Outdoor Retailer’s Big Shake-Up: Instant Reaction!
- colin7931
- Oct 3
- 34 min read
In this instant reaction episode of The Rock Fight, Colin and Eoin Comerford break down the breaking news about Outdoor Retailer’s big shake-up. After years of controversy, shrinking attendance, and competition from upstart shows like Switchback, OR has announced a dramatic reset.
Colin and Eoin debate whether these changes are enough to reestablish OR as the national gathering for the outdoor industry, or whether the momentum has permanently shifted away from the iconic show.
Guests Sunny Stroeer and Lindsay Hubley (Emerald Expositions) join to explain the vision behind these moves, why Minneapolis won out, and how they plan to attract retailers, brands, and groups like the OIA and Conservation Alliance back into the fold.
Topics Covered:
Why August makes strategic sense for buyers and brands
The role of emerging brands in reviving OR’s relevance
How nonprofits and advocacy groups could bring back OR’s “soul”
Whether lifestyle and run trends are a blind spot for the show
What success in Minneapolis would look like
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Episode Transcript:
Ibex!
00:00:01.600 - 00:00:48.850
This just in. Breaking News from the Rock Fight Rumors are swirling about a merger between two outdoor footwear titans.
While news blackout protocols are in effect, we are unable to name brands involved in the transaction. However, this hasn't stopped wild speculation from populating LinkedIn that a monster RE release is in the works.
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Placing the new shoe has reportedly been difficult as floor models consistently eat their smaller trail ridding neighbors, with some Jungle Crocs even taking down the occasional 10 inch logger boot or small child who's touching things they were told not to.
Colin True
00:00:49.730 - 00:02:49.200
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And that's not a Croc
welcome to the Rock Fight where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head. I'm Colin True and today is our instant reaction to some big changes coming to Outdoor Retailer.
Will there be a lifeline for this iconic show? Maybe a last gasp? We're going to dig into it, but first some programming reminders.
We never want you to miss an episode of the Rock Fight so please click follow on the podcast app you are using right now. Come back on Monday for the Monday Boys of Owen Comerford and producer Dave as we dig into headlines that come out of the outdoor industry.
On Tuesdays you get Open Container featuring host Doug Schnitzbahn and then on Thursday you get an all new episode of Gear Abbey with host Shantae Celebrity God. There's a lot of good stuff here on the Rock Fight Podcast network. Make sure you're following all of it.
Make sure you're emailing us for the Rock Fight.
You can send it into myrockfightmail.com if you want to send Gear Abby a question, you send it to DearGearAbbyMail.com and lastly, if you want more from the Rock Fight head to rockflight Co and sign up for News from the Front, our semi weekly newsletter. And you can also head over to Instagram where you can find us as RockfightCo so you can follow along, see video clips from our episodes.
All right, this is recording this on the 2nd of October. This is gonna go out on Friday the 3rd. The consigliere is back. You almost made it a week without being on the show.
Eoin Comerford
00:02:49.600 - 00:02:55.999
Yes, I was actually out of town for almost a week between the guys trip and the Michigan Outdoor Summit.
Colin True
00:02:55.999 - 00:03:02.760
Yeah, we made sure we noted that you were playing golf, which was very outdoorsy on Monday's episode. Very outdoorsy.
Eoin Comerford
00:03:02.760 - 00:03:24.280
Hey, it happens outdoors, okay? It's like a hike basically, kind of. And I was wearing outdoor apparel. You know, I had my lives in shorts on. It was lovely weather.
I even had a Fjallraven insulated vest because a little chilly in the early morning. So I was fully outdoorsy.
Colin True
00:03:24.760 - 00:05:30.600
All right, well, where we are dropping this sort of instant reaction slash emergency podcast because the news broke yesterday that outdoor retailer making some changes to their event, most notably moving to Minneapolis and back to August.
You know, longtime listeners of the rock fight will know that the timing, especially of outdoor events has been a hot button topic with everyone wants to say they want it in August, but obviously that's not a consensus because they continue to happen a lot in June.
But big news, I mean the show has historically been was started in Reno, was in Salt Lake, moved to Denver with a lot of political controversy, moved back to Salt Lake with a lot of controversy because people didn't want it to move back to Salt Lake.
Had one, I'm not going to say it was a comeback year, but had sort of a promising addition in 2024 and then by all accounts this past summer in 2025 was, was a tough show for them. And I think there was definitely some speculation in the industry of was this it was this the end of outdoor retailer?
And it seems that Emerald Exposition, the publicly traded company who owns outdoor retailer, is stepping in to say, nope, we're definitely still going forward here by making some pretty big changes.
