A Cautionary Tale

Here in Northeast Ohio there aren't too many options for you if you need a one stop shop for stuff. And by stuff I mean camping and hiking stuff. Close to me there is pretty much just Dick's Sporting Goods. And although the store at Legacy Village is nice (it used to be a different outfitter) you still pretty much get stuck with after school job kids; not really experts in anything. I was thinking about my lack of choices as I was driving around at work today. There was a store that I couldn't remember the name of, even though I spent A LOT of time and money there. And then, today at work, it just hit me: Newman Outfitters! And like many things that you can't really remember and then do, everything about the store came back in a flood. The rain box for testing a rain shell; the climbing wall; the huge indoor pool for testing kayaks. It almost made me cry thinking about what I had lost. Well, about what Northeast Ohio had lost. It also made me wish I knew something about running a business so I could open up a store just like it. Newman Outfitters was that kind of place. I used to think that the coolest thing about the store was that all of the employees looked like they had just gotten in from outdoors. They all wore fleece (even in the summer) and dirty hiking boots. I've been to two REI's (the Seattle store is unbelievable!) and Newman Outfitters made me feel the same way. My point, finally, is this: Enjoy your local store. Every bit of it. Go to the sales events, talk to the employees, buy stuff there even if it costs more. Otherwise you might end up without a Newman Outfitters of your own.