Brands that cater to the outdoor-themed lifestyle, whether providing the appropriate footwear or gear for outside activities, have seen a proliferation of expansion. With the national work-from-home trend prodding much of the populace to reside away from urban locales toward more outlying high-end outdoor resort locales, expect more of these outdoor-themed lifestyle brands to also expand their reach to these destinations. Many of these upscale customers are men in the 21- to 45-year-old range, seeking more casual items for their new outdoorsy environment pursuits. Whether these potential customers move closer to the beach, the mountains or lake communities, retailers are ready to provide them with access to products for their new casual-oriented outdoor life. Look for Flip Flop Shops, Boot Barn, Tecovas, YETI and Evo to continue expanding with new brick-and-mortar sites over the next few years. Outdoor brand Backcountry will open its first brick-and-mortar units this year, while Dick’s Sporting Goods tests a new store concept to take advantage of the recent push toward a more outdoor lifestyle.
The Flip Flop Shops franchise foresees opening approximately 125 new units in 2021, followed by approximately 75 new units per year from 2022 until 2024. Flip Flop Shops looks for inline space in the 500- to 2,500-s.f. range in all types of venues, whether upscale outdoor lifestyle centers and power shopping centers, strip centers or street-front inline spots on busy retail streets within close access to hotels near beach, lake, mountain and other resort-themed locations. All markets are considered, especially tourist towns and mid-sized cities experiencing new population growth. With Flip Flop Shops opening new units this year in California, Florida, Alabama and Texas, expect the brand to seek spaces in more central and northern locations in the future. Preferred co-tenants include casual clothing and other outdoor-accessories brands such as Sunglass Hut and Tillys. The brand was acquired by Bearpaw Holdings LLC in 2018 and in September introduced a new store concept, called Flip Flop Shops & Shoes, at a unit in Sacramento, Calif., that will sell colder-weather shoes in addition to its flip flop brands. This allows the franchise to expand outside of its usual warmer-climate markets in beach/coastal locations and Southern cities.
Boot Barn expects to open approximately 40 new stores per year over the next six years, especially in Northeast markets where the brand currently does not have a presence. Look for territories in New York, New Jersey and New England states, especially Massachusetts, to be targeted for growth, in addition to continued expansion into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Illinois. Boot Barn seeks space in the 10,000-s.f. range, either freestanding or inline — preferably end cap — in high-traffic strip mall spaces or super regional shopping centers. Smaller to mid-sized cities and rural to suburban markets in close proximity to businesses based in agriculture or construction, near country western-style bars, or in areas with a large number of blue-collar workers will be targeted. Ideal co-tenants include automotive parts brands, such as O’Reilly Auto Parts, and western-style restaurants, including Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and Wingstop. Boot Barn, which saw its same-store sales increase 20% in January 2021 compared to the previous year, sells high end Western-themed attire, including cowboy boots, hats and clothing, in addition to work boots.
Tecovas, a digitally native western boot and apparel brand, looks to open approximately 10 new units per year over the next two to three years. Areas of growth include continued expansion into Texas, the Carolinas and Tennessee, and the retailer is scouting sites in Atlanta. Future growth in the South, Southeast, West and Midwest is expected, potentially into thriving communities in New Mexico, Nevada, Idaho and St. Louis. Potential new sites in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles are also a possibility, as those three locations have performed well with the brand’s online sales. The brand seeks end cap, inline or standalone space, between 3,000 and 4,000 s.f., in upscale outdoor shopping malls, as well as ground-floor spaces in mixed-use buildings and on retail street-front spaces. Locations in tourist-driven destination spots and with major colleges in the vicinity, and areas with a growing influx of new company relocations are especially appealing. Ideal co-tenants for the brand include other clothing and accessories chains, such as Madewell, Suitsupply and COACH. Tecovas, which began opening brick-and-mortar stores in 2019, received $15M in Series B funding last year from 12 investors, including Oakwell Capital, Tusk Private Investment and Plus Capital. These funds will be used to further its brick-and-mortar growth. Tecovas is known for its reasonably-priced yet high-quality handcrafted leather boots and accessories, as its well as western-themed apparel.
YETI is on track to open approximately five to seven new units per year for the next two to three years. Expect units to continue to arise in upscale high-density locations in both coastal ares and in Midwest cities that are in growth mode. Potential growth hotspots include Los Angeles, San Francisco, Scottsdale, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Seattle, Nashville, Birmingham, Ala., Columbus, Ohio, Washington, D.C., New York City and Las Vegas.