Top line in the press release that came out yesterday, there's the formation of what they're calling the leadership Village, which is a gathering of fol to the show that includes Dana Carraway, who is the principal at Carraway & Company, an independent sales agency Sasha de Julian, a well known climber Peter Sachs, just retiring from Lowa boots and Mike Massey, the founder of Locally and then led by Sonny Strower, a outdoor athlete and adventurer who's also married to Paul Gagner, who is also going to be on the board. So we're actually going to bring in.
We had a conversation, we just wrapped it up with Sonny and Lindsay Hubley who's the senior vice president of Emerald Exp Expedition Sports and Outdoor Division or I'm not surprised to see these moves. If they're going to keep trying to go for it, they need to differentiate somehow. Right. We had a good experience at Switchback.
It feels like the momentum and the tailwinds are with Switchback at this point. If you compare the two shows. So some sort of action was required. Where are you with or kind of leading into this news?
Eoin Comerford
00:05:30.600 - 00:06:52.380
Owen, the moves are I think smart moves personally. I think the move to August was needed just to differentiate themselves. As a. A lot of conversation about the fact that June is.
There's just too much going on in June, like especially actually out of the Goa dealers because they'll just been to Connect and you know, they really don't want to probably go to another show. They want to. They're placing most of their orders at Goa Connect.
They want time to get that order book figured out and then the show in August makes sense because now it gives them time to have more of a strategic view of their buy and maybe where they could add in new brands or having strategic conversations about what it means for the business at an August show. So I think that makes a ton of sense. I think moving to Minneapolis makes a ton of sense.
Minneapolis, after the whole Denver and Salt Lake City back and forth deal, Minneapolis is kind of Switzerland a little bit. It's that Midwestern not going to piss anybody off kind of a choice.
But it's also outdoorsy and certainly more outdoorsy than New Orleans, which is where Switchback is going. So I think from all those perspectives the moves make sense.
Will they be enough to reignite or and to bring back the retailers and bring back the brands, you know, tbd.
Colin True
00:06:52.540 - 00:08:14.800
Yeah. I think as I look at what they're doing here and I think some of this is listen, they had a lot to cram into a press release.
They want to kind of prove that they're still a player here so that they're doing a lot of different initiatives.
The show they list kind of all these different highlights that they're going to have at the show like something called Ascend Camp, Forward Campfire, Outdoor Lab. They're going to do their industry day. All of this stuff.
You know, I think it comes back to as you and I have talked about, I'm sure a million times that, you know, what, what's the value for the key people you want to attend? And if you keep.
People you want to attend are buyers and brands, you know, a lot of what they're mentioning in the press release, you know, that's, it's nice to have, right? It's like it's more about if you want to come here to get work done and kind of meet folks that's going to help your business.
Like that's first and foremost.
And then all this other stuff can be, can be meaningful, but it doesn't necessarily open the door to that if, if you're already committed to going somewhere else kind of.
Also at the end of the press release, you talk about our friend Lloyd Vogel from Garage Growing Gear, who is in Minnesota, going to be playing sort of a key role with these guys.
And I think if the, and this is what we've always said about outdoor retailer, if these sort of emerging brand, new brand, small cottage industry brands, the Garage Growing Gear style brand can lead the charge here, that makes a really interesting, you know, proposition for buyers and even other brands to show up, right? Because you're, you're going to drive that like, hey, these are the folks.
You're not going to see it switchback and you're not going to see it go away. They're here and why don't you come in August and see them?
Eoin Comerford
00:08:15.120 - 00:09:17.920
And that and the timing from a buying perspective works for those brands because, you know, people aren't, you know, they're ETFs. Right, exactly. They're not going to be 10% of a retailer's buy. They're going to be trying them out, right.
And so they're still going to have room in their budgets to, in their, in their open device to make those purchases. So I think that makes a ton of sense.
And you know, and again, going back to what the or of old was, you know, as a retailer myself, I went there for two reasons. One is top to top meetings with the brands to talk strategy. We already had bought, right?
We had already bought the brand a month or two before and now it was about, okay, here's the buy. Now how do we actually sell through that buy? So that's a key part.
And obviously getting those, getting those leading brands or the key executives of those leading brands to attend is needed to make that happen. But then the other piece was new brand discovery, right?
And so if that can be a cornerstone of this show, that would be, I think, a major differentiator.
Colin True
00:09:17.920 - 00:11:00.340
Unless somebody like a switchback also offers something like that as well. I think that. Which is, you know, we don't know. We've not heard what they're going to do. I think that's sort of the.
The thing that also gives me pause in sort of. And anybody. This isn't a. This is not a plug for Switchback or anybody. Like, there's a lot of options out there to do a lot of different things.
It used to the reason Outdoor Retailer got so big is because, hey, it started as a buying show and evolved into this other thing. Right. Which became athletes and nonprofits and just the gathering of the tribe and parties and everything else.
