Rich Hill

We’ve heard the storyline countless times throughout the pandemic: Outdoor sales have been a bright spot as people seek refuge outside. And while this dominant refrain is largely true, the real story for independent shops is more nuanced. “You can’t paint all retailers with the ...read more

When we announced the launch of The Big Gear Show (BGS) in December 2019, we had an inkling that it signaled a shift in the greater outdoor trade show landscape by offering a hardgoods-centric show that directly competes with what is widely accepted as the Goliath: Outdoor ...read more

In this edition of Straight Talk, Editor-in-Chief Kristin Hostetter sits down for a free-wheeling conversation with Rich Hill, president of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance.  Hill, known as one of the straightest shooters in the outdoor industry, gives us insights on which outdoor ...read more

After months of closures that spelled disaster for some and extreme hardship for many others, retailers both small and large have started reopening across the nation as states lift the stay-at-home mandates that have kept them closed. The results so far, according to multiple ...read more

Grassroots Outdoor Alliance’s Connect Show will not go on as planned this spring, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The show was scheduled to go down June 12-15 in Knoxville, Tennessee, one week ahead of Outdoor Retailer, which has not yet announced a cancellation. Should Outdoor ...read more

Dear friends and colleagues, As we enter an uncertain period for our families, businesses, and country, I first want to express concern for your safety and health. There’s nothing more important at the moment, and while we go forward with our mission to inform, educate, and ...read more

As Covid-19 infections continue to mushroom, causing unprecedented border and business closings as well as event cancelations globally, virtual events are getting a more serious look than ever before. Read all the latest outdoor industry coronavirus news here. Currently, the ...read more

Black Friday was a success for Salida Mountain Sports, but not because they lured customers in with steep discounts. Prices stayed steady, and if the Colorado store missed some sales because they weren’t discounting, store owner Nate Porter said so be it. Small specialty outdoor ...read more

Grassroots Outdoor Alliance Connect show went down as planned over the weekend, despite the cancellation of Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, which was to be held in the days following Connect. Connect is a critical microcosm and bellwether of the outdoor industry, and SNEWS was ...read more

Despite Outdoor Retailer canceling its November trade show, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance will return to Denver for its national buying event. The Grassroots Connect show will be held from Nov. 1 to 5 in the ground floor ballrooms of the Colorado Convention Center—the same setting ...read more

Projects on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and other crowdfunding sites will come to life next month in a new startup showcase in Boulder's Neptune Mountaineering. The NeptuneLAB is the latest experiential concept for the iconic gear shop. Owners Shelley and Andrew Dunbar collaborated ...read more

After rumblings of an uncertain future, Denali announced last Tuesday that its closing all seven locations. A "going out of business" sale at the Old Saybrook location signals the store's end. More than 25 years ago, the first store opened as Trailblazer in New Haven and grew to ...read more

The Grassroots Outdoor Alliance worked hard and played hard at this year’s 25th anniversary show in Knoxville, Tennessee. On the first night, during a festive and nostalgic happy hour, dinner, and awards ceremony, members, staff, and special invited guests of the Alliance ...read more

President Rich Hill kicked off the evening by explaining the Grassroots History Project, which was started a few years back to trace the arc of the group’s growth as a powerful collaboration of retailers and brands. Through hundreds of hours of interviews with members—both from ...read more

At the end of any given trade show, outdoor retailers are left with stacks and stacks of paper catalogues from various brands. They have to make the choice to either ship them home to their store, pack them in their luggage, or toss them out.  "The carbon footprint gets to be ...read more

If it’s not a big-box store and it’s not an independent specialty retailer, then what exactly is it? REI Co-op defies easy definition. It’s a builder of brands and a risk to them. It competes with smaller shops around the country while throwing its weight around to protect ...read more

Walmart was going to disrupt the outdoors. It was late August, 2018, a year and a half after the retail leviathan purchased the online outdoor retailer Moosejaw for a reported $51 million. Walmart was ready to put its investment to work. Walmart, as everyone knows, is the ...read more

This year, SNEWS is celebrating 35 years of covering the outdoor industry, from in-depth dives into important trends and issues to its daily happenings. We're also launching a brand new, radically different trade journal, and it drops on Jan. 30, 2019. The talented filmmakers at ...read more

Rich Hill, president of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance is fired up. Anonymous 3P sellers on marketplaces – especially Amazon – are the single-biggest threat to the health of the specialty outdoor industry ecosystem in 2019, he told his members at the Grassroots Connect Show in ...read more

Farm to Feet, KAVU, Rab, and Sierra Designs have joined Grassroots Outdoor Alliance's national vendor network, the group announced today. “Within Rab, we talk about surrounding ourselves with kindred spirits – those who relish the experience of a gritty and memorable mountain ...read more

YETI Coolers is taking to Wall Street for the second time. The Texas-based maker of luxury coolers filed an IPO last week, just seven months after it withdrew its first filing with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). Despite facing a number of challenges this ...read more

Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at snewsedit@aimmedia.com In honor of the climber who died last year in an avalanche on Imp Peak, Mystery Ranch established the Inge Perkins Scholarship to celebrate the life and ...read more

As owners of local independent outdoor businesses and members of the national outdoor community, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance is committed to achieving the health and growth of the specialty outdoor industry by pursuing the high road of retail excellence. For more than 30 years, ...read more

It’s safe to say American shoppers don’t go to Walmart looking for top-of-the line backpacks, winter expedition apparel, and mountaineering gear. But the big box discounter challenged that assumption with the launch of a premium outdoor store last week. “When’s the last time you ...read more