Two days before the start of a new year, we thought we would take a quick look back at 2018. In truth it has been a crazy busy year for us. But also a very awesome year. On Jan 1 2018 we were staying in a small off-season rental cottage on Beck Ave. We had been there for a couple of months and were looking for a home to buy, were almost certain that we would not be able to afford to buy anything in Cody and were concentrating our efforts on Big Horn County. We looked at homes in places like Basin, Greybull, Lovell, Cowley, and Burlington - finding some nice homes on our limited budget but always holding back in what we thought was a pointless effort to get closer to Cody.
At the same time (still in the dead of winter in early Jan) we were driving down Big Horn Ave one day, saw a huge FOR RENT sign in a store front across from the Maverick, took a look at it, talked to the building owner, and realized that this small retail space was doable both square footage wise and financially wise. But we couldn't commit to it. We had no idea at that time exactly where we were going to end up.
A week later we found a store front on the main street in Powell - same deal - big enough and priced right that we could afford it. And we could not commit to THAT retail space either because we still did not know for certain where we would call home. We continued to see homes - after eventually discounting Big Horn County we focused on points all over Park County, and as time went by we were slowly coming to the realization that buying a home may not be in the cards for us. Every time we drove by Colter Bay Computers on Big Horn Ave we glanced over to see if the FOR RENT sign was still in the window. It was.
By mid-February we had moved into a small rental house in town. When we finally went to see a home for sale in Powell that (on paper) seemed to fit all the criteria we were looking for in a house and we couldn't pull the trigger on it, we both looked at each other and made the decision that Cody was where we really wanted to be, we didn't want to compromise on that, and if we had to rent for the rest of our lives because we couldn't afford to buy............then we would just rent for the rest of our lives. With that decision made we headed to Colter Bay and committed to the retail space we had found six weeks earlier. We had a store front for OAR and we had a rental house that we could likely live in for as long as we wanted. For the first time since we have moved back to Cody in late September of 2017, we felt a little settled. Some important details had been secured.
A month later we were back from a quick turn-around trip to Idaho to get all of our belongings that we had left in storage. By the time it was all unloaded both rooms of the store were completely filled with boxes stacked five feet high. The small rental house was so full of boxes that we looked like hoarders - boxes stacked 8 feet high in every room with only narrow aisles to get through. Half the stuff at the store belonged at the house. Half the stuff at the house belonged at the store. Our small on-sight storage unit was full of stuff, our vehicles were full of stuff, our old fishing boat was full of stuff, we had no room to move at either the house or the store, and I just wanted to cry. To say the least it was overwhelming.
The next month was consumed with getting organized. We had to make our rental house safe and livable, so we rented a large storage unit on the Meeteetse Highway and ferried stuff up there. We were paying rent for the store space so we had to get that space organized and get the place open, and I randomly picked April 18 as opening day. That month was nothing but endless trips up to the storage unit, opening endless boxes, sorting endless boxes, cleaning and pricing and marketing and...................and a blur of activity.
OAR opened on April 18, 2018, so we have now been up and running for just over 8 months. And it's gone pretty well. Over the past 8 months we:
* Have exceeded our anticipated sales numbers by a good margin. We put that first because if the money is not there, then nothing else matters and OAR is just living on borrowed time. We gave ourselves one year to try and make OAR work. If it didn't look promising we would have to shut it down. After 8 months we are excited and gratified every day that this idea of a "used outdoor gear store on a budget" just may work. It's never a done deal but at least right now, it looks promising that we will be here for the long haul.
* Held a number of special events including a Grand Opening, Safety Seminar, and Women Welcoming Winter Open House
* Offered a number of sales including during our Grand Opening, National Police Week, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Black Friday/Small Business Saturday
* Donated 4 back packs, 5 jackets, 5 pairs of boots, 5 pairs of pants, 1 pair of waders, one stool/backpack combo and one pair of hiking shoes to people in our local community
* Donated a new Cabelas hoodie and new set of camp cookware to a Criminal Justice Program fund raiser at Northwest College, and made a financial donation to CASA.
* Gave the following prizes to community members during our Grand Opening and Women Welcoming Winter special events - 2 hunting day packs, 1 picnic backpack, 1 collectible cowboy plate, a fleece throw, 2 buffs, 1 pair of bicycle socks, 1 Kelty day pack, two clutch water bottles
* Held a small competition on our OAR FB page, resulting in two ladies winning two great sleeping bags
* Accepted the very generous offer from a local professional photographer, found some wonderful volunteers and had some great pictures taken of local adventurers wearing and using OAR gear.
* Made the mistake of loaning two brand new pairs of hiking boots to young ladies who were bicycling across the nation. The boots were brought back in a condition that made them unusable and unsellable. We ended up throwing them away and writing them off. An unfortunate lesson learned.
