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The problem is resolved
The Back Country Outdoors store, a Beaverdale landmark, is closing after 51 years in business.
Owner Jay Kozel made the announcement on Instagram. He said “debt” is the reason for the shop closure in 2702 Beaver Ave. In the central Business County of Beaverdale, but did not elaborate.
Kozel did not specify a closing date in his video and refused to comment on Tuesday.
He said in the video that he appreciates the support that the community has shown.
“The last two weeks as the word has come out have been more pleasant, affirming, overwhelming and humble of my career,” Kozel said. “I am aware of pain that even my insufficient blindness is insufficient for the task of conveying my gratitude.”
A family business
Jamie World and Diana Kiel-Wornson opened the country in AMES in 1974 and focused exclusively on external devices. In 1984 they opened the Beverdale shop. By 1986 they had closed AMES’s whereabouts after discovering that families in des Moines had more disposable income than college students in Ames.
At a time when the business celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1999, it had become a refuge for outdoor enthusiasts.
In 2004, while Back Country celebrated his 30th anniversary, Jamie Wornson recalled in an interview with des Moines Register how he had started business, selling everything, including his beloved Nikon camera to scrap $ 3,000 in capital beginners.
Their daughter Lexi later took over the direction of the store.
“A part of what I learned from my mother is that des Moines is not a big market,” she said in a 2009 interview while Back Country celebrated her 35th anniversary. “It’s not a tourist economy, which means you have many repeated clients, and many people who know each other.”
But by 2009 the store is already facing challenges while competing against ever -increasing sports goods chains and while buying online exploded.
“When you are a small independent store you lose purchasing power. You lose the ability to distribute upper and regional economic shocks. You lose a lot of power,” said then Iowa State University economist Meghan O’Brien.
It is not clear when Kozel received business ownership. In his video he also thanked the World Family, “Who built this place, its community, its legacy and which gave me the opportunity to run those things for a while.”
Diana Kiel-Wornson is still listed at Polk County Records as the owner of the building the store.
Large retailers are also fighting
The rear place is not the only retail seller of sports goods facing the head. On January 8, Rei Inc.-A nationwide external goods seller with a location in West des Moines-noted that it would rest 148 full-time and 248 part-time employees as it completed its unprofitable events, tour and skill classes.
Metro Seattle -based collaboration does not publish its financial results, but it lost $ 311 million in 2023, according to Seattle Times. In 2024 the company only hoped to break even, the newspaper reported.
“Reality is a thriving co-op requires a sustainable economic model that is capable of investing at the right level to fully fund our most critical strategic ambitions,” wrote Rei Eric Artz in a January news announcement.
In December, the Sports Academy and Outdoors, a retail of sports goods with 248 stores, reported poor third -quarter income after sales fell 3.9% from the same quarter in 2023.
A number of other stores in the sector have scaled or disappeared over the past decade, including Moosejaw, MC Sport and Sports Authority.
This story was updated to add new information.
Philip Joens covers the retail and immovable property for the DES Moines register. It can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.