UKH

I have now heard from 2 different people that they visited Cotswold Outdoor only to find the shop closed and the internal fittings being stripped out. What is happening? I am a long standing customer and have received no notification of closure from them.

The branch involved is Tunbridge Wells. Are other branches affected? Does anyone know?

the company owning them and snow & rock has been in trouble for years, as part of a cva 2 years they'd already agreed to close some stores. Internet shopping, rent, rates, etc is likely forcing more. 

https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/stores/nottingham.html

Mine seems to be open. The store was always decent but they are frightfully expensive compared to a  bit of online searching from the comfort of my armchair. The location is a mixed  blessing. It's on one of the main drags into Nottingham in a very prominent position which will be seen by many, it's in a slightly less fashionable part of the town meaning rates/rent should be lower but the parking is terrible with only space for a few cars in a very awkward spot.

Go-Outdoors in in an equally low cost part of town, which is their way, has a decent car park and is easier to get to me. 

What was the clearance store in Betws y Coed is now going in the other direction selling sustainable kit from higher end manufactures (Patagonia etc.) so maybe they are refitting other stores along similar lines. I hope it hasn’t gone bust. 

I was in the Manchester City Centre store a week ago... It was still very much open and looked as though it was being redecorated at the time. Maybe this is the case with a few other stores too?

The painters were working in and amongst the racks of stock with loads of dust sheets protecting the clothing..Special edition Jackson Pollock inspired ME Makalu jacket anyone?

In all seriousness though, they looked to be doing a good and careful job.

The Stirling one was open and normal-looking last week - I was in with a voucher that was burning a hole in my pocket and was duly three-quarters spent.

Durham became an outlet store for a short while and then closed. Newcastle remains open.

What was a Snow and Rock on Princess Parkway in Manchester is now a Cotswold I noticed the other day

Given how utterly dire their website is I am genuinely amazed they have kept going for this long, it's utterly useless for browsing to identify a  product you want.

I nipped into the South Manchester (Didsbury) shop last Thursday lunchtime and it seemed normal. Plenty of stock etc.

Worth mentioning you get 15% discount if you are a BMC or NT member. Brings prices closer to acceptable.

The one in Leeds has merged into part of the Snow and Rock shop.

Solihull closed before Christmas, more to do with the pandemic/reduced footfall and CVA than anything else.

There are only so many TNF puffers one 'considorably reecher than yow or' nouveau riche' town can sustain.

I've been a long-standing customer too, but barely used them for the last few years as their stock was more trending towards High St fashion than useful hill gear. And become commensurately more expensive, even with BMC discount. 

Last time I was in they had absolutely no trousers with thigh pockets that would take an OS map: "there's no call for them". Quite. 

You are right, they used to be an excellent shop in T Wells and I bought most of my gear over many years through them. Do you remember when they had the tea room incorporated into the ground floor? It made a trip into T Wells worth while, and you could browse . I remember buying boots and wearing them throughout the shop, and having a coffee whilst seeing how my feet adjusted or otherwise to them. The first things that started to go wrong was the closure of the toilets following the closure of the tea room, and getting an earful from a member of staff for using what had suddenly become the "staff only" toilets! Then during the years leading up to the pandemic I started to get more and more disillusioned by the number of young inexperienced staff  who didn't have a clue what they were talking about, being let loose on customers. It's a great shame if they have folded, because the old staff were so helpful, including one who took up my case against a well known manufacturer  for not just one, but two pairs of walking boots which had each failed within a few months of purchase, and got me a full refund on both. 

As someone has said their BMC 15% discount brought their prices into line with most competitors - such a shame that they declined.

There are very few pairs of trousers that will take an OS map anywhere, to be fair.

I'm in full agreement about how poor Cotswold have become. Having one nearby is useful for consumables like gas and chalk, but for actual gear I'd want to use they offer very little. Needle Sports for climbing gear and Ultralight Outdoor for backpacking gear.

I popped into the main shop in Betws a few weeks ago after a book - but I couldn't find any.  Presumably there's no money in books!

Yeah that’s not because Cotswold is changing, it’s because people generally don’t want to carry paper maps on *checks notes* their thigh (?!?!) when so many better alternatives exist. 

I used to do that (it is actually a convenient place for one), but nowadays it's on my phone in my pocket with a paper map in my bag as a backup.

Indeed there isn't, as Mr Bezos has cornered the market, and the fact that books are normally printed with an RRP prevents Cotswold charging a higher price.

Yes, the Ismail tearoom was great, and the toilets a good facility. I agree that previous members of staff were very much more knowledgeable than the later ones.

My preference, though, until they were driven out of business by massive rent hikes, was Country Trails. They'd take endless trouble to get you sorted with the right kit. 

I have a Garmin, and GNSS on my phone. In fact, I've been using GPS commercially since 1986.

However, if heading anywhere remote, I'll back them up with a paper map. And where better to carry it than a thigh pocket? I wouldn't dangle it around my neck in a map case... it flaps around in the wind. In a jacket? Maybe, but I'm constantly layering up and down on the hill, and would have to remember to shift it over every time, whereas changing keks on an outing is a rare event.

Fjällraven keks will still take an OS map, which may be why about 70% of the people I do Endurance events with have them! 😁 

The Reading store is still open. They had a big re-vamp a while ago and the upstairs is now Runners Need (and is quite a bit smaller to make room for shoe storage) and all the camping stuff has moved downstairs.

The problem with it is that it seems to have a very limited range in the store, much less than it used to - might be a temp thing due to reduced foot fall wrt Covid.

However, that one has competition from Go Outdoors practically over the road (although apparently moving premises soon) and Decathlon across town.