Marc Sherman cofounded Burlington’s Outdoor Gear Exchange in 1995 — the same year Pamela Polston and I started this weekly newspaper. He’s been a regular Seven Days advertiser since. For almost three decades, I’ve watched OGE grow and prosper, in the real world and online. That it reliably wins a pile of awards in our annual readers’ choice competition is a testament to Sherman’s business savvy. He rarely misses the Daysies party, where we catch up on everything from outdoor adventures to the cost of health insurance for employees.
Despite our long acquaintance, I was surprised to see his name pop up on my phone last Friday afternoon. I’d already gotten an email announcing that his new store — at the Essex Experience — had opened a week ahead of schedule. Cause for congratulations, no doubt, but that’s not why Sherman was calling. He wanted to clarify some things. No. 1: The OGE in Burlington remains open, along with its consignment business, which is moving up from the basement to the main floor. No. 2: The new suburban satellite store should not be interpreted as a sign of booming business.
“The truth is, we’re opening a store in Essex because the store in Burlington is not generating the traffic it used to,” he said. “And we feel that that’s a result of a local population not necessarily choosing to come into Burlington to shop.”
The pandemic was kind to Outdoor Gear Exchange and other local outfitters as people rediscovered nature, which for a while was the only safe place to be. But most retail outlets suffered mightily from the shutdowns related to COVID-19. Many had to close their doors for months. Reopening brought a slew of new problems, not the least of which is that more people are working from home and shopping online, resulting in less downtown foot traffic. There’s also an enduring labor shortage, inflationary wage pressure and, in Burlington, issues related to a large population of unhoused people struggling with addiction and mental illness.
Sherman said OGE is spending almost as much money on security at the Burlington store as the value of what is being stolen from it. Catching shoplifters is not a high priority for the city’s police.
“It’s a spiral,” Sherman said. “On the whole, Burlington is not unsafe. But if people stop shopping and the stores have to reduce their presence, we’re shrinking. Restaurants aren’t open seven days a week. That decreases the power of the Burlington brand.
“It’s not helping anybody to continue to talk about what’s wrong in Burlington,” he continued. “We need to focus on what’s right — and local retail and local hospitality are the reasons that Burlington is distinct from other cities.”
Sherman’s message was clear: The next few months will be crucial for the Vermont businesses you love — not just on the Church Street Marketplace but on Main Streets across the state. If all of us don’t make a concerted effort to buy from them this holiday season, there will likely be fewer local places to shop in 2024.
The good news: It’s within our power to reverse the trend. Just having more people out on the street — shopping, walking, eating, grabbing coffee, listening to music — can improve the vibe, turning a death spiral into a virtuous circle. Now that both the leaves and the tourists are gone, it’s time to tear yourself away from the screen, screw up your courage and come downtown to embrace the place.
As always, Seven Days has plenty of suggestions along those lines. Friday starts our 10-day Burger Week promotion, during which 44 Vermont eateries, from the Champlain Islands to the Upper Valley, are serving up affordable variations of America’s favorite comfort food. Find details about the participating establishments, and what they’re cooking, in a 12-page insert at the center of this week’s issue and at burgerweek.sevendaysvt.com.
Concurrently, we’re running a contest called the Gift Local Giveaway that invites readers to recommend their favorite local establishments for potential inclusion in our annual Gift Guide, out later this month. Mention at least 10 places at sevendaysvt.com/gift-local to be eligible to win a $500 gift card to use at one of them. We launched this initiative during the pandemic to encourage Vermonters to shop local. No one knew if our downtowns could survive. We pulled together then to help keep them in business. We can do it again.
If you’re not able to shop in person, there are alternatives to Amazon, like Local Maverick. Another one, Myti, starts operating today, Wednesday, November 1. It offers items for purchase and delivery from a couple dozen retailers, including downtown Burlington staples Kiss the Cook and Homeport, though not Outdoor Gear Exchange, which sells its wares at gearx.com.
On Sunday evening I drove to Essex to check out the new brick-and-mortar OGE. I was “on assignment,” after all. Next to the Hannaford and across from Black Flannel Brewing & Distilling, I found it, glowing in the last light of day two, with an inflatable man dancing out front. Inside I met Peter Hiskes, who said the store had been “jamming” all day. It has less inventory than the Burlington one, which makes the 5,000 square feet more navigable. I easily found something to buy: three pairs of Vermont-made Darn Tough socks. They’re not cheap, but like everyone and everything powering our local economy, they’re well worth the investment.
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This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2023.
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