Outdoor Gear Exchange plans to open a new storefront in Essex on Nov. 3 in what co-owner Marc Sherman called a “reimagining of our retail footprint.”
The new outpost at the Essex Experience marks a shift in strategy for a business that has been an anchor of downtown Burlington — and a fixture of the Church Street Marketplace. It expects to reduce the size of its retail space in Burlington to operate on one floor instead of two. That “compression,” as Sherman described it in an interview with VTDigger on Wednesday, is expected to occur in early 2024.
While Sherman said the Burlington flagship store would remain open, he also said that sales have been down. He pointed to the loss of downtown office workers as a big driver of change in the retail landscape.
“It’s a broader issue that’s impacting Burlington and other similar cities regarding how shopping habits have changed through the pandemic and also how office occupation habits have changed due to the pandemic,” he said.
Sherman also cited years of delays at the adjacent CityPlace development, which had been expected to revitalize Burlington’s downtown but has instead left a gaping chasm in the middle of the former Burlington Town Center shopping mall.
“There’s no question that the delay in its starting has been more impactful than the current work on it,” he said. While he said recent construction has been good to see, “during the time that it’s been gone, there’s been obviously a reduction in the presence of the mall and the draw that that had.”
The new storefront, described by Sherman as an “augmentation,” will include 5,000 square-feet of retail space in the Essex Experience shopping center, a previously underused outlet center now remade to host an increasing number of businesses.
Sherman said current Outdoor Gear Exchange employees will staff the Essex storefront. He said he isn’t sure how he’ll stock the new store but doesn’t want to simply replicate the Burlington operation.
“We want to re-envision what we’re doing to be more effective at it and be more responsive to the changing shopping patterns of Chittenden County,” Sherman said. “Our customers aren’t coming to us. We need to go to them.”
Outdoor Gear Exchange also operates a robust online sales platform.
Kelly Devine, executive director of the Burlington Business Association, said Wednesday that she has had multiple conversations with Sherman about his plans and called the store a “huge attraction” for the city’s downtown.
“I can’t help but feel distress over the idea that we could potentially lose them,” Devine said, expressing concern for the future of downtown.
“I know of at least five different businesses — retail and restaurant — that are talking about leaving, and they don’t own a building, so they have a lot more flexibility,” Devine said.
Devine said she has heard from other area businesses that foot traffic and sales are down.
Mark Bouchette, owner of Homeport and chair of the Church Street Marketplace District Commission, agreed.
“There’s no question that the traffic patterns have changed downtown, and in particular, after six o’clock,” he said. Homeport had to change its hours to close at 6 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., for two reasons, he said. “One being the perception of safety on the street after that hour, and, two, we’re in a tight, tight labor market.”
Kara Alnasrawi, director of business and workforce development for the City of Burlington, said a recent report commissioned by her department studied cellphone data to show that foot traffic on the Church Street Marketplace had rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
“But we do also understand that retailers are under pressure with rising labor costs as well as inflation,” Alnasrawi said.
Alnasrawi said she shares concerns voiced by some downtown business owners about the downtown’s changes following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I believe there was an initial thinking in our society that work-from-home would be a temporary situation. It is now becoming more of a reality,” she said.
One solution, she said, would be to shift vacant office space to residential areas, a scenario she called a “win-win.”
As for a solution to the reduction of sales downtown, Sherman said, “if local retail is important to people in Vermont … now is the time for them to speak with their purchases.”
