Sunday, April 27, 2008
More retailers equals more happy customers
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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This is the time of year when Les Meadows likes to pack up his family and head into the outdoors for adventures.
But the spring trips got put on hold while Meadows put in 90-hour weeks at his new job as the operations manager at Roanoke's new Gander Mountain store.
"We were here until one o'clock in the morning on Monday," Meadows said of the night before the store opened just off Interstate 81 in the Hollins area of Roanoke County. "We wanted everything to be perfect when the doors opened.
"First impressions are lasting impressions."
Perfection is a pretty lofty goal when you're talking about opening any new business.
That Meadows and the rest of the gang at Gander Mountain were shooting for it bodes well for outdoors enthusiasts in Southwest Virginia, who should be the winners as a growing number of retailers compete to earn their business.
The region's retail landscape for outdoor sporting goods has gotten pretty interesting over the past few years, and really interesting over the past six months.
Small local retailers, once the heart of the industry, have largely faded into history. But there are a still a few around doing a good job serving their loyal customers.
Despite dedicating a relatively small area to outdoor gear, Wal-Mart has been a pretty big player in the business.
Dick's Sporting Goods, with its Lodge area and camping sections, has given shoppers more options as that chain has expanded in the region.
But for a truly expansive selection under one roof, sportsmen had to either stop at a Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's or Gander Mountain during their travels, or shop via mail or the Internet.
Until November.
That's when Sportsman's Warehouse opened just off Hershberger Road in Roanoke.
The place was a madhouse for weeks.
It didn't hurt that hunting seasons were in full swing and the holidays were approaching. Still, it was clear the region was hungry for a major outdoor retailer.
And now we get another one.
Since its low-key opening, Gander Mountain has each day had a couple thousand shoppers come through its turnstiles just inside the front doors, Meadows said.
Many have been just browsing, said Meadows, who worked previously as a manager for Lowe's in Roanoke and Christiansburg.
"It's mostly people just window shopping, seeing what we've got," he said.
No doubt many are waiting for the official grand opening, which starts Friday and will feature lots of specials and sales, as well as appearances from celebrity sportsmen including Michael Waddel and Hank Parker. Customers this week are no doubt comparing Gander Mountain to Sportsman's Warehouse, which is just a few miles away.
They're seeing that Gander Mountain is physically quite a bit larger -- 65,000 square feet to 40,000 square feet.
Gander Mountain's interior feels quite a bit more open than Sportsman's Warehouse. That may be due in part to the new store still being about 15 percent short of fully stocked. But it's also because Sportsman's Warehouse packs a lot of merchandise into its space.
There are differences in display approaches.
For example, Gander Mountain displays its rifle scopes on blank stocks so customers can get a nice feel for the optics. Fishing reels are on rod butts where anglers can try them. At Sportsman's Warehouse, campers can try out tents that are set up.
We can only hope the stores aren't shy about borrowing each others best ideas.
As for merchandise, the stores carry a lot of the same stuff, which means customer service and price will be important -- which is good news for shoppers. Both stores pride themselves on employing associates who are themselves passionate about the outdoors. They also reach out to local sportsmen's and conservation groups. They won't want to risk straying from that approach.
As for prices, things will work as they do in other retail sectors. One store may be a little less expensive here, a little more expensive there, and the same on a lot of items. Customers may prefer one store to the other, but they'll shop at both.
Meadows said he thinks there's room in Roanoke for both stores and he's right.
In fact, there's room for these stores as well as the other smaller shops that stick it out.
According to the 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Survey on Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Recreation, expenditures on fishing and hunting in Virginia were about $1.2 billion.
So hunters, anglers and outdoorsmen are going to spend money.
If they have more options for spending that money locally, that's a good thing.