And then eventually everyone kind of realized, whether because of the, you know, the political discourse or Covid or whatever, it was like, wow, there's a lot of different ways to do a lot of those things. We don't all have to get on an airplane and go to Salt Lake City twice a year. And I think that's kind of why we find ourselves in this position.
I think that the folks who realize that and kind of work with that the best are the ones who are going to pull ahead. I mean, I think that is an advantage at Swift Back has, is that they are also were born out of the running event.
And as we talk about a lot, running has a lot of momentum right now. So that's a big resource for them to lean into if they want to kind of bring that.
That sensibility to the outdoors also, you know, and I know it's not fully formed and it's probably early days, but I spoke with Darren Josey last week about, you know, all the economy conferences that are going on. Yeah, that's not something that really is a competitive thing right now for what these shows are doing.
But as more and more states adopt Orex and those sort of people realize that, like, oh, I'm not really going to these shows to buy anyway.
I can go and have interesting meetings not only with business representatives, but also politicians and conservation folks at these things in my own state. Maybe that becomes another distraction for the stakeholders of these shows to show up at. So I think it's always going to continue to be challenging.
It's just always going to come down to is it enough to bring people in and pull them away either from other shows or bring them out of the woodwork to show up at your show? It's ultimately what it's going to come down to.
Eoin Comerford
00:11:00.500 - 00:11:54.250
The key thing is the national aspect. Right. We already have regional buying shows. Right. The OREC stuff is almost by its nature a regional approach.
And to this point, hasn't really engaged the business community terribly well. So from that perspective, I think that's a little bit of an apples and oranges thing. The question is really the national show. And for.
Or to be successful, it has to become that, once again, the national gathering, the national show. And obviously, I think Switchback had a good first show. I think that was fine, good first show. But, you know, now what's next? Right.
And I think that's the big question. There's still an opening, I think, for that if or can be that show.
Colin True
00:11:54.570 - 00:12:10.900
So we're about to get into our conversation with Lindsey and Sunny. Any sort of predictions or feelings after we had that conversation.
Anything that, you know, you're thinking today, like, man, they got a shot, or, well, we're going to have to wait and see not to kind of go vanilla with it. I'm kind of in wait and see. Camp is where I'm at, probably.
Eoin Comerford
00:12:10.980 - 00:12:55.920
Oh, yeah. I think at this stage in the game, again, a lot of the moves that they're making, I think make a ton of sense.
It now just comes down to, okay, what does that actually look like? What can the leadership Village do in terms of fashioning this into something that's truly differentiated and attractive to buyers and brands? Right.
I mean, that's really the core of it. And if they. And if they can manage that, then they'll be successful. But I think it's not going to be easy, certainly.
But I certainly wish them all the best and hope that we can continue to come together as an industry.
Colin True
00:12:56.720 - 00:13:55.150
So spoilers for the conversation, because I asked him about this in the conversation about reaching out to the oia.
One thing I said in this conversation, you guys are going to hear me say it, is that speaking to brands that Switchback, there was a lot of loyalty to where the OIA showed up. And there were plenty of brands that we spoke to who came to Switchback because they're like, well, let's see where the OIA is going to be.
So we're going to go there and you'll hear Lindsey mention that they're talking to the oia. That's something that may be on the table for outdoor retailer. I guess we'll find out.
If that's not, then a guy like the Lloyd Vogel emerging market is the best hope.
I would say that's where you really need to hang your hat because I don't know if you're going to get a real strong presence of the more traditional outdoor brands to come back without the oia. So the real thing. And again, this is what you and I have been saying for a long time.
Those emerging new brands are really what makes it interesting and to kind of give them a showcase to your point, at a time of year when, hey, your schedule's a little freed up and you don't have to worry about preseasons with these guys. That's maybe an interesting proposition.
Eoin Comerford
00:13:55.150 - 00:14:47.590
So I think OA involvement would be great.
I think actually also the Conservation alliance would be the other big one, because if you can get that, have the Conservation alliance breakfast again, add a true, A true core of purpose to the get together.
So it's not just, yeah, we're going to sprinkle on a little bit of sustainability and inclusivity here off to the side, but actually make it more integral to the gathering.
So we're coming together as an industry not just to have a good time and place a few orders, but to actually talk about the key things that are impacting our industry, like public lands, like dei, like sustainability.
Then, then, then I, I think that can be, that could be the other, the other key, the other key organization that could potentially, you know, swing the balance a little bit here.
Colin True
00:14:47.670 - 00:18:44.880
All right, well, we've talked enough.
Let's get into our conversation with Lindsey Hubley from Emerald Exposition and Sunny Strower, who is now the head of the leadership village at outdoor retailer. Just in time for fall, we're happy to introduce a new sponsor to the rock fight, Fjall Raven.
