Closing: The Mountain Shop

Am I late on this? Sad to seem them go. Fort Collins won't be the same without it.

UN-F-ING-BELIEVABLE that fort fun cannot support a specialty mountain shop that focused on both climbing and skiing amongst other mtn pursuits???

Who else it out there ... REI, Jax. Difficult to believe that a place like the Fort can't support a well-rounded outdoor gear store.

I'm assuming REI and JAX have survived due to all the "other" stuff they sell.

Sucks that they're closing, are they doing any kind of going out of business sale though?

Sorry to see them go.
Retail is a hard business to run in this economy.

But I would not say the community wasn't supportive of the shop,
the shop did itself in regardless of who or who didn't buy stuff there.

Unless you have a good online business presence, I don't think mom and pop brick and mortar retail outlets have a prayer for survival.

I bought a few things from them before, but something that prevented me from buying more from them is that when they had sales, like 30% off backpacks, they didn't allow returns on the items. It's not that hard to find similar sales online, so when you take away one of the major benefits of a brick and mortar store it makes it hard to compete. Either way, too bad to see it go.

Also, I think it lost that little something when it was at its previous location.

I worked at the Mountain Shop from 1974 through 1980 or so. I loved that place. Sad to see it go. BTW, it is possible to operate a small, single location specialty shop and do it well. Colorado is full of them: Neptunes, Bent Gate, Wilderness Exchange, Mountain Chalet, the Ute Mountaineer, Summit Canyon Mountaineering, Ouray Mountain Sports, Bristlecone Mountaineering... And the list goes on.
Mal

John Marsella wrote: this. I tried to check their website several times and I couldn't ever get it to tell me anything useful (by which I mean "shop online"). I would have gone up to FTC to purchase the items, but not knowing what inventory they carried was a bummer.

On the other hand, Wilderness Exchange's website is really well done. If you have ever noticed when you get stuff on Spadout, it's often from small companies you have never heard of. They are just little shops in another state that had what you wanted or could get it.

There are some good folks working at the Mountain Shop and I wish them well. I too find it disappointing that Fort Collins can't seem to sustain a small / locally owned gear shop.

Ya, no returns? That's just a kick in the nuts and very unappreciative of their customers.

They just had waaaaaay too much stuff in there too. It was like an outdoor gear ADD store.
Also, their customer service left a lot to be desired. I've been in there numerous times without anyone talking to me and they were just hovered around the computer.

I think their prices were actually quite OK. It's just that the gear they carried was NOT CHEAP gear. I didn't say inexpensive, I said cheap. It was super high quality, so you had to pay to play. Their sales were good.

However, I disagree with the comments about the online store being a backbone. Online sales are ridiculously tough nowadays. Unless you have insane sale prices, people don't buy.

I think they had a really good niche in the Fort Collins community, but Ben Scott was right...I think they did themselves in.

Michael

I think they should have used a sales plan like summit hut in tucson. This "high end" thing with regards to climbing/skiing does not work up here in FC. They could have sold lightweight hikers and zip off pants to ever old fart going hiking in RMNP. And or book bags that look cool to every undergraud who came to old town with their folks year after year. They left those sales to others and it's hard to do any bus. when you leave money on the table.

My view is that the "high end" climber/skier is for the most part not here in FC (i know some but compared to bouder). They are down in boulder (center of the universe)

We've got a ton of kids who came out from the mid west (couldn't get in to or pay for CU) and wanted to be in the first place they hit with topography as they head west! Bingo! That's FC for ya. Lot's of kids learning the ropes and yes getting super into climbing skiing and what not, but they ain't going to -or need to- plop down $$big bucks for some of the big ticket items...

Oh yeah, and....we ain't in the mountains! As much as folks want to believe that FC is a mountain town... it's not. Boulder does have that -bike to the crag thing going for it.. FC is a commuter mountain town and that's never ever gona be the same as having it in your very own back yard...location location location...1st rule

All that being said, I got stuff there and paid full price. Didn't want to see them go that's for sure.