Outfitters Fit the Niche

(Click here to see the list of the region’s golf courses. And click here to see the list of the region’s hunting and fishing retailers.)

Most people don’t drive sports utility vehicles because they need one. They drive SUVs because they’re fashionable.

It’s the same with high-tech outdoor clothing, said Robert Ginsburg, who owns Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters in Fayetteville.

“It has become chic,” he said. “There’s this outdoor fashion industry now.”

The fastest-growing market within that sector is women’s clothing. Women are no longer satisfied buying men’s clothing in the extra-small sizes, Ginsburg said.

At the same time, more and more hunting and fishing stores are opening that cater primarily to men.

The hunting/fishing stores are considerably different from the hiking/camping oriented stores like Uncle Sam’s, the Pack Rat Outdoor Center in Fayetteville and Lewis & Clark Outfitters, which has stores in Springdale, Rogers and Fayetteville.

In many cases, the stores in both categories find ways to differentiate themselves.

Hiking and Camping

The hiking/camping stores frequently sell products related to other outdoor sports such as bicycling, canoeing or rock climbing. Most of them have managed to fill a niche within the market.

Lewis & Clark, for example, has a 32-foot climbing wall, as well as a bicycling department in its Springdale store. Its Rogers store has those things plus a fly-fishing department. The Pack Rat sells about 200 boats a year (canoes and kayaks) and even has a pond in front of the building where shoppers can try them out. In addition to hiking and camping equipment, Uncle Sam’s sells Army and Navy surplus.

Outside magazine recently named Fayetteville as the No. 23 college town in the United States. The unscientific survey ranked college towns that had back-country activities nearby and still managed to foster intellectual pursuits. But the attention in the well-respected national magazine certainly won’t hurt area retail outfitters.

“There are more outdoor stores here in this small demographic than in some major cities,” Ginsburg said, referring to the hiking/camping stores.

Ginsburg began selling Army surplus in 1982 from the the back room of a used clothing store on Dickson Street. In 1985, he moved his business to Evelyn Hills Shopping Center and has expanded since then. The store now occupies 6,000 SF in Fayetteville’s oldest shopping center.

“We had a steady growth in business up until the last couple of years when the economy leveled off,” Ginsburg said. “To some degree, I feel Northwest Arkansas has been insulated from some of that, so we’ve held our own.”

Scott Crook, owner of the Pack Rat, said his store did $1.4 million in sales last year. That’s a 37 percent increase over 2001, when the company did slightly more than $1 million in sales. Crook said his sales of canoes and kayaks is almost double what it was at the old store on Township Road.

But Crook made a major investment in the company in February 2001. He paid $1.8 million for a new 15,000-SF building at the intersection of Gregg Avenue and Sunbridge Drive.

Scott said most hiking/camping stores across the nation have been seeing sales that are flat or have declined up to 20 percent.

“It’s a time of the year that’s slow because it’s hot and dry,” he said. “Things won’t improve much till fall.”

Hunting and Fishing

In the decade that ended in 2001, the number of U.S. hunters declined by 7 percent, while the number of anglers stayed flat. But hunters and anglers spent a whopping $70 billion last year on clothing and equipment for those activities.

Although Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s are large regional chains, there is no national chain of stores devoted just to serving hunters and anglers. By contrast, the $25 billion toy industry has given rise to Toys ‘R’ Us Inc., which had revenue of $11 billion last year. The decline in the number of hunters over the past decade was offset by a 29 percent increase in expenditures. So the hunters out there are spending a lot more per capita on equipment and clothing than they did a decade ago.

Mike Luttrell and Phil Ezell own Ozark Sportsman Supply in Tontitown. Their store is geared for hunters and firearms shooters. Ozark Sportsman Supply is the only retail store in the area with an indoor shooting range. The charge for using the range is $10 per hour. Shoppers who want to target practice can also rent guns from Ozark Sportsman Supply for $10 per hour and forego the range fee (but they have to buy ammo from the store).

Luttrell said he opened the store in Fayetteville in 1997 and moved it to Tontitown in August 2002. With the move, the store went from 2,000 SF to 15,000 SF. Luttrell said he won’t know until the end of the year what kind of sales increase accompanied the move.

“I don’t think we’re saturated,” he said of area hunting stores. “I think we have a good balance. There are other stores that have things we don’t. We have the indoor range … We don’t have the archery and fishing supplies.”

Down U.S. Highway 412 at Springdale’s Center Point Place, Outdoor America has more archery supplies than most people could imagine. Bow season doesn’t begin until Oct. 1, but the store is already selling plenty of them.

“We started selling our bows back in mid-July,” said Mike Nunn, customer service manager at the store.

Outdoor America opened in Bentonville about seven years ago and moved to Springdale about four years ago, Nunn said. It is owned by Aaron Weiss of Fayetteville.

In addition to archery equipment, Outdoor America also has a large stock of guns, other hunting supplies and fishing supplies.

There are several other good outdoor retailers in the area, (see list, p. 20), including the area’s oldest in Southtown Sporting Goods.