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Today we're joined by Lindsey Humbly from Emerald Expositions and athlete and adventurer Sonny Strower, former. Well, excuse me, returning champion to the Rock flight who will be working with outdoor retailer. Welcome to the show, both of you. Thank you.
Thank you for joining us.
Sunny Stroeer
00:18:45.040 - 00:18:46.240
Thanks, Colin, for having us.
Lindsay Hubley
00:18:46.400 - 00:18:47.680
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Colin True
00:18:48.240 - 00:19:14.960
And of course, we're here with our consigliere, Owen Comerford. Let's get into it, guys. So today, Thursday. Well, yeah, Thursday the second record is on. The second is going to where this will air on Friday the 3rd.
You announced some changes coming to outdoor retailer. Biggest changes of course, being location and timing as the show is moving to Minneapolis and back to August.
So let's just start with as you reflect on the past few years of outdoor retailer, maybe Lindsey, starting with you, like, what are the factors that led to these changes?
Lindsay Hubley
00:19:16.240 - 00:20:25.470
So I think I'll kick this off with you said our biggest changes, right. Are maybe our move to Minneapolis and our move to August.
But I would back that even further up with with the addition of, you know, Sunny Stroh are here and obviously Paul into really leading the strategy of, you know, a, of the outdoor retailer as we move forward into 26. So big leadership change here, too.
We're really stepping back to, you know, identify with the outdoor industry and making sure that leaders of the outdoor industry are, you know, leading our strategy moving forward and leading the brand. On top of that is the introduction of our leadership village. And I'll let Sunny kind of get into that a little bit further.
But we've really cultivated a good group of folks that'll really help us to again, stay grounded in how we want outdoor retailer to look in the future. And as Sunny says, we want the outdoor industry to really develop and have their Voices heard here.
So I'll let Sunny maybe dive into that a little bit, but we can get into the other pieces here. But that those. That's really part of the leading. The leading part of this.
Sunny Stroeer
00:20:25.710 - 00:22:42.140
Yeah. I mean, when I think about Outdoor Retailer, right. I think about the show as being a show for the outdoor industry by the outdoor industry.
And I think what we've seen over the last several years is that it's been a show for the outdoor industry and that we have an opportunity to go and build on that second piece that I was mentioning to have it be developed and led and programmed by the outdoor industry, which is the intent behind the Leadership Village.
So there's myself, there's Paul, who's both my husband, but also a four decade outdoor industry veteran who's done everything from running retail floors to being an independent sales rep to then being a senior leader at major brands like Gregory and Niteyes. And he actually was the president of Ultimate Direction and Sierra Designs for a while. Right.
So he's been around and he's been at Outdoor Retailer for I think, what, 37 years or something like that. He's seen the ups, the downs, the everything's in between.
And the Leadership Village more broadly also reflects that type of diversity of experience and the breadth and depth of perspectives because we have myself and Paul and then we have Peter Sachs, who up until yesterday was the GM of Lower Boots. Right. Just stepped down and not quite into retirement, but straight into the Leadership Village. We're super excited to have him.
He obviously knows the show inside and out as well as the industry, as well as what it means to be a big brand in the industry.
We have Dana Carraway who is leading a large independent sales rep agency here in the Mountain west, who's going to be an incredibly valuable voice, I think, for sales reps who are the glue right between the brands and the retailers.
We have Mike Massey, third generation independent specialty retailer and of course the founder of Locally.com who really, really, really understands retailer needs and how independent specialty retail works.
And then Sasha de Julian, who is, you know, a fantastic kick ass athlete and advocate for outdoor adventure, as well as an entrepreneur in the outdoor industry herself. She started sendbars and is the owner and founder of a young and emerging brand in the nutrition space. Right.
So that's our current core of the Leadership Village.
We're still adding more voices to make sure that we have the entire depth and breadth of the industry covered, but I'm incredibly excited to be able to work closely with all of those Folks. And with Lindsey to go and refine and hone in on the strategy for.
Colin True
00:22:42.140 - 00:22:55.300
2026, who do you want to show up? Right. So I think that's a lot going on there. A lot of names being brought into the mix to really kind of focus on the show.
And it sounds like there's a, you know, there's sound like there was obviously a need to revamp the show, which is what has led to all of this.
Eoin Comerford
00:22:55.540 - 00:22:55.980
Yeah.
Colin True
00:22:55.980 - 00:23:18.790
You know, is commerce still at the heart of. Or is it still the like, let's get buyers and brands to show up. The rest go around that. I mean, is it, you know, if. Because it's.
This ultimately comes down to a math game for a lot of these folks. Right. If they only have the budget to attend to one event, like, why should they make it?
Or so a lot of that stuff kind of plays well, but it's ultimately what's in it for me is what's going to end up being the decision for a lot of these folks. So is that really who you're trying to attract back to the show?
