The apocalypse may be upon us. Or at least, it’s the end of an outdoor retail era as Orvis announced this week its closing more than 30 stores nationwide.
Since there are only authorized Orvis dealers in Montana, the decision may not be immediately noticeable. But for a lot of brick-and-mortar retail outlets, including Orvis, the trend lines are not encouraging.
I might be contributing to the trend. Earlier today I picked up a new training/GPS collar for my English setter, Jade. I’ve been considering GPS for some time. I hunt a lot of heavy grass cover out here on the plains, and sometimes Jade gets on point, and I can’t find her.
She disappeared for about 15 minutes in one hunt last season. I was close enough to hear the covey flush when the quail finally tired of the frozen dog who’d invaded their space.
So, I have a good reason for the GPS tracker.
I also learned last year that I needed a training collar. We got into some chukar and Gambel’s quail down south and I learned my tight-holding setter didn’t always hold so tight when she could see birds in front of her running across open ground. I suspect it won’t take more than a tap or two to remind her what “whoa” means.
I’m nowhere near an Orvis store, but there is a Cabela’s in town. The store had the GPS/trainer collars on the shelf, at a reasonable price, but I held off until I could do some research. By the time I decided it was a good deal, the store had sold out. So I bought one off the Cabala’s website.
I suppose that’s a win for both brick-and-mortar and digital retail.
Before that, I bought a pair of Danner boots. This time I went straight to the web. I have a certain style of Danner I wear for hunting, and I know my size. And I cannot tolerate heel drop so my choices are limited. I’ve never seen the boots I wear in a store. I’ve now ordered three pair online.
I also have a particular style and brand of running shoe. Since I like to buy things in stores when I can, I stopped at a regional shoe dealer in Denver to pick up my usual. Unfortunately, the store had stopped carrying the style I’ve been wearing the last 10 years, a shoe that emphasized stability, and only carried shoes from that brand with extra cushioning and shock absorption.
I bought a pair anyway, and immediately the leg pain that forced me to move uptown to $150 running shoes in the first place, returned. It’s back to the internet for running shoes.
I’m not a big Orvis guy, but I do have a tweed sports coat I’ve been wearing for years. It was too big when I first bought it so it fits just right these days, and I get lots of compliments when I wear it. I bought it in an Orvis store in Scottsdale, Arizona. I wonder if that joint still exists, or if it’s now on the chopping block.
I hate to see outdoor stores fading away. I worked at Sportsman & Ski Haus for a few years, and I also worked at North Fork Anglers in Cody, Wyoming. Both shops were fun places to work and gather intel from anglers. These places are hangouts, like the record store I worked in back when everyone spun vinyl.
Online is handy, and sometimes it’s the best way to get gear when you need it. But I don’t relish the idea of a fly-shop-free world, no matter how much fancy gear the internet puts just a mouse click away.
Sometimes there’s no better path toward a big purchase than having some human you trust say, “Yeah, I’ve fished with that fly rod before. It rocks.”