Louisa Kelly purchases used ski touring gear as Isabel Gourley rings her up at Feral mountain gear this week. Many independent outdoor retailers saw sales declines in 2023, but Feral is thriving thanks to its focus on buying and selling used gear. The store, at 1313 Washington Ave., attracts customers ranging from serious mountaineers to tourists who buy T-shirts and rain ponchos for shows at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, but it’s facing increasing competition in the outdoor retail world.
So, Bent Gate finds it necessary to run continuous sales to compete with direct-to-consumer marketing from outdoors manufacturers and vendors, other e-commerce outlets and used gear sellers. A surplus of goods resulted in aggressive price competition, even as participation in outdoor recreation hit a record 168.1 million in 2022 according to OIA figures. Independent specialty retailers found themselves competing with manufacturers and wholesalers who resorted to direct-to-consumer sales with prices that were difficult or impossible for small retailers to match.
Equipment sales in 2023 declined 6.2%. Apparel dipped 3%, footwear 2%. In January, REI announced it was laying off 357 employees, its third workforce reduction in a year. In a letter to employees, chief executive Eric Artz said outdoor specialty retail revenues declined in all four quarters of 2023, adding that the co-op expects another decline in 2024. Still, REI plans to open 10 new stores in 2024, including one in Loveland.
“Any business in the outdoor industry that thinks 2021 and 2022 was a result of something we were doing as an industry, they’re kidding themselves,” Funkhouser said. “There was a lot of artificial growth in the economy in 2021 and 2022 as a result of stimulus money. I don’t think there’s any real reason to be alarmed about a small pullback in 2023 after two years of just massive growth.”