Store: From burbs to boondocks

In a move calculated for growth, a York retail business will move next spring from the burbs to the boondocks.

On April 1, Steve and Liz Winand will move Shank's Mare Outfitters from its location between a laundromat and a gas station at 1756 S. Queen St. to Lower Windsor Township. The company is a retailer of outdoor goods such as kayaks, cross-country skis, backpacks and sailboards.

They will move into a restored 1990s general store on Lake Clarke, a dammed-up area of the Susquehanna River. The store is housed in a 5,500-square-foot, white clapboard building with a wrap-around porch.

The current store has five full-time employees and occupies 4,500 square feet. They are holding off moving until spring to make sure they profit from the full Christmas selling season.

The Winands will use the new location to grow their outdoor training programs to about 50 percent of revenues -- up from about 33 percent currently.

Liz Winand said baby boomers were big lovers of outdoor activities in the 1960s, and now they are returning in droves with full wallets and plenty of leisure time. They are joined by their children, who they do not want to become couch potatoes.

The Windands are baby boomers themselves -- Liz Winand is 46, Steve is 47.

"We want to flip-flop the whole thing" from an emphasis on retail to an emphasis on outdoor programs, said Winand. "People are moving back to wanting service. And leisure time is precious."

In a move that reflects this new service orientation in outdoor recreation equipment, Recreational Equipment Inc. (known as REI) opened its flagship store in Seattle on Sept. 13. The store occupies an entire city block and has features that include a three-dimensional climbing wall, indoor hiking trails to test boots and even a room where it rains to test rain gear.

In a similar vein, Winand plans to allow kayakers to try kayaks on Lake Clark and cross-county skiers to test skis on adjacent trails in the winter.

"That's something we haven't been able to do before," Winand said.

Elke Adler, spokeswoman for the Outdoor recreation Coalition of America, a trade association, said big increase are projected for many outdoor recreation activities -- especially day hiking and backpacking.

Participation is expected in increase by 150 percent to 195 percent by 2040, according to a U.S. Forest Service study.

Besides trends and statistics, Winand said, her retail store will survive in the wilderness because it depends little on to a U.S. Forest Service study. walk-in traffic. When the Winands moved Shank's Mare from downtown York in 1992 to its current location on South Queen Street, the couple saw the same customer base that they had established since they opened in 1978. Now they expect most of these customers to follow them to the outback.

"If you have the availability (of the outdoors) for the customer to try (the equipment), then that's great. ... On the other hand, you have used merchandise lying around, and you have the liability issues," commented Greg Lyon of the sales staff at Wildware Outfitters' Camp Hill Mall store. The company, based on Pieffer Land, Harrisburg, has two other stores.

The Winands are also counting on new business. They hope to draw customers from eastern Lancaster County, literally just across the river. Lake Clark is a bustle of tourists and outdoor enthusiasts on weekends, and the new location is next to a boat launch.

Shank's Mare hopes to capture the business of conventional tourists. They will dedicate about 1,500 square feet of the new building to selling outdoor-oriented gifts such as decoys and bird houses. They also plan to revive a defunct ice cream shop in the building. They plan to serve hand-dipped ice cream in the warm weather, starting by May.

The Winands plan to finance most of the move with their own capital and with the help of an individual investor. One thing that makes the investment and the hassles of moving easier is that it will likely be a permanent move.