Orvis stuff was aspriational to me. The catalog came every year, and I'd look at the fishing and wingshooting stuff at length. The dog beds were nicer than our couch. The clothes all were out of my demographic, and yes, the bundles of georgia fatwood kindling seemed really, really stupid. Over the years, they've refined their approach. Wingshooting stuff is pretty much gone, as folks either gave it up or moved on to essential italian shotguns for whacking small birds in the southeast, presumably after church.
I got patagucci stuff, but nothing since Chouinard sold it. It has always been top quality, and I'm pretty loyal. My first stuff was mountaineering clothing and equipment, it replaced Filson and Bauer in that market, all on quality and service.
Orvis fishing stuff has seemed to me to maintain quality, but it's weird. I had a rocky mountain cassette reel system I loved, but they quit supporting it in a short amount of time, and I needed some more cassettes, and ya can't get 'm without Ebay or something. It seems they'll have a reel like a battenkill and it'll stay current for like 5 years and then gone. I've got two sling bags, a guide and a smaller one, I got'm a year apart, and one goes over one shoulder and the other goes over the other. Again, weird. There is or was one in Coeur d'Alene out where the rich people hang out, I haven't been there in years. I went into the one in Jackson last time I was there. I thought I'd get my dog a leash to celebrate our trip.....I saved my $150 and bought us a couple of steaks to barbecue in Central Idaho a couple days later...Dugan didn't seem to mind.
They'll survive, because they make quality stuff as noted above. It'll be different, with a few of their products at local shop dealers, but they'll close the majority of their nameplate stores and go to online. If you want to go to an Orvis store, you'll need to go to Scottsdale or Bellevue or Jackson or Aspen. Actually, save your cash and go to the home place in Manchester. It's an old money place, and as such has class and comfort and service, not the new money snootyness of the other stores.
Let;s face it, fly fishing is a sport appealing to the last remaining outdoorsfolk of our generation, and trendy ass country club folk at those fancy gated lodges all over the Henry's Fork (who I suppose also shoot Georgia quail). Most outdoor pursuits today do not involve a rod or gun. Again, I'm out of that demographic.
And most of us have a room/garage/house full of stuff. Nobody's keeping a shop open on us.