Sunny Stroeer
00:23:18.950 - 00:23:43.110
Yeah, absolutely. We want buyers and brands to show up without a question. We want the right people in the room, right people at the table.
It's all about having the retailers there, and it's about having brands large and small there new. And discovery is a big, big focus for us for 2026 and going forward.
But I think when it comes down to it, yeah, we got to have a national convening ground that has all of the right players at the table. Right. And that's exactly what we're trying to do.
Eoin Comerford
00:23:43.660 - 00:23:55.900
Speaking of retailers, you announced, I think you're calling it the GOA scholarship program. Can you talk to us a little bit more about that and how you're trying to draw more retailers to the show?
Sunny Stroeer
00:23:56.460 - 00:23:57.660
Lindsay, you want to take that one?
Lindsay Hubley
00:23:57.660 - 00:24:38.200
Sure. So we worked with Gabe and his team to really develop this scholarship program to help specialty retailers attend the show.
So it's travel subsidy funds, and then also on site, there'll be a GOA lounge. We really want to invest in those.
Those outdoor specialty retailers that is going to be on top of what or has traditionally had in a hosted buyer platform.
So, you know, obviously we want to host all kinds of different buyers, not just our GOA members, but we think they're a really, really important part of the conversation, and we want to invest in making sure that. That they can come to the show in August and they can see our show floor of new and discovery.
Eoin Comerford
00:24:38.360 - 00:25:01.110
In terms of the move to August And I know that maybe that's the third on the list of the things that's new and exciting, but it is a big deal and it was a major conversation last year in terms of all the shows being shoved into June. Can you, can you tell us maybe the rationale behind August and how you think that's going to attract maybe more brands and more retailers?
Sunny Stroeer
00:25:01.590 - 00:25:45.950
So August, I think, is a actually historic return for Outdoor Retailer, because it used to be in August and it used to be very successful in August. And we've heard time and again from stakeholder input from conversations from, you know, Gabe going on the record publicly, right.
Saying that there's need for the show to move to August. So we're listening. We have listened. And I think that August makes a lot of sense from a number of perspectives.
You know, one, just stakeholder input, but two, from, you know, the perspective of the buying cycle for New and Discovery, I think that is a really, really powerful alignment, having the show a little bit later, giving retailers a bit of a breather after everything that's happening in June. Right. And then hopefully creating space to have a powerful convening ground later in the year.
Colin True
00:25:46.190 - 00:26:33.850
When I was at Switchback this summer, which is another show that's obviously trying to attract the same audience that you're trying to attract, one thing that I found actually kind of surprising in talking to a number of the brands that I spoke to there was the. Just they followed OIA when OIA signed up to go to Switchback, and it was. That was the decision making.
That was a decision point for them was like, oh, we're going to go there because the OIA is there.
Which again, that surprised me at the time that the OA kind of had that much clout over potentially some of their members just to make that kind of, of snap decision.
Has there been any conversations with folks like the OAA or even groups like the Conservation alliance and their Brands for Public Lands to kind of get involved and, or come back over even from Switchback and knowing that that could be either a boon if they did for Outdoor Retailer, but also potentially a challenge if they, if they're not involved. Is that something, is that on those conversations happening?
Lindsay Hubley
00:26:34.650 - 00:27:49.390
Yeah. So, Colin, we have, we have open discussions currently with Conservation alliance and the oia.
You know, both of those organizations were really instrumental to, or, you know, all the way, you know, back to. I can't even tell you how long both of those brands have probably been involved with or way longer than I've been here.
So, yes, we are you know, opening up those dialogues again. And I do think, you know, the new face of or as we move to Minneapolis, has really opened up the opportunity for us to do that. So.
So those are happening. We don't have any update as to where they are today, but we certainly are active in those conversations.
But we do think both of those organizations are extremely important to our, you know, where we're going and the overall strategy.
You know, Sunny, with her background in particular, I think, will be absolutely instrumental in bringing back some of those conversations with not for profits and really developing education and content that's aligned with those that we have not maybe engaged in the last few years on. So that is one of the strategic initiatives that Sunny is really driving home for us in some of these overall conversations.
Sunny Stroeer
00:27:50.350 - 00:28:09.630
And I'm really excited about that, having been a nonprofit at outdoor retailer and also just being very well connected in the space. Obviously the work is happening right now. It has kicked off a little while ago, and we're deep in the throes of it.
But I can't wait to share with you and with everybody, you know, what we're imagining for next year as that's getting fully baked.
Eoin Comerford
00:28:09.950 - 00:28:26.830
In the press release, you do talk about some new elements to the show which are kind of interesting from an emerging brand section to pitch stuff. Could you walk us through some of those new elements, perhaps? And whatever you can tell them about, tell us about them right now.
