Red Fox Outdoor Equipment opens Boulder store

BOULDER — Red Fox Outdoor Equipment, which two years ago opened a North American headquarters in Lyons, this week opened a new flagship store in downtown Boulder.

The Boulder store occupies about 3,100 square feet at 1218 Pearl St. on the Pearl Street Mall in space formerly occupied by Fresh Produce Clothes, which moved across the street in May. Red Fox specializes in outdoor technical gear such as tents and climbing gear, as well as apparel.

Red Fox is keeping its Lyons store at 424 Main St., but converting it to more of an outlet model featuring overstock and old colors of products, operations manager Hannah Brotherton said Tuesday. The Boulder store opened officially on Monday after a soft opening over the weekend.

“The reason for opening the Boulder store on Pearl is obviously just the foot traffic and exposure that you get here,” Brotherton said.

The company, which has grown from four employees to about 20 over the past year or so, still has its office in Lyons. But Brotherton said Red Fox will likely be looking for bigger office space in Boulder or Longmont at some point.

Red Fox is based in Switzerland and also has stores in Nepal and Russia.

Brotherton said the North American operation based locally will likely open other stores in the United States over the next three years. But right now the focus is on carving out a niche in Boulder’s competitive outdoor gear scene. The company sells only direct to market through its own website and stores in Boulder and Lyons.

“I think that we’re one of the only companies that is still owned by the people that climb and use all the materials and products,” Brotherton said. “They’re still out climbing, using all the gear and trusting it. … So our stuff is really built in a technical, simplistic way to make sure it can endure extreme conditions, and it’s been tested really well.”

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