Hudson Trail Outfitters going out of business

[dplasters]

I live very close to the Fairfax location. I worked for Circuit City when it went belly up. I don’t envy the employees. A reminder to those stopping by in the coming months to be kind to those still sticking around until the last days of HTO.

They carry a lot of Gore Bike Wear for those that like their line of stuff.

If I’m honest, their sales in the past have been lacking. They never seemed super motivated to move old inventory to make way for new stuff. However the closing of their Fairfax location gets that shopping center one storefront closer to the future redevelopment of the area.

[TwoWheelsDC]

They kinda seemed like a less convenient, less-likely-to-have-good-deals, version of REI. Not that I think they “deserve” to close or anything, but the outdoor equipment and apparel market in this area seems pretty well saturated and they just didn’t seem to stand out.

[PotomacCyclist]

HTO was more convenient for those in Pentagon City/Crystal City. The closest REI is at the far end of Columbia Pike. It’s not a pleasant bike ride there from PC. I wouldn’t mind if REI opened a store in Pentagon City or perhaps in one of the planned buildings in Crystal City.

REI is planning to open a flagship store in the old Uline Arena in NoMa, north of Union Station. But that’s not convenient for people in Pentagon City either. (I still plan to check out the new store when it opens, but I doubt I’ll go there that often. It will be too far away from me.)

[hozn]

@PotomacCyclist 123245 wrote:

The closest REI is at the far end of Columbia Pike. It’s not a pleasant bike ride there from PC.

I think it is not so bad. Take the 4MRT west to Glencarlyn Park, then ride the (paved) trails south through the park past the nature center and then turn left onto Carlyn Springs and ride briefly to end up at REI. Carlyn Springs is the only road that has to be ridden and it is not a bad place to ride — at least not if ridden at non-rush-hour. The ride through Glencarlyn is very pleasant.

Too bad about HTO, but I also had little reason to shop there. It is where I bought my last bicycle from a store, though: an SE Lager. I had no opinions on the shop, though, and never took them up on the “lifetime” free service. They just happened to be the folks nearby that carried SE bikes.

[KLizotte]

The HTO bike mechanics have saved my bacon a few times with emergency repairs so I’ll be very sorry to see them go since I can practically throw a stone at them from my apartment. They also carry some clothing lines that REI does not have. I really like the store for the convenience and the staff are usually very nice and helpful. Pentagon Row is plagued by a lot of empty storefronts right now (and has been for quite a while). LA Fitness left a big hole; it will be hard to fill the HTO site given it’s strange configuration.

On a side note, Vornado, which owns the Riverhouse complex across the street, is planning on ripping out the parking lot (and lots of trees on the property) to build more apartments, restaurants, retail and either a small public school or affordable housing. They are going to pour concrete over most of the green areas and stick buildings on them. While I do believe in density, mixed use, etc. the Riverhouse complex is one of the few areas with old growth trees and grass in the PC area. Vornado is trying to turn the area into another Ballston: a concrete canyon. Am not happy!

[rcannon100]

@PotomacCyclist 123245 wrote:

HTO was more convenient for those in Pentagon City/Crystal City. The closest REI is at the far end of Columbia Pike. It’s not a pleasant bike ride there from PC. I wouldn’t mind if REI opened a store in Pentagon City or perhaps in one of the planned buildings in Crystal City.

REI is planning to open a flagship store in the old Uline Arena in NoMa, north of Union Station. But that’s not convenient for people in Pentagon City either. (I still plan to check out the new store when it opens, but I doubt I’ll go there that often. It will be too far away from me.)

There are independent bike shops – bike lane, bike rack, Revolting, bike pro shop, Chty Bikes – all over the city. Why go to corporate box stores?

[rcannon100]

These stores are not competing so much with each other as they are with Amazon and Nashbar (online commerce). Amazon is now doing more business than Walmart. REI prices are just looney. I went in during the sale and they had mountain bike shorts for $120. Other LBS are currently operating either in the red or with declining sales (while poseurs aka Contes move into the market). Traditional retail of “Location + Inventory” is dead. Best location is a UPS truck. Inventory cant compete with Amazon….. and frequently the inventory of these stores is terrible as they are tied to particular brands.

So ….. what’s left? How do you get people to come into your store?

Well obviously service. You cant get your bike fixed on Amazon (yet – think Oculus Rift providing DIY instructions while a 3D printer makes any part you need).

The new retail model means that the store must engage the customer, give the customer a reason to come into the store. This means engagement in the community. This may mean sponsorship of a team or club. This may mean hosting events. This may mean Bike to Work Day events. This may mean building a destination type store (think Green Lizard which is a coffee shop, retail, service, and spinning shop – right on the trail). Was HTO all that engaged in the community?

My advice to any retail store – put Sol’s pies in your shop to attract customers.

The retail bike shop market in DC is saturated. HTO may be the first to fall. They will not be the last. The retail model is being reinvented.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@rcannon100 123253 wrote:

LBS are currently operating either in the red or with declining sales (while poseurs aka Contes move into the market).

Wait…Conte’s = poseurs, or Freshbikes = poseurs? Also, what makes an LBS poseurs?

[mstone]

Ironically, I just went to HTO in fairfax for the first time last week. I’ve lived year for a long time, but never really knew what they had or why I’d want to go into what’s honestly kind of a sketchy location in a run down strip mall in a semi-highway wasteland next to the stupidest traffic circle in Virginia (thanks VDOT!). Brand awareness and advertising fail. I was somewhat favorably impressed with the store, though I guess that’s moot now. This is the kind of place that should be able to compete with amazon–if you’re buying a backpack, it really helps to actually try it on. I found the sales people kind of pushy (by the third person I had to tell that I was just looking around, I really wanted to be left alone) but in hindsight maybe they were trying to make commissions before the end? Maybe it just boils down to the grow-or-die model of american business, and they weren’t growing. Why has REI been able to come in, build new stores in nicer locations, and outlast them? Just economies of scale? I noticed that they seemed to avoid house-branded items, whereas REI has them in every category. They usually have better margins for the store–could HTO just not afford to play in that space?