Sunny Stroeer
00:28:27.070 - 00:30:55.210
Yeah, absolutely. So, as I mentioned earlier, new and Discovery is going to be a big priority for outdoor retailer here in 2026.
And two things that are focusing in on that I think are going to be powerful areas for the show. On the. On the show floor are Ascent, which is an innovation district essentially, for new and Discovery.
You know, it's going to be a physical space to showcase a lot of those brands that, you know, there's a long history, right, of brands just coming to OR launching at or, and we want to revitalize that energy and capture that and create an opportunity for those new and emerging brands to make the launches at or. And then we are also creating space with what we call Camp Forward for startup pitches and futurist conversations.
So both of those, I think, are new initiatives that I believe have a lot of potential and a lot of opportunity in the space. And then we have several other programming pillars that are equally important. So a little bit more established already, I'd say.
We're going to be bringing back campfire that's focused on storytelling and on video, and we're also going to have an outdoor lab for, you know, forward thinking product design showcase. So all of that is, is a big part of or the, the one thing that we haven't touched on yet.
You know, these are pillars that I was talking about that are happening on the main floor of the show kind of in the main three days that we're going to have. Industry Day, I think is also an incredibly important element of what we're doing with the show in 2026.
Now I was involved in Industry Day here this past year in 2025. We had, you know, good attendance, really good feedback, some very powerful, powerful conversations.
I think what we're planning to do for 2026 is take what we had started to build in 25, which is a lot of thought leadership and kind of very high impact and insightful conversations.
Maintain that, but then add to it hands on tactical workshops for specialty retailers that are going to be a resource for our retailer base to help and think about future proofing their businesses. Because we all know that the market is changing rapidly. We all know that there's a lot happening that's putting pressure on retailers from all sides.
I mean, you know, you, I think. Did you talk about, you know, Summit Hut on the pod? You know. Oh yeah, yeah. Did I remember that right.
So essentially what I'm thinking about for Industry Day is a question of, okay, we know what happened to Summit Hut, right? How do we get ahead of that? How do we help our constituents stay ahead of that?
And how can we develop programming that really speaks to those questions ultimately those in that.
Colin True
00:30:55.610 - 00:31:24.960
It sounds great. I mean, I think those are smart things to be talking about. But it's kind of a little nice to have in that.
You know that at UA Connect that's got, there's a whole day to that then that's a retail focus organization. You know, the, the outside festivals tried to have some of these things. You know, Outdoor Media Summit has these things.
The Orex all have their outdoor economy conferences. Like there doesn't seem to be a shortage in some of these resources. Is there an angle, do you think? What is it about Outdoor Retailer?
Do you think is going to help it kind of stand apart to make it really like, oh, that's the cherry on top. In addition to obviously all the things that bring people to a trade show.
Sunny Stroeer
00:31:25.670 - 00:31:37.350
I think you're right that there's also already a lot of resources out there.
But I think the differentiating factor is that or has the infrastructure and the convening power of that large scale national show to really bring Everybody together in the room.
Colin True
00:31:37.350 - 00:31:37.550
Right.
Sunny Stroeer
00:31:37.550 - 00:31:42.710
Because what GOA does is fantastic. And it is limited to the top 150.
Colin True
00:31:43.110 - 00:31:48.790
Well, any retailer can attend Goa. They don't have to be a GWA dealer to attend. They can go if they want to.
Sunny Stroeer
00:31:49.750 - 00:31:59.650
But my point being that Vista platform that outdoor retailer has, we have the ability to go and offer this type of programming and education at scale.
Eoin Comerford
00:32:00.290 - 00:32:04.850
You also talk about friend of the pod, Lloyd Vogel. Lloyd is everywhere. Apparently.
Colin True
00:32:05.650 - 00:32:07.890
The mayor of the outdoor industry, we call him.
Eoin Comerford
00:32:08.050 - 00:32:10.570
Yeah, I mean, it's like crazy.
Lindsay Hubley
00:32:10.570 - 00:32:13.530
You know, everybody has to. There has got to be a mayor. Right. So.
Colin True
00:32:13.530 - 00:32:14.130
Exactly.
Lindsay Hubley
00:32:14.610 - 00:32:17.650
But I mean, Colin, I actually thought you were the mayor for a minute, but.
Colin True
00:32:18.530 - 00:32:20.850
Oh, I don't know if I want that title.
Eoin Comerford
00:32:23.570 - 00:32:28.110
Maybe the. The town crier now that I can.
Colin True
00:32:28.110 - 00:32:28.830
Get on board with.
Lindsay Hubley
00:32:28.910 - 00:32:29.390
Yeah.
Eoin Comerford
00:32:30.270 - 00:32:43.070
So what. What is. Is Lloyd mainly. Mainly involved with his sort of his second job in terms of the. The Minnesota Orec or is it like, what. What's his.
