Ohio backpackers

“I heard that Benchmark Outfitters have left Cincinnati. I looked for thier website and could not find it. Does anyone know if they bit the dust or do I just have a bad serch engine? I know they have a store in Columbus and a few other places on the East Coast. Anyone know anything?”

“I found them by doing a google. Evidently they're out of Farmington, Mi. They mentioned no other locations, but I didn't dig into their site enough to find out anything other than they do exist.”

“About 3 years ago, and local outfitter here in Cleveland named Newman's Outfitters bought out several regional backpacking chains in order to form a large regional store (kind of like a Galyans, but on a smaller scale). They had a big financial backer (I'm pretty sure it was Paul Newman, for this is a store his family has run for like 100 years) at the time that allowed them to make the purchases. This buy-out included all Benchmark Outfitters (Cinci, C-Bus, and 2 stores in MI), and The Wilderness Shop in Cleveland (3 locations).

About 1-1/2 years ago, the big financial backer bailed on Newmans, resulting in a huge overhead problem for the company. They first closed the benchmarks, and now all Newmans stores are closed, the last one going in November here in my hometown of Lakewood. They are out of business, and completely defunt.

I know the original owners of the Benchmark store in C-Bus were attempting to buy the store back last year, but don't know if they were successful. I know all of this because I was buddies with a few people that worked there, including one of the owners.

Late!

BB”

“bigpoppa, the benchmark in Farmington Mi shut down a couple years ago. They were supposed to be moving but never reopened. My buddy used to wok for them and all of a sudden *poof* they were gone, no one knew...”

“the benchmark in columbus is gone....”

“I talked to one of the owners last year and he was looking to open up another store here in Cincy. I guess that is not going to happen.

I was in the Cincy store a few months ago and I did notice some of the basics were missing from the shelves, food, water filter supplies etc. All in all, it was a very nice store. I think we now have just one true outfitters store here in Cincinnati. Bummer.

I guess it is all online shopping from now on. The wave of the future is here.”

“Anyone in my area still has a couple of local options.
Appalachian Outfitters in Canton and Peninsula and The Trailhead in Alliance.
The Backpack Shop?(not sure about the name) is still in Sheffield, Oh, as far as I know.”

“Where are those cities? Up north near Cleveland?”

“yeah bigpoppa - the backpacker shop is about 10 minutes away from me. Appalacian Outfitters is outstanding.... Buddur's ole stomping grounds.”

“App. Outfitters is waaaay cool!”

“Benchmark here in Cincinnati is history. We still have Nature Outfitters in Milford which is in the Greater Cincinnati area I talked to a girl who used to work at Benchmark. She said they closed because they could not compete with the net.”

“The Benchmark went bankrupt. The manager of the Columbus Benchmark bought all of their old inventory and moved to the Kingsdale Center in Upper Arlington and now operates under the name, "Outdoor Source." It's much smaller than Benchmark and is primarily a backpacking store.”

“I liked Benchmark but rarely if ever bought anything from them. They were too pricey.”

“I know they liked to carry Patagonia clothes. I think it is a great line of tech wear, but way overpriced. I thought more college kids and yuppies bought Patagonia then backpackers. Then again, there are not a lot of hardcore backpackers to sell to in Cincinnati.

All in all, they should have thought about looking at a cheaper lease and smaller store. Today's economy forces you to keep you overhead low and deliver great customer service.”

“The Outdoor Source is exactly that--a smaller store. They seemed focused just on backpacking related gear. They were doing well when they were at Carriage Place, now that they've moved tot he Kingsdale Center I hope they are doing okay. Seems to me less people would stop in at the new location.”

“I was backron in the Akron area this weekend and as usual stopped into Appalachian Outfitters. To my luck I got to check out and even fire up the new JetBoil stove, lay on a new Therm-a-Rest Prolite 3 3/4, checked out MSR's Hubba Hubba tent, and even forced them to let me pitch and tool around with MSR's Missing Link shelter. Lots of new gear for me to check out made that visit speccccchhhhhhal.

