Bryce Phillips can't remember a warmer winter.
Phillips, who lives in Seattle's Lakewood neighborhood, is something of a winter enthusiast.
Phillips, founder and CEO of fast-growing outdoor retailer Evo, was a professional skier with sponsors including Patagonia and Seattle-based K2. He started skiing in the fourth grade when his uncle took him to Mount Ashland in Oregon. To this day, Phillips skis about 50 times each winter.
This warmer, less snowy season is slowing demand for ski equipment, frustrating concerns for skiers, snowboarders and water managers. And for Phillips, the alarming trends in his sports industry made Evo think differently about its business.
“This is a situation that all of North America has never experienced before,” Phillips, 46, said of the winter conditions.
Snow levels are below normal in the Cascade Mountains, and this winter is expected to be one of the warmest on record worldwide. Washington's winters are affected by El Niño's high temperatures and dry air, and climate change is adding to the problem.
On top of climate change risks, the outdoor retail industry fell 3.2% as consumers who stocked up on gear during the first years of the pandemic felt the pinch of inflation.
Even in the face of macro adversity, Evo has strategies including long-term plans to expand international expansion, travel and lodging, and mountain biking offerings. His Evo, a privately held company, hoped to fill a niche missed by big chains like REI Co-op and smaller independent retailers.
keep it real
Evo was founded in 2001 in Phillips' garage near its flagship store at 3500 N. Stone Way in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood since 2012. For seven years, Evo was in the building that now houses Wonderland Gear Exchange, also in Fremont.
Evo has a team of 680 people in North America and 450 people in Japan. The company bills itself as “building a global community and company like no other” and has a “big vision.”
When he founded the company, Phillips was splitting his time between Whistler, British Columbia, where he was a professional skier, and Seattle. He would buy used items in Whistler and sell them on roadsides in the US and on his eBay.
Twenty years later, Phillips still owns Whistler Village Sports, one of his former used stores, which Evo acquired in 2018, making it its first physical presence in Canada.
The acquisition was one of several as Philips grew the Evo brand. Since then, Evo has acquired hotels and snowsports stores in British Columbia and Japan.
In addition to acquisitions, Evo has opened stores in mixed-use projects in Snoqualmie Pass (located across the street from The Summit at Snoqualmie) and in Salt Lake City. Like the Seattle store, the Salt Lake City store has an All Together Skatepark. His other Evo projects have similar recreational businesses. Evo owns All Together Skateparks below its Seattle store and on its Salt Lake campus.
For Phillips, aligning the Evo store with other recreational and retail businesses brings the Evo brand to life.
“Building our business differently has always been central to who we are and how we want to communicate to the world,” he said. “Our focus has always been on differentiation.”
The differentiation doesn't stop at the Evo store. Phillips said he wants the Evo brand to be a place where people travel, stay and rent gear.
Evo's projects are self-funded and the company has never taken out debt for the project, Phillips said. He has received some funding from angel investors, but the project is being paid for through the company's core retail business. That's where Evo's scale is and where it's positioned, he said.
Mountains on the “front line”
Kelly Davis, research director for the Outdoor Industry Association, a trade group, said the U.S. outdoor retail industry is currently facing challenges due to inflation. Rising prices reduce consumer purchasing power, especially in industries where new equipment can be expensive.
Jim Knudsen, Evo's chief cultural strategy officer, said adjustments are also occurring due to the oversupply caused by the pandemic in the outdoor sports industry. Knudsen joined Evo full-time in 2019 after serving as a consultant for the company.
Phillips said Evo saw an 80% increase in sales during the first two years of the pandemic, but sales have declined over the past two years.
“During the pandemic, everyone wanted to be outside and had time. Many had checks that could buy expensive equipment,” Knudsen said. “Then we're just entering a period of correction. And I think this is a sharper correction than most companies in the industry expected.”
He added that the industry is currently looking for ways to retain those who first took part in outdoor sports during the pandemic.
Seattle-based REI Co-op is also feeling the downturn. The company has made two layoffs within a year. In the latest round announced in January, REI laid off 357 employees, representing 2.2% of its workforce, and CEO Eric Ertz said REI was preparing for a difficult year in the outdoor specialty retail industry. He said that
Phillips blamed the lack of snow on sales this winter, which experts blame on a combination of climate change and El Niño, a natural phenomenon in which sea surface temperatures rise above average in the Pacific region. This time last year, several parts of the state received above-average snowfall.
Last year, the Cascades saw average to slightly below average snowfall, but a warm spring caused it to melt quickly. This year's snowfall in the Cascades is between 50% and 70% of normal, according to data from the National Water and Climate Center. However, the season is not over yet, as snowfall in Washington state tends to peak around April 1st.
