The third anniversary for W-Trek Outfitters in downtown Duluth will not be a happy occassion.
The outdoors gear store at 230 E. Superior St. will close its doors by the end of May, the same month it opened in 2006.
"We’ve seen a steady decline in sales since September," said store owner Nodin Morgenstern. "People have not come in since the economy situation started. It has been pretty palpable."
Morgenstern said gross sales reached about $220,000 in both 2007 and 2008, but the sales figures to date in 2009 were about $10,000 less and forced the store’s closure.
This is really too bad, W-trek was an awesome store, it will be missed a lot.
A 10K drop in sales causes a store to close? There has to be more to this…
If 10K was enough to kill this store, then they must not have been watching their cash flows enough. While it “sucks”, a business closing is part of every day business as a whole, and is a risk all entrepreneurs know can happen. Very few businesspeople hit a home run right off the bat, and many even have stumbles along the way.
I’m surprised that they lasted as long as they did.
Cold-hearted, I know. But really, it’s a premium downtown location selling premium products at premium prices in a primarily blue-collar town.
It’s the same problem that Midnight Sun had.
Midnight Sun treated people like crap, and I giggled the day I saw they were closed. Every time I went in there as a customer I was treated like I was invisible; and when I had to deliver food there, no matter how fast it got there, or how big the bill was, it was just “give me my food, bye”. No tip, no thanks, nothing.
I had been in the store a couple of times and personally had a hard time understanding how a store like that one could remain in business. The amount of product they had was very limited. They would have had a much better chance of survival if their store was more like a Ski Hut that targets a wider array of sports/activities, as well as open an online shop. When you already have the relationships built with the vendors, it doesn’t cost a whole lot of extra to open an online store. You are already paying employess (or youself) that would be able to fill the online orders, answer emails, and get purchases mailed out. This way you have a MUCH larger group of people to target. Small speciality shops in a town like Duluth are a risky business….and have a high percentage of failure. It’s too bad, but it is what it is.
Anytime a small business closes it is a loss for the community. Minnesota’s tax laws make it very hard for a small business to succeed. The cards are stacked against the little guys.
Yes this makes little sence at all. There must be more to this story.
If you are in business for the long haul you take your bumbs. Even in small business.
That place was expensive as hell. One sale of a jacket should have paid rent for a few months.