Not just local fly shops are closing (not that Orvis is anything but a clothing store now)

K

kmudgn

Life of the Party
www.bostonglobe.com

Sporting retailer Orvis to shutter half its locations nationwide, citing tariff pressures - The Boston Globe

It's unclear which of the company's retail locations, including the one in Wellesley, will be affected.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

In my estimation, Orvis, LL Bean, and other "sports stores" have become retailers that focus on selling clothing, footwear, and lifestyle accessories. They are no longer mainly sports and sport equipment oriented. Still, sad to see another legacy retailer fall on hard times.
 
I received this email from Orvis on 10/1/25.

It looks like they are now going to be focusing on their core passions, fly fishing and wingshooting.

169 years. One true North.

To our Orvis family,​

Since 1856, we’ve been guided by the same purpose: to make world-class products that inspire generations of adventure in the field and on the water. It’s what drove us in our earliest days, and it’s what drives us now as we set our sights on the next 169 years.​

We’re stepping into an exciting new chapter—one focused on our core passions of fly fishing and wingshooting. This return to our roots is a renewed dedication to innovation, a commitment to our angling and upland communities, and to the wild places we love.​

As we sharpen our focus, you’ll see special savings on Last Release products that won’t return once they’re gone.​

Thank you for being part of our journey. We’re proud of what we’ve built together—and even more energized for what’s ahead.​

Sincerely,​

Simon's signature

Simon Perkins​

Orvis President & Third-Generation Family Owner​

 
They still make excellent rods and reels and their clothing (at least the stuff designed for fishing) is outstanding. too bad they're closing so many stores....tough time to be a retailer of anything these days.

My Pro boots finally died after 7 years of hard use and I got 8 years of heavy use out of my Pro waders (still have them for backups even). Really great products.

edit: not to mention the outstanding customer service we get at our local store in LO....more than I can say for some of the other regional fly shops.
 
tariffs are driving some hard reset decisions in commerce, as what were formerly reasonable priced goods to import and sell are no longer so. Talked to an adjuster about why house insurance premiums are going up across the board, his explanation is the cost per sq' of rebuilding insured properties is rising rapidly due to tariff costs on the array of imported goods that are used in new home construction.
The reality is we the customers are paying the import tariffs, not the exporting countries.
 
They have always had excellent customer service and know their stuff. I also don't really buy from them anymore mostly because orvis is the furthest away fly shop in PDX (and they stopped sending me those discount cards), but my formative years were outfitted with Orvis stuff in the 90's and reading Orvis catalogs.
 
Roper said:
Maybe if they didn’t import everything from somewhereistan…
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Pretty sure my two Helios rods were hand made in Vermont.

Hands down the best rods I've ever cast.
Completely destroyed the 6wt recently (don't ask!) and they rebuilt it and got it back to me in about a month for shipping costs.
Their clothes aren't my bag, but man they make some excellent fly gear. I'm sorry they're struggling, but interested to see what they can do if they really do focus on outdoor gear
 
Maybe this popup will go away in the future since discounts aren't VALID (and haven't) on "fishing" (items).


Northern said:
Pretty sure my two Helios rods were hand made in Vermont.

Hands down the best rods I've ever cast.
Completely destroyed the 6wt recently (don't ask!) and they rebuilt it and got it back to me in about a month for shipping costs.
Their clothes aren't my bag, but man they make some excellent fly gear. I'm sorry they're struggling, but interested to see what they can do if they really do focus on outdoor gear
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Several years ago I booked a trip on the big river - guide furnished rods, reels (lunch). The guide set me up with a 690 Orvis Helios - without a doubt the nicest casting rod I've ever fished (no doubt the line and the rod were a perfect match). The rod loaded easily and shot all the coils out of the boat making me think I was a great caster (I'm not).
 
"Orvis had revenue of 3.23B JPY in the quarter ending July 31, 2025, with 20.45% growth. This brings the company's revenue in the last twelve months to 12.82B, up 46.35% year-over-year. In the fiscal year ending October 31, 2024, Orvis had annual revenue of 11.44B with 43.66% growth."

I found this online. Doesn't quite sound like hard times, though I expect the tariffs won't help. I'm wondering if a lot of the store closures we are seeing are because of shopping habits of people nowadays, moving away from going to stores, and many of us preferring to shop from the comfort of our living rooms.
 
Last year I bought a Orvis Primaloft jacket for cold weather fishing. It is one of the best purchases I’ve made for fishing in recent years. I wish I’d done it years earlier. The customer service in their downtown Seattle store before it closed was superb.
SF
 
Wayne Kohan said:
I'm wondering if a lot of the store closures we are seeing are because of shopping habits of people nowadays, moving away from going to stores, and many of us preferring to shop from the comfort of our living rooms.
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and Orvis outsourcing sales with a robust dealer network for fly fishing gear so you can test cast that Helios before plunking down some $eriou$ Ca$h?
 
Check in with the financial reports and it's riddled with alarm from apex financial institutions and fund managers stating the country is currently riding on a bubble highly reminiscent to conditions just prior to the .com bubble pop.
-the impact of tariffs is landing with a thud, driving up the cost of living
-the impact of the government shut-down is driving more lay-offs and terminations, impacting military pay and thankfully yet to impact MediCare and Social Security
-tech stocks are at a record high primarily due to AI speculation with little return to date, mirroring the 1999 run-up in tech stock that resulted in the .com bust that dropped NASDAQ stocks 77% in a matter of months
-four trillion $ is currently invested in over 10,000 different cyber currencies with an historical failure rate of over 50% for all cyber currencies
-gold is on a record run-up due to a flight from currency

it's a good time to be cautious with funds and wet those lines as much as possible.
 
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SurfnFish said:
Check in with the financial reports and it's riddled with alarm from apex financial institutions and fund managers stating the country is currently riding on a bubble highly reminiscent to conditions just prior to the .com bubble pop.
-the impact of tariffs is landing with a thud, driving up the cost of living
-the impact of the government shut-down is driving more lay-offs and terminations, impacting military pay and thankfully yet to impact MediCare and Social Security
-tech stocks are at a record high primarily due to AI speculation with little return to date, mirroring the 1999 run-up in tech stock that resulted in the .com bust that dropped NASDAQ stocks 77% in a matter of months
-four trillion $ is currently invested in over 10,000 different cyber currencies that have a historical failure rate of over 50% for all cyber currencies
-gold is on a record run-up due to a flight from currency

it's a good time to be cautious with funds and wet those lines as much as possible.
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It has always been a good time to be cautious with funds! I see people doing such stupid shit with their money and then complaining that they don't have enough. Enough to do more stupid shit. Today I read about a lady that paid $88,000 for a new SUV a little over a year ago and wanted to trade it in on another new vehicle already. Her trade in was appraised at $48,000 and she still owed almost $68,000 on the original vehicle. I don't know what they teach in school anymore but it sure as hell isn't Economics.
 
Brute said:
I heard REI is closing their retail outlets on the east coast as well...sign of the times. This is why it is important to support local brick and mortar store locations
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Oh just had an interesting thought. What if we combined the shopping power of this board and chose a brick and mortar fly shop to support each month, or quarter, or? I don't spend a ton and I know we don't all live in the same area but most shops have an online presence as well. There must be a way to tag PNWFF to a purchase?

Just a thought.
 
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