Outdoor Retailer recently held its annual Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Utah and spirits were high throughout the Salt Palace Convention Center as retailers and exhibitors gathered to discuss the business, politics and future of the outdoors.
“The positive spirit and buzz that weve heard from both sides of the aisle is incredible, and we are so grateful for the hard work and efforts displayed by everyone involved in making this years Winter Market so successful. The week has been really amazing for brands big and small, and now we will turn our focus to Summer Market,” said Peter Devin, OR Show Director.
“The industry is continuing to grow at both wholesale and retail and the buyers that were here this week confirmed that the breadth of products, brands, and connectivity here at OR totally benefits their business,” added Devin.
“In terms of show attendance, the buyer count was up from last year over 3% and although the Super Bowl certainly caused a respite on Sunday, the duration and quality of the shows attendance and business focus was very strong,” commented Devin.
Winter Market attendees found an energized show floor, which included winter-specific apparel, gear, accessories, footwear and equipment from over 700 companies. A number of key Nordic companies decided to return as exhibitors to Outdoor Retailer Winter Market including Atomic (http://www.atomic.com), Karhu (http://www.karhu.com), K2 (http://www.k2skis.com) and Alpina (http://www.alpinasports.com). The successful return of these Nordic companies was great news for both retailers and exhibitors.
Rick Halling, Director of Outdoor Products at Atomic explains why they returned to Winter Market after a three-year absence. “There are more retailers who are doing camping and climbing gear, as well as ski gear, and we are seeing them all here,” Halling said.
“Weve got a lot of telemark and backcountry business that we havent seen for the past couple years at SIA, so weve been really busy at this show — retailers are psyched that were here. Well definitely be back next year,” said Tracy Ferland, Marketing Manager for Karhu USA in Burlington, Vermont.
The day prior to the Winter Market tradeshow, Outdoor Retailer hosted the inaugural Backcountry Base Camp (BBC) at Brighton Resort and nearby backcountry of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Hundreds of pre-qualified retailers gathered for this first-time event and enjoyed over a foot of fresh snow that had fallen the previous weekend. Getting back to where they would prefer to be — the outdoors — attendees had nothing but praise for the intimate surroundings of Brighton Resort and the line-up of BBC exhibitors. With plenty of good snow and cool temperatures, BBC attendees took advantage of the ideal winter conditions for testing the most innovative backcountry gear including telemark skis, Nordic skis, transceivers, snowshoes, split boards, poles, packs as well as other winter-specific gear.
“I headed out to the Backcountry Base Camp with my buying decisions pretty much finalized and ended up changing my mind based on the product I tested on the hill — something I never could have done at an East Coast regional show,” commented John Holden buyer for Blue Ridge Mountain Sports with corporate offices in Charlottesville, Virginia and retail stores throughout the mid-Atlantic states.
“Brighton was a perfect area for the event — really easy to use. We had a lot of fun and it was great to see everyone,” said Backcountry Base Camp attendee Sean MacArdle, Hard Goods Buyer for Climb High in Shelburne, Vermont.
“Overall I had a great time. I spent most of the day riding sleds from Airboard and Mad River Rockets. We carry Mad River Rockets in our stores and Ive never actually used one — so much fun,” added David Perez, a buyer at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports.
The first morning of the show kicked off with the inaugural Industry Breakfast sponsored by Outdoor Industry Association and Outdoor Retailer. Approximately 500 people attended the breakfast to hear about results from the recent consumer study commissioned by the Outdoor Industry Foundation (OIF). The study identified who, why and what outdoor recreational categories Americans participate in on a regular basis. Study findings provided many examples of how participation in outdoor activities reduces stress, builds positive human interactions and improves mental and physical health. More information on the results of the report or obtaining a copy can be found on Outdoor Industry Associations website at: http://www.outdoorindustry.org.
Outdoor Retailer Winter Market is always known as THE show to find the most innovative products for outdoor recreation and Winter Market 2004 was no different. A continuing theme in outerwear was the soft shell category — loosely defined as mid-weight and outerwear garments featuring breathability, water-resistance and the ability to stretch for cold weather aerobic activities. The outerwear manufacturers have taken the concept of soft shell one step further by employing waterproof/breathable fabric technology and creating hybrid garments, which use several different fabrics, taking advantage of the specific performance properties of each. Companies such as Mountain Hardwear (http://www.mountainhardwear.com), Marmot (http://www.marmot.com), Arcteryx (http://www.arcteryx.com) and GoLite (http://www.golite.com) improved performance and technical features to provide a wide range of options for next season.
With well over 100 exhibitors offering footwear at Winter Market, the variety of styles of shoes, sandals and boots available to outdoor specialty shops has grown significantly. Retailers were discovering new brands as well as new products from established outdoor companies.
First time exhibitors, Mephisto (http://www.mephisto.com), found retailers more than receptive to their line of mens and womens walking shoes and sandals. “The shows been great, in fact, we were pleasantly surprised. We received good reaction to our products and had a lot people coming by the booth. Starting with the first day of the show weve been really busy,” Mark Diehl, VP Sales for Mephisto, based in Franklin, Tennessee.
