A competitive retail market claimed its latest victim this week with the closing of Mountain Miser, an Englewood gear shop that has served outdoor athletes for 27 years.
“Mountain Miser is gone. We have closed the doors for good,” said owner David Goodman, who as a 25-year-old salesman and avid outdoorsman bought the store a decade ago.
The store at 209 W. Hampden Ave. faced pressure from online sellers, industry consolidation and giant competitors such as REI and Sports Authority.
Mountain Miser boasted loyal customers lured by Goodman’s handpicked collection of niche brands, technologically innovative gear and high-end toys sold by a staff with intimate knowledge of outdoor play.
But a faithful clientele could carry the business only so far, especially when boutique outfits online and big-box stores sold the same gear at cut-rate prices.
“Everybody would come to me to get the information they need, then they would go buy somewhere else,” Goodman said.
That’s a trend haunting retailers, said Larry Weindruch, spokesman for the National Sporting Goods Association in Illinois.
“A lot of people now are shopping in the store and then buying online and elsewhere,” Weindruch said.
Weindruch’s association interprets U.S. Department of Commerce data gathered every five years. In 1996, there were 16,966 smaller specialty stores like Mountain Miser in the U.S. In 2002, as big-box stores proliferated and online retail soared, the number dropped to 15,341.
It’s not yet known how Mountain Miser will liquidate its inventory, which is owned by a lien holder.
Goodman spent several months seeking a potential buyer. But when deals crumbled, closing became the best option, he said. With strong competition from REI, Sports Authority and Dick’s Sporting Goods, Mountain Miser was forced to continually drop prices, Goodman said.
For a $1,000 sale, he was “lucky” to keep $50, he said.
“I just got Wal-Marted out, especially when the outdoor Wal- Marts started carrying the smaller niche stuff that once made us exclusive,” Goodman said. “I don’t know the answer. I do know I’m going to let somebody else figure it out.”
Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
