MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Fishing is one of the last safe havens West Virginia residents have right now. That was even truer in the last month since residents without licenses were allowed to test the waters. Add those two factors together and one would imagine the fishing equipment market would be booming, but that’s not particularly true.
Enter McFly Outdoors, the brainchild of Kate and Wes Garton. In 2012, the Garton’s purchased Jerry’s Sporting Goods, in Horner, and rebranded it to what it is today. And in eight years, McFly Outdoors expanded out of Horner to two other locations, Bridgeport and Morgantown.
The store is predominantly marketed toward fly fishermen, as racks and shelves are stocked full with high-quality rods, reels, waders and apparel, with an expert staff who knows the ins and outs of the sport to go along with the product. One can go in for a quick perusal and purchase expecting to spend just 10 minutes browsing, but end up talking to the friendly associates for much longer. It’s this reason the Gartons knew they had to protect that customer-savvy staff.
“In the beginning, we didn’t know what to think,” Kate Garton said. “We started to take precautions early on. All of our stores are running on limited schedules, all of them closing by [6 p.m.]. We’ve been lucky because we’ve been able to keep all of our staff and try to have them at as regular hours as possible. Sales wise, we’ve seen the effect of it, but we’ve been fortunate because our loyal customers have been ordering online or placing curbside orders with us.
“Even before the executive order, we put policies into place kind of knowing what was coming. Our first priority is making sure that our staff is protected.”
In response to the CDC social distancing guidelines, McFly Outdoors has taken extra steps to prevent the virus from spreading. Currently, at the Morgantown location at the Suncrest Towne Centre, only two customers are allowed in the store at a time and must stay 6 feet apart from one another. Further, customers are asked to call the store ahead of time with any questions and to request curbside pickup. The full list of changes and preventative measures can be found at mcflyoutdoors.com/blog/our-response-to-covid19/
To counter the lack of in-store customers, Garton stands behind her business’ strong web presence. Established long before the outbreak, web sales have proven to balance out any lost sales.
“I think that we’ve been very fortunate that we already had an online store set up and ready to go,” Garton said, “but a big part of fly fishing sales is that customer interaction where people can come in, try on waders, cast a fly rod. That has definitely hurt us. Apparel is a big thing, too. People want to come in and try it on and see it in person. Our Patagonia and North Face is what is down the most in Morgantown.”
There are other losses because of COVID-19, namely, the store’s fly fishing classes, including the popular Open Fly Night held every Wednesday.
“I think it was mid-March when we had to end those [classes]. The biggest impact for our Morgantown store is when students left – we lost employees and a lot of our customer base,” Garton said. “We don’t see a lot of revenue from [those classes], but we see a lot of sales after the event. All of those classes, we’re able to build relationships with customers and a lot of times, those customers are coming back to us whenever they are needing any product.”
Even though things seem bleak, Garton isn’t giving up hope. This isn’t the first time she’s had to weather a storm and it won’t be the last. The biggest problem, Garton noted, is online retailers.
“It’s a struggle to be a small business and carry the inventory we carry,” she said. “A lot of times, we’ll have customers that will come in and try on the products we have, see if it’s what they like, but then leave the store and go online and buy it. I don’t think people quite understand the impact that has on a locally owned business. At our Horner store, for example, we’ve carried a big footwear selection but we’ve decided to not continue the category anymore because online sales are hurting us so much.”
Though all of this, Garton knows her business can thrive, but the focus has to be primarily online. It’s already been proven to work for other small businesses, and McFly Outdoors is one of them.
“We’ve been through down times in our industry before,” she said. “This is kind of weird to be in a situation where it’s not just the outdoor industry. When all of this started, I think everyone was looking around trying to get answers from each other, but I had to stop and say, ‘No one has the answers here.’ We’re just kind of in essence going with the flow, and I think that’s what we’re going to be doing in Morgantown until August when we see students coming back in.
“But at the same time, we’re trying to stay on top of the game and are trying to grow our online business. And we’ve been successful through this.”
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