What's his role in this whole deal?
Colin True
00:32:43.070 - 00:32:44.030
Hair care tips.
Lindsay Hubley
00:32:44.350 - 00:32:51.910
Yeah, right. That's actually why we engaged him is the hair care. Sunny has a lot of that hair. So is she. Yeah. Needed.
Colin True
00:32:51.910 - 00:32:53.870
She and Lloyd are going to co host a panel on.
Lindsay Hubley
00:32:54.270 - 00:33:40.890
That's exactly right. No, I mean, Lloyd's a friend of the business. Right. And I will also say that he's been instrumental in some of these conversations around Minneapolis.
Again, we like, we love Minnesota. I mean, it's a really strategic move for us.
I do also think that he's going to play a very instrumental role in the new and discovery piece of this because obviously we really align with what is happening at Garage Grown Gear and where they're making their investments. And we're hoping to announce some things here in the future that would also align with that strategy.
So he's important from, you know, even, you know, a sideline advisor to this, but he. He definitely is. Has been instrumental in the Minneapolis conversation and.
And clearly how we're going to build the show back on the new and discovery platform.
Colin True
00:33:41.530 - 00:33:46.570
Yeah. How did it. How did you settle on Minneapolis in Minnesota? What was the. What were. Who else. Who were the other contenders?
Lindsay Hubley
00:33:47.370 - 00:35:03.060
Well, I can't tell you all of the other contenders because there was a giant list. Right. But I will tell you, you know, Minneapolis, I mean, first of all, they did have the dates that wanted to move to in August. That's key.
We also, you know, made this decision, you know, again, based on these state the stakeholder feedback. I mean, we've talked to a lot of brands that Maybe haven't participated with us in the last few years.
And, and on top of that, looking at survey data, interestingly enough, I think everybody gets surprised by this. But interestingly enough, when you actually look at the survey data, we looked at some of goa's data and we also looked at our own data.
There's an overwhelming call for the Midwest and honestly, we aligned with Minnesota because of the accessibility of the state. The state really, truly aligns with like our fundamental core on outdoor recreation. How we're also very.
We got a lot of support in terms of the OREC community there and obviously we had a lot of conversations with Lloyd about, you know, particularly, you know, his state. So we're very, you know, invested in Minneapolis and we, we really enjoy it. So it'll be a good location for us.
Colin True
00:35:03.220 - 00:35:06.900
I think I saw Owen nodding along and he's Midwest bias. So we should.
Eoin Comerford
00:35:06.980 - 00:35:16.100
Yeah, I mean, obviously it should have been Detroit, but hey, you know, Midwest is good. It's got a great Delta, great Delta Sky Lounge. That's. That's the main thing.
Lindsay Hubley
00:35:16.820 - 00:35:21.220
We definitely love Michigan too, but unfortunately, Minnesota beat you out this round.
Eoin Comerford
00:35:21.700 - 00:35:23.300
Okay. Next year.
Colin True
00:35:23.460 - 00:35:59.800
I guess the last thing I want to ask about is, you know, we talk, we've been talking a lot on the rock fight recently and it seems that the major trends of the marketplace are being led by casual lifestyle and run like. I mean it's like we, we joke as we are kind of preparing every week for the pod.
Like, could we please have a week where we don't have 16 run stories to talk about because it's like where everybody's going. I think a lot of what we're seeing from you guys in this sort of a revamped or.
And the, the Leadership Village is, you know, definitely more rooted, kind of old school climbing, camping sort of approach.
Could that be a blind spot for you guys as the sort of industry seems to be shifting more and outside of that more kind of traditional outdoor retailer crowd world.
Lindsay Hubley
00:35:59.960 - 00:36:01.320
So do you want to take that one?
Colin True
00:36:01.480 - 00:36:01.800
Sure.
Sunny Stroeer
00:36:01.800 - 00:36:38.140
I'd say it's an interesting question and I know, and I know that all of our Leadership Village members are keenly aware that the industry is subject to a lot of change. Right.
That's the entire focus of the work that we have to do is to understand and acknowledge and build on that change so that the show can truly be a show for the outdoor industry, by the outdoor industry. Now, do we have a potential blind spot on the run field? I don't know that I can necessarily agree with that statement. Per se.
Do we have potential blind spots?
Eoin Comerford
00:36:38.140 - 00:36:38.580
I'm sure.
Sunny Stroeer
00:36:38.740 - 00:36:57.160
And that is my work, and that is part of the leadership Village's work to try and understand those and suss those out and get ahead of them in the work that we are doing now behind the scenes to develop and finalize the programming for the 2026 shift. So I don't know if that answers your question, but it's the best that I could do.