Evo's bootfitters were busy Tuesday night as the last week of February brought a lot of snow to the Cascades. A couple who wanted their snowboard bindings adjusted had to be turned away. The snowboard service technicians were fully booked that night, and the boot fitters were working with two or three customers at a time. The shop downstairs was relatively empty.
The long-term future of the snowsports industry depends on whether the world can curb greenhouse gas pollution as outlined in the Paris Agreement, said the Canadian-based University of Waterloo Geography and said Daniel Scott, professor of environmental management.
“That's the billion-dollar question for you: What does the future of climate change look like?” Scott said. “And that is what will determine the future of the ski industry.”
The world is falling short on emissions reductions, even as temperature records are falling with unprecedented regularity. Scott said February is the warmest month on record. This winter is expected to be the warmest since December.
Scott said as the climate warms, the snow season will start to lean more towards bad years than good years.
“Mountains have always been on the front lines of climate change,” said Erin Sprague, CEO of the environmental advocacy group Protect Our Winters.
Global warming threatens companies like Evo that specialize in winter sports, she said.
Mr Phillips said that although Evo was vulnerable to the effects of climate change, he was confident about its future.
Knudsen said Evo's focus is on running eco-friendly businesses, working with partners who also operate sustainably, and getting people outdoors. By bringing more people outdoors, Evo can foster future environmental activists, Knudsen said.
growth and growing pains
In a world that looks less like white mountains in the middle of winter and more like a dusty cloud, Evo's long-term strategy is to diversify both in offering and geography, and to create what he calls “multiple legs on a stool.” ” Phillips said.
One of Evo's bets is to grow its mountain bike business, as customers swap skis and wheels when the mountain ground is bare.
“In the long run, far more people will be able to ride mountain bikes than skis or snowboards. That's just a fact,” Phillips said.
Evo also aims to grow in the travel and hospitality sector. Beyond the business benefits, “we want to offer a collection of unique experiences,” he said.
Through Evo, customers can pay up to $7,250 for an eight-day heli-skiing trip in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island and up to $2,500 for an eight-day mountain biking trip in Colombia. Some trips are sold out, including snowsports trips to Niseko in Japan and Chamonix in the French Alps. Customers stay at Evo Hotel in Salt Lake City for $235 per night. This includes ski and snowboard rental.
Japan is “on fire,” Phillips said. With perhaps the highest quality snow in the world, skiing in Japan is more affordable than many North American resorts. His one-day lift ticket at Blackcomb in Whistler, a treasure of the Pacific Northwest, costs $214, a big difference compared to his $56 one-day ticket at Japan's Hakuba Valley.
He said Japan is one of Phillips' favorite ski destinations, along with South America, Europe, the Pacific Northwest, including interior British Columbia, and Alaska.
Evo has pursued international expansion through acquisitions.
In 2022, the company acquired Rhythm Japan, a gear rental and retail business, and acquired seven stores in Japan. In November, it acquired the Bergland Hotel in Hakuba.
Evo owns Whistler Village Sports in British Columbia and in 2021 acquired Callahan Country Wilderness Adventures, owner of Whistler-based Journeyman Lodge.
This expansion comes with growing pains. In addition to declining revenues in North America, acquisitions, and climate change risks, Evo also has an image to protect, and instead of appearing too corporate for outdoor recreation enthusiasts, the brand is, as Phillips puts it, ” It conveys that “we are keeping it authentic.”
For Phillips, that means being careful in expanding Evo, including turning down requests for acquisitions and partnerships, which he says he receives every week. Evo “is not a scalable prototype,” he said. Mr Phillips said he wanted to focus on impact and relevance to the communities in which the company operates.
“This is a 23-year conversation,” he said. “The human level, it always exists.'' Such a thing is impossible. [pitch] This is a deck that everyone loves. ”
Mr. Phillips is a partner in real estate development company Evolution Projects, a venture separate from Evo. The company is developing the building that will house Evo and other companies, as well as his Evo office in Fremont, where Phillips' collected K2 skis are on display by the stairwell door. Masu.
Evolution Projects is developing the building next door to the Fremont Evo store, which will include Brooks Running offices and other tenants and become part of what the company is calling “Campus Seattle.” . The complete addition will include more than 230,000 square feet of office, recreational and retail space.
Its portfolio includes residential properties in Snoqualmie Pass, the Seattle Bouldering Project facility near Evo's Fremont flagship store, and Greenwood Collective, a Seattle arts collective and venue.
“Our goal is to create a gathering place,” Phillips said of the Evolution project.
Despite the tough retail environment, he's bullish about Evo's future.
“I really like the fact that we're diversifying what we do and where we do it,” Phillips said. “We're really excited to continue delivering these customer experiences in inspiring locations.
“Given the global opportunity, we are just getting started.”