[jrenaut]

I think at this point in retail you have to be exceptional or else you won’t make it. I had an REI employee at 7 Corners spend half an hour with me making sure my hiking backpack fit, and this was a closeout item I ordered online and shipped to the store. He filled it with weights and adjusted the straps and made sure I was set before I left. That kind of service keeps me coming back.

[PotomacCyclist]

@rcannon100 123251 wrote:

There are independent bike shops – bike lane, bike rack, Revolting, bike pro shop, Chty Bikes – all over the city. Why go to corporate box stores?

None of those are in Pentagon City, Crystal City or Potomac Yard. That’s why. HTO is/was the closest shop to me. The former City Hub was also nearby, but that’s closed. I don’t choose a bike shop based on whether or not it’s part of a chain or not. I chose HTO because they were much more convenient than any other place in the area for me.

A bike shop in Gallery Place, Capitol Hill, Logan Circle, etc. is not convenient for people in Pentagon City/Crystal City. If something is broken on the bike, it wouldn’t be practical to ride to those locations.

I now remember one occasion when there was a problem on the saddle of my mountain bike. I think it snapped off the rail and sagged backward. I didn’t know what the issue was at the time. I just knew that the saddle was not supposed to be tilting backward at a 30-degree angle. I’m not going to ride a bike like that all the way to Logan Circle from Potomac Yard. But it wasn’t too far to Pentagon City, so I went to HTO. They were able to fix it in just a few seconds.

I haven’t ridden the MTB that much over the last year, so I didn’t remember this before. I now remember a couple other occasions when I had minor issues with a bike. I brought them to HTO each time. For minor fixes, they never charged me anything. This includes the tilted seat. I couldn’t get the saddle back on. The person at HTO was able to take care of it quickly so he felt they didn’t need to charge me for that.

Whenever I brought the bike in for these cases and they didn’t charge me, I thought it fair to at least buy something, so I would stock up on Clif bars there (which I buy on a regular basis already). Or I would try to find some other item(s) that would be useful, such as a bike maintenance tool, etc.

Unfortunately for them, these were about the only times I ever stopped by. I almost never bought any clothing, running shoes or boots from them because they never had anything in my sizes when I would look around the store. That’s probably the same issue at the smaller bike shops too. This also goes for tires and tubes. I have 650c wheels on the tri bike. Very few stores carry those these days. So I have no choice but to order those online. Either that or waste an entire day traveling to every single store in the region to find the one shop that happens to have some 650c tubes on hand. I tried that once and found it to be very frustrating.

[jrenaut]

@PotomacCyclist 123265 wrote:

A bike shop in Gallery Place, Capitol Hill, Logan Circle, etc. is not convenient for people in Pentagon City/Crystal City. If something is broken on the bike, it wouldn’t be practical to ride to those locations.

This is another way to be “exceptional”. The Bike Rack is 1) close to my house and 2) open at 8am. The fact that the staff is good is almost just gravy. When I can hit a pothole on the way to work, bend my rim, and get a new wheel put on without being late enough to work for anyone to care is also a reason to come back to the store.

[creadinger]

@PotomacCyclist 123265 wrote:

None of those are in Pentagon City, Crystal City or Potomac Yard. That’s why. HTO is/was the closest shop to me. The former City Hub was also nearby, but that’s closed. I don’t choose a bike shop based on whether or not it’s part of a chain or not. I chose HTO because they were much more convenient than any other place in the area for me.

A bike shop in Gallery Place, Capitol Hill, Logan Circle, etc. is not convenient for people in Pentagon City/Crystal City. If something is broken on the bike, it wouldn’t be practical to ride to those locations.

When I lived in Crystal City I went to Spokes Etc up on Quaker Lane. It’s ~4 miles away, which I agree isn’t ideal for biking to the shop and leaving it, but it’s not terrible. Maybe wear your running shoes just in case.

Also, with how busy the service dept at that Spokes is all the time.. I can’t imagine that there isn’t room for another mechanic/service shop somewhere in PC/CC/PY area. Especially with all the new high density housing coming into Potomac Yard!

[DrP]

So, was the Crystal City hub of Revolution just too early for its time? (Or were rents just too high in CC? I could see either or both reasons) I used it to purchase items (brake pads, lube, etc.) since it was convenient to my office. Now, I would be more likely to use it to get something fixed/looked at while at work. I know some of my co-workers would use such a location with bike issues (one just broke a spoke on his ride in last week and couldn’t get to his home LBS until the weekend) too. I have noticed in the past few years a LOT more cyclists in Crystal City, both folks going to and from work. It might be more commercially viable now. There does appear to be a repair person who comes to CC on Thursdays during the day to do some repairs, but that isn’t always convenient either since an appointment is recommended (as per the CC BID page) and problems do not all occur to be timed for that. However, that is still an improvement over no other option. Any way to let other LBS’ looking to expand that a need may be here?

[lordofthemark]

@rcannon100 123253 wrote:

These stores are not competing so much with each other as they are with Amazon and Nashbar (online commerce). Amazon is now doing more business than Walmart. REI prices are just looney. I went in during the sale and they had mountain bike shorts for $120.

They had regular bike shorts on sale for $20.

[Author]

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