Outdoor Insight

RETAIL PROFILE August 2017 • Outdoor Insight • 41 outdoorinsightmag.com The Recipe for Success at Colorado's Jax Mercantile: Diversify, Evolve and Grow. I t would have been difficult to predict that a shop born of humble beginnings as a family run military surplus shop in America's heartland would one day become one of northern Colorado's most powerful outdoor retailers. But sometimes, especially in the specialty retail business, the passion of family has more staying power than any other factor. "I've been involved in the retail business since I was 12, waiting on customers at my parents' Ames Surplus store in Ames, Iowa," says Jax Mercantile presi- dent Jim Quinlan from his headquarters in Fort Collins, CO. "Government Surplus stores were the first places people went in the 1960s and '70s to get outdoor equipment. We sold 12-pound army mummy bags for $20 and a two-pound army air mattresses for $7, and wool shirts or cargo pants for $4. Rucksacks were about $20." Quinlan grew up camping out using those M1949 mummy bags and surplus inflatable air mattresses that didn't hold much air. "I have strong memories of going to sleep outside as a kid and waking up in the middle of the night flat on the ground and cold. What the early outdoor-military gear lacked in sophistication it made up for with weight," he says, revealing his sense of humor. Back in Iowa, Quinlan's parents had been in the surplus business since 1955 and Jim became their first employee, managing the place by the time he was 18-years old. Several years later the call of the West lured him to Fort Collins and in 1983 he opened Rocky Mountain Surplus, later acquiring the Jax name from the Dreher family back home where the original store had begun. "I remember my own fascination when I walked into a 10x10 booth at a trade show in Denver and the salesmen tempted me to lay down on a bright yellow mat and see how comfortable it was," Quinlan says, "before he picked it up, revealing underneath an assortment of small rocks, keys and a lighter that I never felt laying on the mattress. He called this new mat a 'Thermarest,' and we ordered a few despite what seemed at the time an exorbitant price." It's the technology and sophistication of outdoor equip- ment over the last 40 years that continues to amaze him. "The customers, too, have gotten much more educated and sophisticated in the gear they want to equip their adventures too," he says. "Knowing what equipment used to weigh, and all the places the pioneers managed to reach, I can only believe that people used to be a lot tougher then we are today." But it's not just the gear that has kept him passionate about Jax all these years. "I love the retail business," Quinlan says. "Every day is different and I have always drawn satisfaction from being able to help customers fill a need." Helping these customers, helping more people get outdoors, and also creating more opportunities for his staff, is what fueled Jax Mercantile's expansion from a one-shop surplus store at the northern end of College Avenue in a then-rural aggie town. "We're incredibly fortunate to have an extremely talented and dedicated group of people who continually strive to improve our process and selection," he says of this staff. "Together, this is what drives our business forward." Today Jax has seven locations totaling more than a quarter- million square feet of retail space. The first location in Colorado, the Fort Collins store, has expanded to 65,000-square feet over the years; Jax Outdoor Gear/Ranch & Home in Loveland, CO, is also 65,000-square feet; Jax Outdoor Gear in Lafayette, CO, is 37,000-square feet; Jax Outdoor Gear/Ranch & Home in Broomfield, CO, is 90,000-square feet; and the original Jax Outdoor Gear of Ames, IA, is 21,000-square feet. Jax is a private company and Quinlan declines to disclose financials, but, "I can tell you we sell an awful lot of shoes and an amazing number of some of the very best socks in the world," he says. "I think at present we have in the vicinity of 80,000 active SKUs." "We are not growing fast nor have we ever sought to. Typically we target growth at existing stores in the low single digit range. KEYS TO SPECIALTY RETAIL SURVIVAL Jax Mercantile has seven locations totaling more than a quarter-million square feet of retail space. In addition to bikes, products carried at the stores include camping gear, clothing, footwear, fishing and hunting gear, optics, books, kitchen and gift, and much more. By Aaron H. Bible Photos by Jonathan Castner

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