shepherded by another human called to guide us through to adulthood where we find many new mentors.

When you enrich your staff with diversity, not only do colleagues gain from wisdom but customers feel like they belong and are able to foster a long-term relationship with your business. Let’s face it, we all go where we are comfortable, desired, and nurtured. Here at TB&T, we treat one another as family; all who walk in our door become part of that extended family. We welcome each of you to come in and see and feel for yourself.

The post Opinion: 5 Reasons Retailers Should Hire More (Former) Stay-At-Home Parents appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.