Tools for Adventure - a new outdoor gear store in the Pacific Northwest

[Tools for Adventure]

Hi Everyone.

I'm a long time forum member [posting under a new user name] who is in the process of starting up an adventure and travel gear store called Tools for Adventure. Instead of carrying everything by any brand, the plan is to focus on a more carefully edited selection of high quality products. Please take a look at my website and let me know what you think. This is just the very beginning so I appreciate your support and patience. More products will be added throughout the year. A product that I myself have designed and developed, called the The Field Knife Set is exclusively available at Tools for Adventure. Suggestions and product recommendations are appreciated as well. I will have a booth at the NW Overland Rally in Plain, WA this year so I will see you there! - Carl

 

[Stumpalump]

Good luck!

 

[Tools for Adventure]

Thanks!

 

[zracer]

Clean site! Where are the green lush forest pics?
Being in the PNW, you gotta have MSR. Quality gear made in Seattle. The stainless pan set is good. Been using mine for over a decade. The MSR stoves are choice. The WhisperLite and Dragon Fly will burn white gas, diesel and unleaded gas. Very well built stoves.

 

[grogie]

As said, nice clean site! I like sites that have unique stuff that is hard to find over the gazillion imported products that Amazon and big box retailers sell. I noticed that the grill that you list is actually made in Idaho. I love USA made products and I will pay for it. If your market is mostly USA, I'd certainly promote that fact.

Question I always have of small sites is dealing with returns? I rarely actually return anything, but people do and I noticed you don't have your policies in place? And, what do you do with merchandise that has been returned and no longer new, not to mention the many details with shipping including for defective products? Most recently I paid for Amazon's shipping for something that was in a warehouse up the street from me (I always go for free otherwise) and they took five days to actually ship it, which I complained and they refunded me the shipping charges. Customer service is always a challenge with any retail. (I work in production management so I'm always thinking details.)

I also noticed that you offer to send product announcements. We all get so many emails the way that it is. Something to consider... my wife use to buy a lot of stuff from America's Test Kitchen. Their founder Christopher Kimball who they terminated recently, use to send out emails with short adventure stories. In the end he would hit up whatever they were selling, but I always took the time to open his emails to read his stories about his Vermont farm and his weekend adventures in the woods, which I miss reading. I always found them well written and entertaining with bits of wisdom and humor thrown in.

Anyway I probably said too much, but best wishes with your store! I'll keep an eye on it.

 

[Tools for Adventure]

MSR makes great products and I have a friend who works there. Definitely something to consider.

Clean site! Where are the green lush forest pics?
Being in the PNW, you gotta have MSR. Quality gear made in Seattle. The stainless pan set is good. Been using mine for over a decade. The MSR stoves are choice. The WhisperLite and Dragon Fly will burn white gas, diesel and unleaded gas. Very well built stoves.

 

[Tools for Adventure]

Glad to hear it! I aim to focus on smaller, high quality brands. There's plenty of, as you say, big box offerings already. For me it's all about quality of products and quality relationships with the brands you are selling. The challenge with the higher quality products and with domestically manufactured products is that the margins are slim or non-existent. If I was in it merely for profit, this would be a terrible approach. It is also very challenging to get good pricing as a new reseller when your volumes are low. I'm working on improving that and hope to be able to lower prices as appropriate.

I have a return policy but it appears I did not add it to the site. I will make sure to get that up soon. I have the same approach for customer service. It's all about quality relationships. I sent out 204 Kickstarter shipments this past couple of months and there was only 2 minor hiccups that I took care of immediately. One, they gave me the wrong address and the other Fedex damaged the packaging. I check every shipment before it is packed up and mailed. The intent with the mailing list is to do 1-3 updates per year initially. I don't plan to bury people in advertising. The adventure stories is a great idea. Thanks for your suggestions!

As said, nice clean site! I like sites that have unique stuff that is hard to find over the gazillion imported products that Amazon and big box retailers sell. I noticed that the grill that you list is actually made in Idaho. I love USA made products and I will pay for it. If your market is mostly USA, I'd certainly promote that fact.

Question I always have of small sites is dealing with returns? I rarely actually return anything, but people do and I noticed you don't have your policies in place? And, what do you do with merchandise that has been returned and no longer new, not to mention the many details with shipping including for defective products? Most recently I paid for Amazon's shipping for something that was in a warehouse up the street from me (I always go for free otherwise) and they took five days to actually ship it, which I complained and they refunded me the shipping charges. Customer service is always a challenge with any retail. (I work in production management so I'm always thinking details.)

I also noticed that you offer to send product announcements. We all get so many emails the way that it is. Something to consider... my wife use to buy a lot of stuff from America's Test Kitchen. Their founder Christopher Kimball who they terminated recently, use to send out emails with short adventure stories. In the end he would hit up whatever they were selling, but I always took the time to open his emails to read his stories about his Vermont farm and his weekend adventures in the woods, which I miss reading. I always found them well written and entertaining with bits of wisdom and humor thrown in.

Anyway I probably said too much, but best wishes with your store! I'll keep an eye on it.