Tom Barney has worked at the helm of iconic outdoor brands like Osprey Packs and Royal Robbins for 25 years, helping lead these companies into global markets. He’s been growing sales, building teams, creating strategies, and working with designers on creating innovative outdoor products that perform at retail.
But Barney doesn’t really remember what it’s like to be the guy on the sales floor trying to explain the difference between one great brand and its competitor. It’s been forever since he worked the cash register or stocked the sock display. He hasn’t yet learned the modern art of boot-fitting and he’s not up to date on the latest outerwear technologies.
In fact, like many C-level executives, he doesn’t fully grasp the myriad challenges that the owners and managers of independent outdoor retail shops around the country face on a daily basis. “Like many leaders on the vendor side of our industry, I feel a growing gap between the realities of successful specialty retail management and the supplier community, especially in light of the evolving omni-channel retail environment,” Barney said. “I want to learn and help close that gap for everyone.”
Now Barney will get his chance, and it will come from a crash course in outdoor specialty retail.
Welcome to The Retail Immersion Project.
ϳԹ Business Journal is partnering with Tom Barney and Ben Rockis, owner of Backcountry Experience in Durango, Colorado, as Barney immerses himself in the nitty-gritty retail experience. Barney chose Backcountry Experience because it represents the classic, independent outdoor specialty shop. It faces the usual successes and challenges of our industry and is led by a a creative and dedicated staff.
During the busy holiday season, right up to Outdoor Retailer Winter Market ‘17, Barney will work the sales floor, fitting and selling gear, and ringing up customers. He’ll participate in staff meetings, training, and rep clinics, and he’ll closely observe the managerial challenges that owner Ben Rockis faces.
“I’m excited to move from the conference room to the sales floor where real-life sales challenges face staff every day,” Barney said. “I’m going to dive in, learn, and contribute to every aspect of the real specialty outdoor store experience. I’m hoping that by working the floor, observing daily interactions and talking with staff, I can help our industry–especially vendors–understand and better support the backbone of outdoor retail: the specialty store.”
Throughout Barney’s retail immersion, he and Rockis will share lessons learned with Snews readers. Stay tuned for live video blogs from the sales floor and weekly stories highlighting a few key topics each week such as:
- how to improve staff training and rep clinics
- converting the web-informed specialty consumer to a brick-and-mortar shopper
- how stores can work with brands to offset the direct-to-consumer sales/marketing trend
- how specialty shops can complement and compete with national online dealers and big box retailers
- how vendors can do more to support specialty retail stores
We invite you to follow along through Barney’s retail immersion to hear how, as an industry, we can improve partnerships between vendors, reps, and retailers.