Outdoor gear industry facing challenges after ‘insane’ growth
Across 30 years in downtown Golden, Bent Gate Mountaineering has withstood three economic downturns including the Great Recession of 2008 and the pandemic recession of 2020.
The store 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.
A banner that hangs out front hints at the market pressures confronting it and other independent outdoor retail stores: “HUGE HUGE HUGE SALE” it says in big letters and vibrant colors.
That sign, a semi-permanent fixture, is an example of fallout from turbulence the outdoor industry experienced during the pandemic and its aftermath. Following boom years in 2021 and 2022, outdoor retail sales saw a 3% decline last year to $27.5 billion, and independent specialty shops got hit hardest. Half of them endured double-digit declines, according to the Outdoor Industry Association’s annual retail sales trends report, and on average they declined 9.7%.
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.
“That sale banner does a good job telling the story,” said Bent Gate general manager Ryan Mayer. “We had to get a new one, since it was up all the time and our old one deteriorated. Not our favorite, but does the job for now.”
Industry experts say the distortions of the outdoor industry market started during the pandemic when people were desperate to get outside, including many who rarely gave it a thought before. The surge was felt at Bent Gate, as well as the Golden Bike Shop (which Bent Gate owns), and stores across the country.
“People would walk into the bike shop and say, ‘I’ll take whatever you’ve got,’ whether it was a $5,000 bike or a $15,000 bike,’” Mayer said. “Those (2020) numbers were gigantic and unrealistic. A lot of retailers maybe bought (inventory) off those 2020 numbers for ‘21 and ‘22.”
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 directto-consumer sales with prices that were difficult or impossible for small retailers to match.
“It’s because of that overbuying, over-producing that we’re seeing these constant sales,” Mayer said. “It’s a game that we have to play. It’s more than, ‘OK, we’re going to have our Fourth of July sale, and a winter sale.’ It’s one of our day-to-day biggest challenges, dealing with markdown prices, not being able to sell at retail (prices), hurting our margins overall.”
More headwinds came with inflation. “You go to the grocery store and a half-gallon of milk is now $5.50, after it was $3 not so long ago,” said Jon Dorn, an executive with Boulder-based Outside Inc., a digital media company that focuses on sports, recreation, fitness and nutrition. Dorn sees last year’s decline as a “correction,” though, one of several he has seen over 30 years in the industry.
“I saw this in 2014 and 2009-10,” Dorn said. “I saw this in 2001, in 1997. You have these periodic booms and busts. I think this is a small one.”