Recently there has been a new trend of retail brands that primarily cater to aficionados of fishing. This should not be surprising, as fishing rose in popularity during the pandemic as a stress-reducing outdoor activity. As the supply chain issues get more and more worrisome, and with inflation woes affecting the price of food, there is something satisfying about having the apparel and the gear in place in order to catch your own fish for dinner. Even last year there was a trend on TikTok involving influencers wearing caps with the logo from Bass Pro Shop, a brand known for its fishing/outdoor-oriented merchandise. The accessory is still considered a popular fashion statement into 2022. This may be because the concept of sustaining oneself in the great outdoors is considered good for the environment and is therefore in vogue.
The customers for these fishing-oriented stores may be more plentiful lately because the lockdown-driven trend of relocating away from urban centers toward more resort-like ocean, lake and riverfront locales is still going strong. New retail brands that debuted this year which aim to capture the fishing/outdoor living audience — or those that aspire to the lifestyle — include Rugged Earth Outfitters (REO) and Karl’s Fishing & Outdoors.
Rugged Earth Outfitters is a new brand introduced in April by Bealls Inc., the parent company of Bealls, Bealls Outlet, Burkes Outlet and Home Centric. There are already six locations open in Eastland, Texas, Fayetteville, Tenn., Durant, Okla., New Castle, Ind., Okeechobee, Fla., and Jackson, Ohio. REO plans to open six more locations before the end of this year. These fishing/outdoor-related apparel brand looks for sites in the 6,000- to 9,000-s.f. range in Class B strip centers and grocery-anchored power centers in more rural tertiary markets near a lake, river or ocean that may also be in the vicinity of forests and national parks, especially where fishing is a popular pastime. Preferred co-tenants include brands that traditionally appeal to working-class males, including O’Reilly Auto Parts, Tractor Supply Co., Harbor Freight Tools, Hibbett Sports, Ace Hardware and Anytime Fitness. If successful, expect to see up to 12 more of these REO stores popping up in water-oriented communities throughout the country next year, especially in areas where there is already a Bealls-branded store.
Karl’s Fishing & Outdoors opened its premiere retail store in July with a 2,500-s.f. unit in Fort Worth, Texas, at WestBend, the riverfront mixed-use development owned by Trademark Property Company. A second Karl’s retail store, which will be its flagship location, will open by this fall on a ground floor unit in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., that will be near Nordstrom. Expect to see up to five more Karl’s Fishing & Outdoors stores in the U.S. in 2023, in popular tourist destination malls, mixed-use centers and lifestyle centers in regions with a thriving lake and river fishing industry.
Because it has access to the Trinity River, the WestBend location is ideal for the Karl’s store, as its staff expects to host the occasional outdoor fishing lesson gatherings. The store will offer other experiential experiences, such as tech-enabled interactive displays that demonstrate how to operate the various products. With Forth Worth being a college town hub, Karl’s hopes to capture a younger generation of new fishing enthusiasts in addition to the tried-and-true fishing customers. The WestBend retail site houses other popular retail co-tenants, including johnnie-O, Market by Macy’s, CorePower Yoga, Zoes Kitchen and Pressed Juicery. In addition to lures and tackles, Karl’s also sell reels, rods, apparel, kayaks and other outdoor-related merchandise. The Karl’s store spawned from the digitally native Karl’s Bait and Tackle brand that is overseen by its parent company, Catch Co.
