Grassroots Connect Knoxville Show Concludes

Grassroots Outdoor Alliance (www.grassrootsoutdoors.com), the national organization working for the health and growth of independent specialty outdoor retail, closed the curtain last week on its sold-out spring Grassroots Connect.

Gathering 118 attending retailers representing more than 200 storefronts, Grassroots Connect had the familiar bustle of a peak season order-writing sales event – back-to-back meetings and plenty of networking.

“While we’ve returned to pre-pandemic attendance levels and in-depth sales conversations that have traditionally been at the heart of the Grassroots Connect show, the specialty outdoor retail community is still very interested in forward-looking business topics such as the impacts of ongoing supply chain issues ranging from a condensed selling season to oversupplied and undersupplied retailers,” said Dana Howe, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance director of membership and education. “Fortunately, in all those cases, high-level communication and transparency are the right tools for the job, and those are things that Connect always delivers.”Attendees at the spring Grassroots Connect show had many reasons for optimism and confidence, as strong apparel and footwear numbers led all sales categories among Grassroots member retailers through the middle of May, led by apparel (up 20.5 percent), footwear (up 20.2 percent), eyewear (up 16.5 percent) and hydration (up 8.9 percent).

In addition to core business conversations, more than a dozen other topics were elevated during the show’s educational sessions. Examples of those conversations included a discussion of a more equitable and profitable approach to growing the specialty outdoor retail community, which was led by Earl B. Hunter Jr. of Black Folks Camp, Too; a “reality check” on best practices for hiring and retaining employees, led by Jenna Celmer of Basecamp; and a panel discussion focused on how independent retailers can prepare for the arrival of a Big Box national chain in their communities, led by Tara Kuipers of Grassroots.

The next Grassroots Connect gathering is scheduled for Nov. 7-10, in Kansas City, Mo. Invitations to vendor brands will begin this month, and initial appointment scheduling for retailers will begin in August.

For more information on Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, please go to www.grassrootsoutdoors.com