Outdoor Retailer brings together outdoor enthusiasts.
In the last year, the outdoor industry has become the cradle of comfort as people reconnect with nature. Many journey to the Colorado Rockies for the majesty and adventure. Many outdoor businesses call this area their home base.
Nestled now for two years in Colorado, the Outdoor Retailer trade show at the Denver Convention Center brings together retail buyers and outdoor innovators to find the next great product. After skipping 2020 because of the pandemic, OR returns this year with safety protocols in place, welcoming seasoned veterans, and new entrants.
Outdoor as a Business is Booming at the Outdoor Retailer
Marisa Nicholson, Senior VP of Emerald Events, and the show director for Outdoor Retailer, says that brands and retailers are committed to coming in-person and it is their job at OR is to make it a safe environment where business can flourish in a still-growing industry.
Nicholson says the outdoor business has been booming during the pandemic. “Those who are already outdoor enthusiasts obviously are embracing it, but there are also a lot of new outdoor enthusiasts and consumers really emerging during this past year.”
What this has done, she says, “is create all new opportunities for brands and retailers to really maximize the experience” for the consumer.
The trade show fuels what becomes available both in big box and small business retailers. “All these retailers need product for their shelves. They need to find more products in order to satisfy the demand for all these new consumers that are coming into their stores.”
Nicholson points to the fact that 130 new companies are participating in this show. “So, there’ll be so much opportunity for those new exhibitors to really be able to get in front of and have opportunities to sell to these retailers … but also for these retailers to discover new products and new brands to bring into their stores.”
New Faces Including Female Entrepreneurs
One exhibitor brand new to the show is Lindsay Theken of Monument, who is the founder of HeadPeace Headbands, a focused clothing business. Theken has traveled all over the world including working as a hydrologist outside Anchorage before moving to Monument with her husband Jesse to raise their children. She always wanted to start her own business.
“I used to be an avid backpacker. Now I have little children, so I don’t backpack as much. But I’ve traveled around the world backpacking. I love mountain biking. I’m definitely a thrill seeker. And for a long time, I was kind of one-of-a-kind.”
Theken says there’s been a lot of growth with the women in the outdoor industry in recent years, which “makes it really fun.” She initially connected in Colorado with other women (moms in this case) through mountain biking, where they created their own club in Monument.
Headpeace Headbands grew out of her own interests. “I am a very down-to-earth person. I don’t wear makeup or anything like that. And so, I think for someone like me who’s just very natural … I love to be able to throw a headband on my hair or on my head, so I don’t have to wash my hair. Or when I’m doing yoga and I’m getting all sweaty or whatever.”
Meeting possible retail partners is exciting for her. “I really did not realize how huge OR was. but a few weeks out, you start getting the list of buyers and the media. It’s really cool that you’re able to reach out to everyone and touch base before the show, to kind of get your name out there. I am very, very excited to just network there and meet these people.”
Smaller Outdoor Product Retailers Think Outside the Box
On the other side of the process is David Leinweber, owner of Angler’s Covey in Colorado Springs (and an attending buyer at Outdoor Retailer). Leinweber has been attending the show for close to 30 years. His business focuses on fly-fishing. Some smaller businesses like his understand that to compete with the big box and online stores, one must expand the idea of how outdoor businesses operate.
As a small retailer, Leinweber says they might not go with bigger brands because it doesn’t make them special anymore. He is looking for the smaller brands that offer something different and special. “More and more consumers are looking for that. Something that they can buy local, something that maybe is made local, something that’s made with their values in mind…that is becoming more and more important.”
A specialty retailer like his can pivot more on those kinds of decisions and thereby can develop new experiential approaches like guiding trips interrelated with new flying fishing products and rods.
Keeping Excitement for the Outdoors Bright
Another Colorado-based brand exhibiting at Outdoor Retailer is SOL Paddle Boards out of Telluride. Owner Johnny Lombino has been attending the show for eight years and usually does an open-air demo on the first day.
Lombino says, for his business, Colorado is the key. “We’ve managed to grow, of course, outside of Colorado.” SOL Paddle Boards are available through retail stores in 48 states. But having the Outdoor Retailer show in Denver is central for many outdoor shops to attend. Two years ago, at the last OR show before the pandemic, the number of attendees was far better than what we expected. Now with SOL introducing new product including paddle boards with patent-pending technology as well as new-design river tubes and inflatable kayaks, the game continues to change.
Show director Nicholson says, despite setbacks because of current pandemic conditions, “This is just a great opportunity for people to come together to talk about how this is impacting our business, to align on how we can work together, move forward and really drive initiatives that are going to support the [outdoor] industry, support sustainability within the industry and [encourage recovery].”
Outdoor Retailer takes places August 10th-12th at the Denver Convention Center.
