Trailheads

Trailheads recently visited Ramsey Outdoors, which operates in Bergen County, NJ, one of the most competitive retail markets in the country.

Ramsey Outdoors is located less than two miles from Campmor, an online seller and outdoor store, and one of the biggest volume stores of Dick’s Sporting Goods in nearby Paramus. Less than five miles away there is an REI store, a Nike outlet and numerous footwear retailers.

Despite all that competition, Ramsey Outdoors is thriving. The store was founded in 1953 by Lester Levine and is now in its third generation of family management. Michael Levine, his sister Allison Banks and father Stuart run this location as well as a 35,000 square-foot store in Succasunna, NJ, about 40 minutes Southwest of the original store.

“It’s a competitive environment, but our physical competitors are fewer than 10 years ago,” Michael told us. “Modell’s and The Sports Authority are out of business and EMS is out of the market.”

Ramsey Outdoors opened as a general store that sold hardware, garden supplies and outdoor furniture. Over the years, the store added outdoor apparel, camping gear and kayaks and today, it features most of the top brands in the market, with sales evenly split between hard goods and soft goods. The Succasunna store’s sales are mostly apparel and footwear. 

The store carries a broad mix of merchandise. For example, in apparel, it carries high end lines such as Arc’Teryx and Kuhl and more popularly priced brands such as Columbia Sportswear. And the store recently added L.L. Bean apparel.

Michael joined the store after graduating from Indiana University in 2009 and recalls that one of his first assignments was to expand into e-commerce and target a younger customer, which he attempted to do by bringing in Quiksilver apparel and adding the Stand-Up Paddle category.

Since joining the store 15 years ago, Michael notes that competition has grown, not so much in neighboring towns, but from Amazon and from vendors selling direct.

“You can’t see or touch the competition, but it’s out there. It used to be if a customer came in and wanted something we didn’t have in stock, we’d place a special order and have it in a few days. Now the customer goes home and orders it online and has it in 48 hours.”

Michael said Ramsey tries to maintain its competitive advantage by offering excellent in-store customer service and following MAP pricing. “We like to hold price, but it’s difficult when you have vendors and nearby stores breaking it.”

Ramsey also maintains close ties with the surrounding outdoor community, working with a variety of local non-profits, such as Hackensack Riverkeeper, Raritan Headwaters and The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, a volunteer-powered nonprofit that builds, maintains, and protects public trails in New York and New Jersey, with a focus on creating great trail experiences and fostering a love for the outdoors.

Ramsey is very well known in its local communities, but the store took on a national profile when it was featured on HBO’s hit show “The Sopranos.” The plotline on the show involved the owner of an outdoor store who racked up gambling debts and has to invite the gangsters into the store to make good on his payments.

The gangsters wreak havoc on the business and the debt-ridden gambler becomes suicidal, and resorts to sleeping in a small tent set up in his store.

Of course, that was all fiction and for Michael, who was 14-years-old, it was exciting to watch a TV show filmed in his family store and to rub shoulders with the actors and crew.

“I was pretty young at the time, around 14-years old, but I remember it being a large production. They filmed for two days, and we were closed during that time. There were over 100 crew members and cast on-site, and in between filming, they were shopping around the store.  One of the best parts for me was getting to miss school and meet a bunch of the actors—it’s definitely a cool memory that has stuck with me.”