Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Thanksgiving holiday turns our hearts and minds toward family, home, country, and friends. It reminds up to be grateful for all we have been given. For over 16 years Appalachian Outfitters has had the good fortune to have customers (friends) like you. So many of you have come into our new location on Halton Road and have said things like, "We're so happy for y'all!" You're enthusiasm and excitement over the store's new home humbles us and indeed makes up thankful to have nice folks like you in our lives.

We'll be open at 8 am on Friday.

Thanksgiving Weekend Hours:
Friday 8am - 7pm

Saturday 10am - 7pm

Sunday 12pm - 6pm

We Have Moved!

We are now open for business in our new location at 191 Halton Road. Many thanks to all of our co-workers and dear friends who helped us move all of the store's merchandise one mile down the road in less than 30 hours! We are celebrating our Grand Re-Opening and our 16th anniversary in business now through the end of the month with some great deals on cool gear.

Help us have less to move!

We've been finishing the last few projects at our new location and we're moving this weekend. Come in this Friday, October 15th and Saturday, October 16th and save 10% storewide on the last two days we'll be in our Orchard Park Drive location. We'll have less to move on Sunday!

SPOT2 Device availability

Howdy Folks,
I just wanted to give you a heads-up about availability of the SPOT2 Emergency Device that we have had on backorder for months. This morning, I received an e-mail from the Southeastern Sales Manager, Rich Galasso that reads:

"Jonathon,
Sorry about the delay and you are correct that we have been able to start getting units out into the field. The reality is that we have almost 20k units on back order with some outstanding po's dating back to November. We have been chipping away at this mountain for about two weeks now (shipped about half) and hope to be fully caught up by the end of this month. I will make an effort to get you out at least some units A.S.A.P. to help you with any pressing customers but please appreciate that we're filling the orders in a FIFO fashion and dealing with the exceptions as best as possible.
I appreciate your business and ask for your continued patience, we're almost whole."

Those of you who are interested in a SPOT2 device and are not on our "will-call" list, please let us know that you want one of the units asap.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Fall Reflection of Purpose (after 15 years of service)

We believe it’s important to take time to reflect on what you are doing and why. The following are some core values we believe are essential to our commitment to you:

-We believe being outdoors is an essential part of making life better.
-We want everyone to experience it with safety, comfort and fun, respecting and preserving natural places for the future.
-To achieve these goals we provide the best value to our customers by seeking products of unquestionable quality and matching these appropriately to each person needs.
-The only way to meet these goals is by personal attention to each person’s outdoor endeavors.

We’re committed to these values and they’re our reason for being here. We hope to see you soon and look forward to hearing about your next adventure.

Update from Russ in Europe

This has been awesome! Amsterdam is on my list of places to go back to! So much to see, and so little time. Just finishing up Germany, tomorrow we go to Strasburg, France for a canal ride & city tour, then to see the Maginot Line. Today was Ruins and Cathedrals in Heidelberg. Earlier, we toured Cologne & Koblenz. Awesome sunny and warm weather here, will cool off in Zermatt! More later

We spent a week in Amsterdam (and the surrounding area), walking, riding trams, & cruising all over the city. We saw all the Old & New churches, all the old buildings, the breweries, the wind Mills, the shopping areas, museums, the Red light district, and cruised the canals. The best of all was walking along all the canals in the Jordaan. The scenery, the architecture, the history, and did I mention the bars & cafes? And the bicycles!!!! They are everywhere! Awesome! We traveled north for a few days to Noord Holland (the North coast, great people, fishing villages, more history). Finally we returned to Amsterdam for a day, before getting on our river cruise ship & heading up the Rhine.

Strasburg, France. . . WOW!!!!!!

Awesome is all I can say! Well, touristy & expensive too, but it's the off season, so it's not too bad. The views from anywhere in Zermatt are awesome. The buildings, the mountains the snow, the Glaciers... I take pictures everywhere I go!

So far we walked all over Zermatt, then took 3 gondolas up to Glacier Paradise at 3883 meters to check out the views (The highest Gondola in Europe). I was dumb struck by the views. Watching the skiers & hikers, looking down into Switzerland and Italy, checking out the mountains and the Glaciers... There are no words for how pretty it was.

The lowest temps so far have been 32, so I got to test my cold weather clothes finally. All I needed was a few layers, and I was fine. I wore an AO T shirt, with a Cap 3 Patagonia zip neck over it, and a Marmot Precip jacket with a Nat Geo buff and an AT cap. I was toasty, At night in town, my Columbia travel shirt or my cap 3 zip neck, combined with my Patagonia vest worked great. For carrying my gear, I alternate between my Mountain Hardware Enterprise pack, and my small Patagonia pack. Both worked well (with my shorts, of course). Word of advice... If you are going to travel for 3 weeks and walk on cobble stones all the time, buy a good pair of walking shoes/light weight hiking boots. My New Balance sneakers worked great for a while, but did not hold up to the abuse, the mid sole is squashed on the outside & I walk crooked.

Tomorrow we take the cog up to another lookout, I will let you know how it goes.

Russ

Staying busy. . .well, some of us are!

We apologize for not updating the blogger more often, but we've been really busy at Appalachian Outfitters for the past few months. Thanks to our wonderful, loyal customers AO finds its business sales UP for the past 3 months in a row! Diana and Jonathan have been working their fannies off, but the work is so rewarding and fulfilling that it hardly feels like work at all. Here's an update of what's new at the shops:

Appalachian Outfitters welcomes a new employee (and several that have returned and are eager to work):
-Greg Geyer hails from Tacoma, Washington where he managed a highly-technical outdoor store for 11 years. We are thankful to have him and thankful for his vast product knowledge, integrity, and dedication to meeting customers' needs.

-Nathan Boroughs returned from working on the Nantahala River this summer and is continuing his college studies this fall. Many of you may not recognize him because he has cut his hair. . .that's right, the dreadlocks are history!

-Pam Lasier returns to work after several months of assisting her brother who underwent serious cancer treatment in Chicago. Anyone who knows Pam can appreciate what a wonderful help she would be to anyone in need, and we are grateful to have her back.

-Ashley McGowin gave birth to her first child in July and loves working just a couple of days a week (sometimes she even brings little Samantha with her).

Stop by and say hello to these folks and check out what's new.

Russ in Europe

Whether you know him as Russ, "the guy with the knee brace," "the old guy that thru-hiked," or as "Hot-Dog," he is fortunate enough to be on a Rhine river cruise in Europe. Here are some pics that he sent:

Russ says: "Well, we are in Amsterdam, and in between the rain showers it is awesome... During the rain showers it's cold and windy (and still awesome, because I have my Marmot Precip jacket and Columbia travel shirt to keep me warm!). Shari and I walked at least 3-4 miles, and then relaxed at a cafe, rode on a couple Trams, shopped, and took a canal tour. Not a bad first day without sleep... Time to get caught up on sleep & take the town by storm tomorrow (we will be going to museums, markets, walk along more canals, and find some Dutch beer to taste!). The spot unit is showing part of where we went today, but in between all the buildings & sliding down in my pack, it missed a lot. Will try to do better tomorrow. Did I mention this place is awesome? More tomorrow!"

Well, it has been known to rain just a bit in the Netherlands!

Russ will keep us up-to-date with pics from his trip regularly.