Madsen to Retire from REI; Jewel to Take the Reins

REI CEO Dennis Madsen will retire from the company at the company's annual membership meeting on March 28, 2005, and said he will spend the next 10 months helping to transition the company's leadership to its current COO, Sally Jewell. Jewell wi

REI Opens Second Houston Store

REI will open a second store in Houston, Texas, in the Willowbrook Shopping Center in October. The new store will serve more than 17,000 active REI cooperative members
in the Houston area. REI opened its first store in Houston in 1996. Last year, that ori

Callaway Wins LPGA Safeway Classic Apparel Contract

Callaway Golf apparel was awarded the contract as the exclusive apparel vendor supporting the 2004 LPGA Safeway Classic to be held at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Oregon. Callaway Golf apparel will be the exclusive supplier for the volun

Chinook Hires Coogan for New Brand Strategy

Chinook Trading has selected Mike Coogan, former VP of global marketing at Kamik, to launch a branded division.
Coogan, who will serve as president of the newly formed branded division at Chinook Trading, is launching a unique multi-brand strategy for the

Kitty Bradley Joins Stonewear Designs as GM

Great Trango Holdings has hired Kitty Bradley as the Brand Manager for Stonewear Designs. Kitty joins the team to continue her career in the outdoor and apparel industries. She got her start in the Outdoor Industry as the GM of the Boulder Mountaineer fro

Keen’s CEO Joins TimBuk2 Board

Timbuk2 has added Angel Martinez to its Board of Directors. Mr. Martinez, the CEO of Keen Footwear and former Chief Marketing Officer of Reebok International, brings nearly three decades of consumer brand building expertise to the rapidly growing luggage

June is Proclaimed ‘Great Outdoors Month’

President Bush has formally declared June “Great Outdoors Month.” According to the OIA, the request for this proclaimation was made by the organization's key contact in the White House. Much of the language used in the document is based on the OIA&#0

May Retail Comps Mostly Surprise and Delight…

While May retail sales results were tough to read as a trend and did not offer up any solid consensus on the health of retail, the reports issued last week by dozens of public companies did appear to re-affirm the feeling that the U.S. retail economy is i

Global Retail Sales Show Mixed Results…

While the U.S. retail market continues to post healthy comp stores sales growth, the global retail market has seen mixed results over the least few months, with Europe starting to see the healthiest gains…

All Eyes on Gander Mountain…

Several top investment firms initiated coverage of Gander Mountain this week, including Piper Jaffray, Bank of America and William Blair & Co. – the firm that floated the outdoor retailer’s IPO. The company received high marks from all analysts, who cited

Retail Execs See Lighter Traffic But More Sales in May…

It looks like the most recent Executive Opinion Survey, a monthly index by the National Retail Federation, was a fair indicator of the health of the retail business in May as retail execs also noted that the prediction of a negative impact of higher gas p