Lindsay Hubley
00:36:57.320 - 00:37:25.290
I would also say, though, Colin, on, on that topic, you know, these are core categories that outdoor retailer speaks to, and they're also categories that need resources. And, you know, I don't know that we're just going to jump on every trend bandwagon either, Right.
So we want to make sure that we address all facets of the outdoor community, not just what's hot and popular right now.
We want to make sure that the investments that we're making are really spread evenly against, you know, what, what, what the total industry looks like.
Eoin Comerford
00:37:26.250 - 00:37:44.890
So if you cast your mind forward to a week after the show next year, so it's, it's late August, what, when you look back at that show in the future, what will, what will success have looked like for you? What will you be able to sit down and say, that was, that was great. That was success.
Sunny Stroeer
00:37:46.010 - 00:37:56.660
Attendance, engagement, enthusiasm, buzz. Right? All of those things, to me are absolutely key, and that's what we're going for.
Lindsay Hubley
00:37:59.300 - 00:38:41.360
And I would say a solid community vibe at the event is really important.
And I'd like to be standing out as the trees are changing in Minneapolis during that August weather and Sunny and Chris and I are there and we're standing there and saying, wow, we really, we were able to accomplish the goals that Sunny just out there outline. So, I mean, that's, you know, we, we really, you know, Outdoor Retailer is a fantastic brand. It's been around for a long time.
I mean, we, the show, I shouldn't say we, but the show has launched so many very successful brands and has been the hub for a very long time. And I'd like to, I'd like to see that happen again.
Colin True
00:38:41.760 - 00:38:46.160
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask because he's been on the show so many times. Is Sean Stone Smith still around?
Lindsay Hubley
00:38:46.160 - 00:39:43.690
Sean's still on the brand team, and the brand team is going to be really important to this because we also have, have, you know, we have to have some people that do sales and marketing and operations. And there is like a logistical side to this business. Right. So little, little bit just small Just small, you know, and it is a big.
It's a very, very large lift to, you know, pick up a show, move a show, reestablish it and. And really go through, you know, what we're doing from a strategy standpoint with Sunny and Paul.
But in terms of how we're going to lead the business, we want the outdoor community to be front and center, which is why Sunny and Paul are involved. And then finally, we want to hear from our Leadership Village as to how they want to rebuild the show.
So I know some people would call this advisory board, I would actually say that they're leading the direction and the brand team will orchestrate how we move forward. But the reality is that it's for the community and we want it by the community.
And we think that Sunny and Paul can facilitate that conversation for us, us.
Eoin Comerford
00:39:44.650 - 00:39:59.210
And obviously, the Leadership Village is just convening in factor. You're just adding new members.
When will the industry hear more details about exactly what this is going to be and what we can expect from the new show?
Sunny Stroeer
00:40:00.570 - 00:40:11.650
Our intent is to be able to come back to you and to have the finalized roster for the Leadership Village towards the end of the month here. Now, that doesn't actually answer your question.
Lindsay Hubley
00:40:11.650 - 00:40:11.930
Right.
Sunny Stroeer
00:40:11.930 - 00:40:54.950
Because having the Leadership Village fully in place is a far cry from being able to talk about what exactly the show is going to be and, you know, what the nuances are of the new strategy. So that work is happening now, and it is full focus and full throttle.
We're going to need through Q4 and then, I think, a good part into Q1 to be able to go and really wrap things up and announce new elements as they come forward. So we need some time to do the work. There's a lot that's already in place. There's a lot of work that has happened behind the scenes already.
So, you know, the building blocks that we've talked to you about, they are there and we're committed to them. But as far as the finer nuances go, yeah, we'll need a couple of months.
Colin True
00:40:55.110 - 00:41:29.430
Well, thank you both so much for sitting down with us today. Appreciate it. Appreciate the news.
And, you know, we'll look forward to checking in and see how things are going, hopefully in a couple of months, like Sunny just said, and see what's going to be coming up for Minneapolis next summer. All right, that's the show for today. Thanks to our guests Sunny Stroher and Lindsey Hubley for joining Owen and I.
If you have questions or feedback on what's going on with outdoor retailer. Please send it to myrockfightmail.com the Rock Fight's a production of Rock Fight LLC for Owen Comerford. I am Colin True. Thank you for listening.
And here to take us out, it's Krista Makes with the Rock Fight Fight song. See you next time, rock fighters.
Chris DeMakes
00:41:29.510 - 00:42:29.360
Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
Welcome to the rat fight where we speak our truth slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree we talk about human powered outdoor activities and big bites about topics that we find interesting like pop culture music, the latest movie reviews ideas that aim for the head this is the way we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock flight. Rock flight. Rock fight. Welcome to the rock flight Rock fight. Rock fight.
Welcome to the rock flight Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock flight welcome to the rock fight Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