I only got a cool long sleeve fuzzy Prana shirt and TechWash and Revivex. I did not however purchase the $250 marked down to $134 lite-green colored Patagonia R4 jacket which I've been in love with since I first tried one on 3 years ago. I have so many coats I just couldn't justify getting it, especially when my old Goretex coats could stand to be replaced first.

Oh yeah, about forcing them to let me pitch the Missing Link... When there yesterday I asked about it, they had it but it wasn't up for display. So I asked if I could pitch it and check it out, but the salesperson said there wasn't enough room for it and then went into telling me the bad points about it. So after leaving the place I was proverbally kicking my self in the ass for not making them set it up for me to see...so today I went in and made a dood set it up. He asked me, like it made a difference whether he'd set it up or not, if I was interested in buying it, so of course I said "Yes!". I told him I could set it up myself if he had anything better to do, but he said "No." as if I'd break it or something. I could've set it up in less than half the time it took for him to do it, so I ended up doing most of it anyways. He didn't have much good tosay about it either, so I had to be the Devil's advocate and point out to him all the good things about it.

Well, clock on the computer says 4:20, so I gotta go...”

“About what it's like to live in the Columbus area.”

“Fun! Lots of stuff to do, lots of young people. A centralized location to all the hiking in the state...only a few hours from WV.”

“Good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods?”

“there are many generic suburban areas situated around the periphery of the city (ie big new homes, big new schools, big taxes)....there are areas of nicer older homes that have been well kept, and there are some areas of older homes that have been (sadly) neglected....there are upscale areas near downtown with restored victorians and there are some areas that are in the midst of gentrification....i live in a small town within easy commuting distance and there are plenty of those as well....

dub is right, though....many, many great restaurants and clubs....always something interesting to do....

are you considering a relocation??”

“Yeah, if you're moving down here let me know and I can point you to a good neighborhood. If you have kids I know the areas with the best schools, etc. Just send me an email. As gonzo said, I live in a big home, big school, BIG tax area...but it's worth it. Resell value here is crazy.”

“just doing my research on something for the time being.

Thanks guys.

Where would I be able to keep my horse?”

“Depends on where you plan on working. Almost all of the areas 10 miles outside of Columbus are good areas. I would get a home outside of town close to where you plan on working. Pataskala is a new and upcoming area on the east side.”

“ohio people suck :D”

“At least we backpack ;-P ;-)”

“Here- http://www.forgottenoh.com/Inland/inland.html”

“Yeah, alum creek downtown isn't the greatest area.”

“A rendering plant is a good place fo ra hoorse though.”

“I’d say it’s about like any other city of it’s size. There are good areas and bad areas. There IS a lot to do there.”

“It would be awesome having you that close Dhutch! It's only about an hour away from me. Then again, this could be a reason NOT to move there. LOL!”

“That's a cool website. Is it yours? I didn't have time to read it all but there seems to be some good stuff on there. My luck I would get busted trying to explore like that though.”

“Soooo preliminary Nig.

You know I love you guys!”

“Dhutch, ohio sucks! Stay here or I will hate you...
















okay I wont hate you but I will miss you big time.”

“The Cow Town has a half-decent music scene.”

“there are many rural areas within commuting distance that are suitable for horses....

i forgot to mention the metro park system that has excellent running trails and that there are bicycle trails all over the state, as well as in the metropolitan columbus area....”

“I think you should keep the horse in the city. Just put some bling bling on it. Some gold chains, corn rows, spinner hooves, and a gl"ass" pack should do the trick.”

“So before we even get to meet, you're just gonna pack up and move even FURTHER away????
lol
J/K of course, good luck with whatever you decide to do :)”

“Thanks all. It would take a lot to pry me away from my current job due to my family connections here. And of course my friends birch. Plus I'm in an ideal location surrounded by metro and state parks for biking and running.

But....I'd be a fool not to consider a great offer.”

“Columbus has about 13 metro parks ranging in 500-7000 acres in size.”

“Not my site. I don't have the patience or creative skills to put toghteth a website. Urgan exploration is prretty cool though.”