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Retailers offer reality check Customers can test gear for outdoors By STEPHANIE STOUGHTON The Washington Post Simply trying on an expensive Gore-Tex jacket might not be enough to convince shoppers that it will keep them dry, so REI's Seattle store invites customers to experience a good drenching in the store's "rain room." And to determine whether climbing shoes "edge" the right way, consumers can check them out on the "climbing wall" -- which looks like a small escalator set at a 90-degree angle at Hudson Trail Outfitters in Rockville, Md. Surely the wall is a better place to make this discovery, employees say, than on the side of a real mountain. Led by large sporting goods merchants such as REI and Hudson Trail Outfitters, retailers are taking the industry's obsession with entertainment to the next level. But this time, it's not just about bringing fun, games and food courts to shopping centers and malls. Merchants are building in-line skating rinks, fishing ponds and mini-basketball courts in their stores, trying to attract a broader range of consumers and help solve one of their biggest headaches: returns. "It gives them the opportunity to see if the product meets their expectations: Does it fit well? Does it feel right?" said Martin Mac Donald, a spokesman for Bass Pro Shops, which has built fishing ponds and electronic shooting ranges into its stores. "And yes, it does reduce the return rate." Although retailers may want you to stick around a bit longer, don't mistake this for a one-day pass to an amusement park. The store manager smiling at you as you try out a product might well be thinking: "Have a good time, buy something and then, leave." "I'm a believer in not keeping customers in too long," said Neal Lyons, senior vice president of Vans Inc., which sells skateboards, in-line skates and its own brand of casual shoes, among other products. "When you overdo it, you create a Disneyland atmosphere and people don't buy. You have to remember first and foremost that you're a retailer, and your goal is to sell product." Vans has built a huge skating park at its Southern California outlet and plans to unveil a similar park next year in Prince William County, Va. But the Discovery Channel's flagship store in downtown Washington disproves Lyons' rule; employees there don't mind gawkers. The store wants people to stay for hours, using its computerized kiosks to learn about aviation, dinosaurs and astronomy. The model planes, dinosaur bones and telescopes are conveniently located next to the kiosks, in hopes browsers will become customers. "We really encourage people to pick up the product and play with it," said Kim Airhart, a spokeswoman for Discovery Channel Retail. Christopher Reynolds, visual merchandising manager of the Hudson Trail Outfitters store in Rockville, Md., shrugs at teenagers playing on the climbing wall, even though he knows they're probably not buying anything. He's banking on those teens becoming future climbers -- and buying Hudson Trail gear. Officials at Bass Pro Shops say they've realized that their success hinges on converting youths who are indifferent to their parents' and grandparents' pastimes of fishing, boating and hunting. So at its flagship store in Springfield, Mo., the retailer has added a fishing pond where customers can test their fly-fishing equipment, an archery target practice area and a shooting range. For beginners, it offers how-to seminars on trout fishing and hunting safety. An "infotainment" store's draw can be strong enough to make it a small tourist attraction, which is the ultimate goal for many retailers. Consumers say they return again and again, simply because they enjoy the mix of entertainment, education and service. Chris Deegan, a 31-year-old pharmaceutical salesman who lives in Rockville, Md., said he typically avoids stores. But he adds that he adores the Seattle flagship store of REI, where customers can sip coffee by a fireplace, scale a fake mountain and test their mountain bikes. "I swear they're trying to keep you there for three to four years," Deegan said. "I'm kind of a sucker for that." Photo by Bob Pennell Climbing instructor Rob Parks traverses the climbing wall Wednesday upstairs in the Ashland Outdoor Store. The store provides the wall for customers to try out climbing gear, and offers classes in climbing. Ashland store's target: turn people on to outdoors By DAVID PRESZLER The trend toward try-it-out-here features has reached Southern Oregon in only a small way, in part because the outdoor stores here tend to be smaller independents without the space or resources for such luxuries. Ashland Outdoor Store has a small climbing wall for customers to use when trying out shoes or harnesses. Medford's McKenzie Outfitters had one in its downtown store and plans to build one in its new Biddle Road location. McKenzie manager Wes Pettegrew says customers liked the chance to get a feel for the equipment on the wall in the old store and he's looking forward to getting the new one built, although that is probably a few months away. Ken Morrish, Ashland Outdoor Store's manager, said he sees the wall as a service tool, not an entertainment one -- and the store has taken steps to make sure it stays that way. When it first built the wall, the store offered open climbing. But it became wildly popular and got in the way of the store's goal: selling merchandise. Now, wall use is limited to customers trying on shoes and some classes that the store offers. Morrish says he doesn't think the wall has generated new sales directly as much as it has improved customer service. As for the push some sporting goods giants have made toward outdoor playlands in their stores, Morrish says that's not something he's interested in. "That's just theme-park stuff," he says. He'd rather reach out to customers through free instruction and other efforts more directly tied to the outdoors. "If we can introduce people to the outdoors in a meaningful way, that's more important," he says. "What we really want to do is not turn someone on to a rain room, but to the outdoors." Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA