Kathmandu best stories

most gear you used to buy in NZ several decades ago was made in NZ by companies running small operations by international standards. now you have major NZ companies getting their own branded gear made in massive factories in asia that are only making that companies gear part time because they have so much capacity they can make gear for one or more major international brands as well... the scale of economy is at a completely different level and the wages they pay are a lot lower. and the brands are cutting out the middle man distributor in selling in their own branded stores, or they may be importing other brands themselves... a complaint of independant retailers is that they have to pay so much money to the distributors who have a monopoly on various brands, so they dont have much of a choice about price if they want to sell specific quality brands... and younger technology savy people know where to shop to find the cheapest products online and how to get around any export restrictions in overseas companies.. and to get enough foot traffic to do enough business the stores often need to have shops in areas where the shop rentals are very high and people who will buy at the shops who will pay the higher asking price usually shop in expensive shopping areas... tramping shops are more likely to be in areas frequented by white collar workers, and hunting shops in areas frequented by blue collar workers. if you think there are a lot of sales in the physical shops, have a look online, there are websites specialising in sales of sporting gear and pointing you at which companies are having sales at any particular time,, if you are on a budget then the temptation to shop online is big. my buying is split, if i dont know how an item will fit i'll go into a shop and if i like it and i can afford it i'll buy from the shop.. if from experience with owning a brand already , i know how it will fit i'll have a look online and see if i can get it online if the price is an issue... often i'm buying items online that i cant get here even though the brand is sold here, i have to bypass export restrictions to get it, which is stupid because i'm making a purchase that i would never have made locally because the product wasnt available here and i am fussy about the items i want and i'm very specific in what i'm looking for.... NZ often has a limited range of products from any one brand, shops will stock what they sell most of and its not worth their while to stock a big range of any one brand if they are an independant retailer...

"i think independant shops sold themselves short, they could have set themselves up as advisory services online or hold in store talks to help out new trampers with information and encourage them to shop at that store and establish brand loyalty" I don't know if that's really fair. When I think back to days when independent retailers were actually a thing (and they're literally non-existent now in many NZ major centres), I often remember them doing their best to get involved in heaps of community stuff, and everyone knows or knew about the great expertise. I think they've simply been undersold. When it comes down to it customers prefer low prices and more variety of choice. The information age has opened up substantial competition of price and variety from businesses operating at much bigger scale, which simply can't be mimiced in a small isolated shop that has limits on how much it can stock, and they can't compete. I suppose scale and population density has something to do with it, too. From my time in Melbourne relatively recently I could name no less than 12 outdoor shops all nearby each other, and competing with each other, in the CBD -- mostly around Little Bourke Street or very close. (Pinnacle Outdoors, Bogong, Paddy Pallin, Mountain Designs, Columbia, Snowgum, Macpac, Backpacking Light, Kathmandu, North Face, Aussie Disposals, Mitchells Adventure). That includes several independents or smallish chains that didn't brand their own gear, and all of which seemed to be doing okay at the time.

Mountain Designs, Columbia, Snowgum all tried selling locally in NZ and all shut up shop due to the competition which proved to be more than they realised. I read somewhere that some aussie companies that come to NZ dont do their homework and the market here turns out to be more competitive than they expect. It's hard to get the saturation of shops that Kathmandu have, they are in any town thats a reasonable size in NZ. other brands have also stopped distributing to NZ, like Berghaus, Mountain Hardwear, and Patagonia have a limited presence if any now... I think more information could be posted around stores giving information about various materials used in products to help people understand what they are looking at, often theres a divorce between the staff, and customers, staff may offer help and a customer doesn't want to talk to a staff member they just want to look at clothing and buy what catches their eye, the staff member cant be pushy. the client may walk out of the shop with a less than ideal item because they never found out about the specifics of the material in an item they bought and dont understand its pluses and minuses and limitations, i see people using softshell and down jackets and windbreakers as raincoats because they think any woven synthetic fabric is waterproof because it looks like any waterproof rainshell on the outside, not realising the woven fabric isnt waterproof at all , and they arent all treated with a membrane to make them waterproof.... or they get some ultralightweight piece of gear like a shelter, not realising its limitations in bad weather, compared to a more substantial shelter like a hooped two layer tent with aviation standard alloy poles made to stand up to storm conditions. the amount of different designs in shops now is often vast and complicated... people might be swayed to buying something because its lighter, more compact, or looks better than something that is actually better suited to teh purpose they want it for, the old long raincoat and fleece may seem so last century and its time to get something else, but they are still hard to beat in bad weather and offer a lot of flexibility in how you can combine them in different weather conditions....

My experience with shop staff, is by the time I have entered the store I typically know more about the item and materials than them. The internet simply provides a lot more information than even the most experienced staff member could remember. Plus they have to remember about several hundred products, while I all clued up on just one. Sometimes I just browse and listen to them advise other customers... The truly experienced and knowledgeable ones do stand out. The ones who are just repeating the marketing also stand out. most are somewhere in between. When I want to buy new gear, what I normally do is spend several weeks (sometimes longer) online researching and comparing items. Next time I am in a city I go around all of the retail stores checking to see what they have in stock, trying on and getting a general idea on what the item is like. I also check any clearance racks...that is where I do most of my impulse buying. Then I normally go home, and rest on it for a few days or weeks. If I decide I truly need the item I would head back in when the store is having a sale. More often than not, I end up not buying anything. I am very tech savy, and grew up with online shopping, but still buy the vast bulk of my tramping gear from physical stores.

read ndependant gear reviews and dont believe everything manufacturers say about their products like gore tex's "guaranteed to keep you dry"

Years ago we had a popular store in Christchurch called 'Mainland Outdoors'. The owner was well liked and what helped was that he would host events and meetings there. I was in Women Climbing and about 20 of us would meet there monthly, right in the shop amongst the gear. There weren't any staff there but we were trusted. This made us loyal. Another shop had not particularly friendly and sometimes opinionated staff. The worst thing for me is being patronised (I'm a middle-aged woman). I usually mention something in context to give them an idea of my mileage. This hasn't happened for ages - either the staff have got better or I'm buying gear that doesn't need a lot of consideration!

some bike shops double as cafe's

Not sure one should value 'independent' reviews either, wayno - even if really independent, the experience profile of the reviewer is fundamental. Eg - I'd recommend Yamaha as really good audio hardware (but that's just about all I've owned). BTW, apostrophe not needed for cafes it's just a plural :) Militaris, you (and me) are not the norm - you're analytical, most people are not. That said (that I usually research a purchase to death) I wandered into Anaconda recently and walked out with a full zip polar fleece jacket (to replace a 7yo op shop jacket) - A$30 on special. To be fair to shops and staff, many customers seek detailed advice and sizing in shop then buy online for a cheaper price. This is why more outlets are limiting their range to house brands.

if you have any intelligence you can sift out the shallow bad reviews from the good ones and there are plenty of good in depth reviews around. I"ve been colating good reviews for years through my facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/121085468026112/