Arc’teryx’s community-focused retail model at their new Banff location is turning the traditional in-store experience on its head. Harnesses recommended.
Words :: Bob Covey
For those of us who’ve balked at dropping considerable coin on (admittedly sick) outdoor gear, a leading Canadian outdoor brand is imploring its customers to try before they buy.
One of the central features of Arc’teryx’s new location at 123 Banff Avenue is its Gear Library, allowing adventurers to, for a nominal ($25/item) fee, borrow an assortment of Arc’teryx products, for up to four days.
“This gear is for people to take out and try in the mountains,” says Banff store manager, Jeffrey Papa. “We want it to be used for what it’s intended for.”
Arc’teryx’s newest location opened on Banff’s busiest street in April. But instead of jamming the space with inventory, store designers have elected to minimize clutter and maximize connection—with local history, local mountains, and the local community. The gear, Papa says, is simply a conduit to those connections. “They’re tools, not jewels.”
The Gear Library is adjacent to the storefront’s open, airy entryway, which itself yields to a massive, modern work surface. There, staff repair rips, re-seal seams and, in general, breathe new life into well-loved gear via the Re-Bird Service Centre, the front line of Arc’teryx’s legendarily permissive warranty program.
“We like hearing how gear gets trashed, where the adventures happened,” Papa says.
Instead of jamming the space with inventory, store designers have elected to minimize clutter and maximize connection—with local history, local mountains, and the local community.
In Banff, the birthplace of Canadian alpinism, the adventures have been happening for a long time and at 123 Banff Ave, the store’s fire-finished pine, Rundle stone masonry and hundred-year old brick pay tribute to that legacy.
At the same time, high above the original beams first installed by the early entrepreneurs of the Hudson’s Bay Company, a retractable screen hints at future film presentations, including the premiere of likaiksimatsa’pao’p (Grateful to be on the Land, in Blackfoot), showing May 15 at 8:30 p.m.
Director Trevor Solway’s 13-minute documentary features Mini Thini athlete and Arc’teryx ambassador, Cassie Ayoungman—one of several local Arc’teryx adventurers helping equip underrepresented groups with mountain skills. It will be a screening of a powerful story, but also an opportunity to learn together.
“What’s the most important thing we take into the mountains?” asks Tammy Primeau, Arc’teryx’s community manager for Alberta. “It’s not in this store. It’s knowledge.”
And the sharing of knowledge is a two-way street, Arc’teryx Banff Store Lead Sebastian Laroye notes, pointing out his favourite running routes via the store’s exquisite centrepiece: a display cabinet housing not product, but a 3D topographical map.
Crafted by Daryl Kootenay and local Indigenous elders, the map identifies popular trails, lakes and peaks by the names which the Stony Nakoda know them.
“The Bow Valley has always been a place where people come together—for trade, for travel and for adventure,” Papa says.
And also to check out new conduits to connection—literally, in the case of Arc’teryx’s Gear Library. “We want to learn from our guests,” Papa adds. “The product is only half of the story.”
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