* Other lessons learned - confirm current value of gear rather than accepting someone's word, check gear over VERY carefully before accepting it, and it's OK to say "no thank you" sometimes.
* Had one theft in the store this year, which we guess isn't too bad.
* Kicked one person out of the store for abusive and threatening language, and filed one police report for the same incident
* Posted hundreds of pictures, found untold amounts of gear, and spent indecent amounts of time cleaning gear. Changed the store over three times in 8 months (summer, hunting and winter season). Often had clothing hanging in every closet in the house, gear covering the dining room table, and random boxes of gear taking up corners in the spare bedroom. It's been a crazy 8 months of awesome gear in and awesome gear out. SO much fun!
* Met so many wonderful people. And at the end of the day it is the people we have met that have made this store so compelling for us. Gear is just gear. It's just stuff. It is the PEOPLE - those who buy, who trade, who consign, who rummage through boxes, and those who shared their stories and exchanged conversation and smiles and kind words that we think of when we think of the bottom line for OAR. The adventures they have shared with us, their cute little ones who come in looking for a sticker and candy cane or who walk around the store with a set of adult size goggles around their neck. The dads who walk in on Saturdays with their passel of young adventurers, the high school kids who drool over snowboards. The tall guy who comes in once a week just in case he finds something he can't live without. The guy who tells us that the military sleeping bag worked out awesome and the guy who LOVES the butt ugly down vest he got at the store and takes it out for every hunt. The young guy who traded his motor cross boots for waders and walked out excited to go fishing, and the young boy who talked his grandfather into buying that small military pack in the back room because he loves all things military. So many people. So many stories. So many adventurers. So many smiling faces. THAT is the real adventure at OAR and we love doing what we do BECAUSE of those great people.
So...................a few months after opening the store the home out the South Fork that we had missed out on a month earlier came on the market again. This time we got it. All the stuff that we had transported one box at a time up to the storage unit on the Meeteetse Highway had to be moved one last time. When it was all said and done we had boxes everywhere - all over the house and all over the metal shop on the property. Chaos again. But this time it was our home. OUR home. The store was already up and running and instead of feeling overwhelmed this time I looked at LC and smiled. "I don't even know where the can opener is. LET'S GO TO THE LAKE!!" I was working six days a week. Summer was short. Winter was long. We had all the time in the world to find the can opener.....................
In the coming year we will become a member of the Chamber of Commerce. We have a couple of events and special things in the works right now (more info to follow as it gets closer to the time). We will continue to work hard, continue to learn from our mistakes, continue to build our business into something strong and increasingly viable, and we will always be on the lookout for great outdoor gear and clothing to offer at OAR. More than anything else, we look forward to seeing all of you in 2019. We thank you ALL for your support. We could not do what we do without all of you, and we never forget that.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
At the same time (still in the dead of winter in early Jan) we were driving down Big Horn Ave one day, saw a huge FOR RENT sign in a store front across from the Maverick, took a look at it, talked to the building owner, and realized that this small retail space was doable both square footage wise and financially wise. But we couldn't commit to it. We had no idea at that time exactly where we were going to end up.
A week later we found a store front on the main street in Powell - same deal - big enough and priced right that we could afford it. And we could not commit to THAT retail space either because we still did not know for certain where we would call home. We continued to see homes - after eventually discounting Big Horn County we focused on points all over Park County, and as time went by we were slowly coming to the realization that buying a home may not be in the cards for us. Every time we drove by Colter Bay Computers on Big Horn Ave we glanced over to see if the FOR RENT sign was still in the window. It was.
By mid-February we had moved into a small rental house in town. When we finally went to see a home for sale in Powell that (on paper) seemed to fit all the criteria we were looking for in a house and we couldn't pull the trigger on it, we both looked at each other and made the decision that Cody was where we really wanted to be, we didn't want to compromise on that, and if we had to rent for the rest of our lives because we couldn't afford to buy............then we would just rent for the rest of our lives. With that decision made we headed to Colter Bay and committed to the retail space we had found six weeks earlier. We had a store front for OAR and we had a rental house that we could likely live in for as long as we wanted. For the first time since we have moved back to Cody in late September of 2017, we felt a little settled. Some important details had been secured.
A month later we were back from a quick turn-around trip to Idaho to get all of our belongings that we had left in storage. By the time it was all unloaded both rooms of the store were completely filled with boxes stacked five feet high. The small rental house was so full of boxes that we looked like hoarders - boxes stacked 8 feet high in every room with only narrow aisles to get through. Half the stuff at the store belonged at the house. Half the stuff at the house belonged at the store. Our small on-sight storage unit was full of stuff, our vehicles were full of stuff, our old fishing boat was full of stuff, we had no room to move at either the house or the store, and I just wanted to cry. To say the least it was overwhelming.