The brand is flexible with its space, which can range from 1,500 s.f. for a smaller market to 8,000 s.f. for a flagship site. YETI is especially interested in thriving retail street-front locations with a lot of foot traffic, as well as ground-floor spaces in mixed-use developments with co-tenants that provide high-end products, such as Williams-Sonoma. YETI, which was ranked first on Forbes’ 2021 list of the best mid-sized companies, performed well despite COVID-19, with its gross profit increasing 32% from the previous year. Known for its top-of-the-line durable coolers, YETI also sells drinkware products, camping chairs, and as of February 2021, waterproof luggage travel bags.
Evo, which currently has three U.S. retail locations that sells ski, snowboard, surf, wakeboard, skateboard and mountain biking equipment, will expand with multiple new retail concepts this year. The brand has indicated it would like to continue expansion into more North American markets, especially strategically-located popular outdoor-oriented locations. Potential sites might include recreation tourist lake towns in the Midwest and the South, as well as highly-populated coastal towns. Evo is especially interested in refurbishing warehouse spaces in prime locations for its larger units. Evo is also expanding smaller-sized gear rental stores, primarily to capture customers new to a particular sport, whether vacationers or new transplants.
By this fall, Evo expects to have completed the redevelopment of 120,000 s.f. of space that encompasses five warehouse buildings located just south of downtown Salt Lake City — a new area for Evo — into a retail and entertainment complex. Working with the developer Lake Union Partners, the complex, dubbed “Campus SLC,” will be an Evo-anchored mixed-use center that will also house a hotel, an art gallery, a local outdoor gear brand, office and restaurant space, a cinema and performance venue as well as a 30,000-s.f. area for a climbing gym and a skate park. It is a larger-scale version of Evo’s original Seattle store, which is part of a collective that also houses an on-site skatepark and two local restaurants.
In addition, Evo will roll out two mini satellite versions of its stores, in the 2,000- to 5,500-s.f. range, by this summer that will primarily handle gear rentals. These will be in Snoqualmie Pass, Wash., and Hood River, Ore. Both units will share building space with other brands: the Washington unit will house a local market/café as well as co-working nooks, and the Hood River space will house a local coffee shop. By May, Evo will open a 6,240-s.f. shop in Denver that will be its second EvoRentals, a store that is also focused on rental equipment sales. This space, a standalone building that previously housed a pawn shop, was purchased by the brand rather than leased, and is located across the street from an Evo retail store that opened in 2016. Evo’s first EvoRentals opened last year in a 4,536-s.f. building behind its Seattle store.
The digitally native outdoor gear brand, Backcountry, is delving into the brick-and-mortar world this year by opening two units by late spring/early summer, in Boulder, Colo., and Park City, Utah. The brand is shopping for a potential third unit to open in the Rocky Mountain region before year’s end. The Park City unit will be a 4,000-s.f. showroom within the store’s headquarters, and the Boulder unit will be a 2,000-s.f. store in the city’s popular outdoor retail shopping district, called Pearl Street Mall, and will primarily sell the brand’s own labels.
This retail expansion is due to the success of a pop-up shop that sprung up in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood during the Winter of 2019, as well as the high sales generated from the retail store that has been attached to the brand’s fulfillment center in Salt Lake City for the past 10 years. Expect Backcountry to delve into more urban territories for future growth, in addition to units in high-traffic outdoor resort communities. Potential spots for growth include Portland, Ore., as well as Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C., the latter two cities being within a day’s drive to its fulfillment center in Christiansburg, Va. The brand will most likely seek spaces in the 3,000-s.f. range on street-front pedestrian-heavy outdoor shopping districts within resort and urban communities alike, especially in locations near multifamily housing with a large proportion of adults aged 21 to 35. Backcountry’s products include high-end snowboards, mountain bikes, kayaks and related apparel.
Dick’s Sporting Goods will be testing out a new store concept this fall, called Public Lands, which will debut by late October in two former Field & Stream units in Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh. The Public Lands concept will specifically sell high-end outdoor gear. Products will include top-of-the-line footwear, clothing and equipment for outside activities such as bicycling, hiking, fishing, kayaking and camping. Dick’s is expecting to benefit from COVID-19 related travel restrictions that have resulted in more Americans continuing to seek fitness, health and vacation options outdoors, especially in national park campground settings. Dick’s hired a new president in December who will specifically oversee the Public Lands brand, indicating that the company has high prospects for the future of the new store concept.
