Well, because we thought you might be interested in knowing what was going on with the store as a whole.
The plan is to include events so that you can tell customers what's going on and updates from the buyers about what's coming to the store. Let me know if there are things you want to see or other suggestions.
Dec. 17 - Mount St. Louis Moonstone Trip For snowboarders and down hill skiers, Wild Rock Outfitters is once again offering this fascinating full day trip to Mount St. Louis Moonstone. We will meet at Wild Rock at 8am, where a bus will be waiting to take us to the hills. We are planning be back by 8pm. Cost $60.00, includes transportation and day pass.
For information, please contact Wild Rock at 745-9133
Dec. 18 – Snowshoe Hike We will start the snowshoe season with this hike to Warsaw Cave, a conservation area of 225 hectares. Its unique geological surface is most famous for is underground caves and kettles. The park has 13-kilometer trail system that takes hikers through woodlands; pass caves and kettles to a scenic post over looking the Indian River Valley. Sunday, Dec. 18th. We will meet at the Park & Zoo’s parking lot at 9:30am
Cost: $10.00 includes a pair of rental snowshoes, or $5.00 if you bring your own ones.
Ok, so it might be a little late for this update but my mother always said, “Son, get off your butt and do it anyway”. For those of you who have been with us for a while you will notice some changes to our outerwear mix on the floor. If you are new to Wild Rock this may help you understand the thinking processes we go through on a seasonal basis. For many years Wild Rock was following the greater industry trend in offering an ever-increasing array of mainstream outerwear to our clientele. Although this initially lead to great sales it did come at a cost. First off, we felt that we were losing our identity as a specialty retailer by watering down our offering with items like Columbia walkin'-to-school jackets. This also sometimes left us choking on excess seasonal inventory. With this in mind my approach to the fall ’05 buy was to focus on more authentic outdoor outerwear from the brands that parallel our own specialties such as Patagonia, TNF, Arc’teryx, etc. For example, this time last year we had no rainwear on the floor but we were crammed with Columbia 3-1 style jackets. Although we still have some more fashionable pieces on the floor we have a much more technical presentation for this season focusing on technical insulation (fleece and down), soft shell and technical shells (ranging from basic rainwear to Gore from Arc’teryx). Although our goal is to remain a specialty outdoor retailer this task is ever changing. Our market is always evolving and we sometimes struggle to keep up. If you have any insight you would like to add to the discussion please let me know.
Computer things have been happening and if all goes well, it should mean good things for all of us.
Dave has been organizing more Retail Pro licenses and a server. What does this mean? Those who have been tripping over each other to find a computer with Retail Pro will more likely find a spot to work. Also, Retail Pro should work a little faster - yeehaw!
If you are reading this, you have probably been set up with Mozilla Thunderbird, our new email program. Hopefully this will mean fewer problems with email! (It means you can read cool things like the newsletter)
We are also working on e-cards for the website. They are all set up but we need pictures or cartoons so that staff and customers can send cool Wild Rock e-cards. Please send ideas to Anne!
Hello to some new faces at Wild Rock and Good-bye for now to some dear old friends.
A few great friends have moved on from Wild Rock over the last couple of months. Some have found different jobs, some are going back to school, some are on trips, some are returning and some are not.
Ryan Sutherland has left Wild Rock for up to a year to pursue his lifelong dream of a around the world trip. It is sad to see him go but there is no doubt in anyone's mind he deserves it and will come back an even greater person. He has strapped on his IPOD, donned his pack and headed for a tour of South East Asia and then off to New Zealand. For Ryo one of our keenest snowboarders, it was a tough decision to miss a winter. We are hoping he has the time and resources to shred a turn or two in New Zealand.
Cory Lance has chosen to pursue his dreams in the musical world. A keen and talented musician, Cory has spent over five years pursuing the outdoors with a music life on the side. Cory will now put his outdoor pursuits on the backburner as he heads up the sales team at Uptown Music on George St. Cory will still be joining us in Utah to shred the finest powder on earth.
Kris Lew has been absent for a few months. He too is pursuing an old love. Before joining Wild Rock 5 years ago Kris worked for IBM as a tech. He has returned to his IT roots at Quaker. He can still be found on the sales floor at Wild Rock as he saves our buns if we are short staffed or have computer trouble. He is missed but is only a stone throw away.
We have a number of new faces kicking around the rock as well.
Bart Spiewak joined us many months ago but has not had an official web welcome. Bart is an avid climber, camper and snowboarder. Just this fall he found a love for cyclocross and can be found barreling around trails with lights on. Bart runs our rental program, is the buyer for camping gear and helps us out on the floor.
Shannon Edwards comes to us from the East. Shannon comes from the outdoor biz in Halifax and has come to Peterborough for school. We are very fortunate to have an experienced snowboarder; camper and general outdoor enthusiast join our crew.
Katie Scott is a fiery bundle of energy we added to our sales floor. We were looking for someone with great merchandising experience and a better eye for women's wear than Kieran, Dave, Jon or I had so we found Katie at The Gap. She brings certain flair to the floor and is pretty keen on taking up snowboarding this winter.
Jen Samuel has joined us and raised our inventory handling systems to a new level. She arrived in chaos and has brought us divine organization. Jen's sense of humour has been a survival tool. Jen has taken up road riding and can be found rolling out on the roads on her fine Italian road bike.