The next month was consumed with getting organized. We had to make our rental house safe and livable, so we rented a large storage unit on the Meeteetse Highway and ferried stuff up there. We were paying rent for the store space so we had to get that space organized and get the place open, and I randomly picked April 18 as opening day. That month was nothing but endless trips up to the storage unit, opening endless boxes, sorting endless boxes, cleaning and pricing and marketing and...................and a blur of activity.
OAR opened on April 18, 2018, so we have now been up and running for just over 8 months. And it's gone pretty well. Over the past 8 months we:
* Have exceeded our anticipated sales numbers by a good margin. We put that first because if the money is not there, then nothing else matters and OAR is just living on borrowed time. We gave ourselves one year to try and make OAR work. If it didn't look promising we would have to shut it down. After 8 months we are excited and gratified every day that this idea of a "used outdoor gear store on a budget" just may work. It's never a done deal but at least right now, it looks promising that we will be here for the long haul.
* Held a number of special events including a Grand Opening, Safety Seminar, and Women Welcoming Winter Open House
* Offered a number of sales including during our Grand Opening, National Police Week, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Black Friday/Small Business Saturday
* Donated 4 back packs, 5 jackets, 5 pairs of boots, 5 pairs of pants, 1 pair of waders, one stool/backpack combo and one pair of hiking shoes to people in our local community
* Donated a new Cabelas hoodie and new set of camp cookware to a Criminal Justice Program fund raiser at Northwest College, and made a financial donation to CASA.
* Gave the following prizes to community members during our Grand Opening and Women Welcoming Winter special events - 2 hunting day packs, 1 picnic backpack, 1 collectible cowboy plate, a fleece throw, 2 buffs, 1 pair of bicycle socks, 1 Kelty day pack, two clutch water bottles
* Held a small competition on our OAR FB page, resulting in two ladies winning two great sleeping bags
* Accepted the very generous offer from a local professional photographer, found some wonderful volunteers and had some great pictures taken of local adventurers wearing and using OAR gear.
* Made the mistake of loaning two brand new pairs of hiking boots to young ladies who were bicycling across the nation. The boots were brought back in a condition that made them unusable and unsellable. We ended up throwing them away and writing them off. An unfortunate lesson learned.
* Other lessons learned - confirm current value of gear rather than accepting someone's word, check gear over VERY carefully before accepting it, and it's OK to say "no thank you" sometimes.
* Had one theft in the store this year, which we guess isn't too bad.
* Kicked one person out of the store for abusive and threatening language, and filed one police report for the same incident
* Posted hundreds of pictures, found untold amounts of gear, and spent indecent amounts of time cleaning gear. Changed the store over three times in 8 months (summer, hunting and winter season). Often had clothing hanging in every closet in the house, gear covering the dining room table, and random boxes of gear taking up corners in the spare bedroom. It's been a crazy 8 months of awesome gear in and awesome gear out. SO much fun!
* Met so many wonderful people. And at the end of the day it is the people we have met that have made this store so compelling for us. Gear is just gear. It's just stuff. It is the PEOPLE - those who buy, who trade, who consign, who rummage through boxes, and those who shared their stories and exchanged conversation and smiles and kind words that we think of when we think of the bottom line for OAR. The adventures they have shared with us, their cute little ones who come in looking for a sticker and candy cane or who walk around the store with a set of adult size goggles around their neck. The dads who walk in on Saturdays with their passel of young adventurers, the high school kids who drool over snowboards. The tall guy who comes in once a week just in case he finds something he can't live without. The guy who tells us that the military sleeping bag worked out awesome and the guy who LOVES the butt ugly down vest he got at the store and takes it out for every hunt. The young guy who traded his motor cross boots for waders and walked out excited to go fishing, and the young boy who talked his grandfather into buying that small military pack in the back room because he loves all things military. So many people. So many stories. So many adventurers. So many smiling faces. THAT is the real adventure at OAR and we love doing what we do BECAUSE of those great people.
So...................a few months after opening the store the home out the South Fork that we had missed out on a month earlier came on the market again. This time we got it. All the stuff that we had transported one box at a time up to the storage unit on the Meeteetse Highway had to be moved one last time. When it was all said and done we had boxes everywhere - all over the house and all over the metal shop on the property. Chaos again. But this time it was our home. OUR home. The store was already up and running and instead of feeling overwhelmed this time I looked at LC and smiled. "I don't even know where the can opener is. LET'S GO TO THE LAKE!!" I was working six days a week. Summer was short. Winter was long. We had all the time in the world to find the can opener.....................
In the coming year we will become a member of the Chamber of Commerce. We have a couple of events and special things in the works right now (more info to follow as it gets closer to the time). We will continue to work hard, continue to learn from our mistakes, continue to build our business into something strong and increasingly viable, and we will always be on the lookout for great outdoor gear and clothing to offer at OAR. More than anything else, we look forward to seeing all of you in 2019. We thank you ALL for your support. We could not do what we do without all of you, and we never forget that.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!