In the age of big box retailers and online shopping, local, independent gear shops are an endangered species. When REI or Backcountry can always offer a lower price than the small gear store, how does it survive?
Evan Maynard, founder of Gearhouse in Seattle, may have found the answer: build community. Part gear rental shop, part hangout space, and part trip organizer, Gearhouse makes the outdoors more accessible and more communal, proving the power of connection.
What Is Gearhouse?
When Maynard moved to Seattle, like many other transplants, he was excited to check out the outdoor opportunities there. There were so many — climbing, backpacking, skiing, paddleboarding, etc. — and unfortunately, each activity required its own gear, which added up fast.
It’s hard to justify shelling out a bunch of cash for gear for a sport that you’re not even sure you like. So Maynard founded Gearhouse so people could get out and try new things without breaking the bank. It rents everything for almost every sport, from kayaks to snowshoes to avalanche kits to bouldering pads.
Maynard soon realized that the gear was really secondary. The gear was what allowed people to go outside, get together, and form bonds. And so, he built out the other key offering of Gearhouse: events.
The company’s calendar is full of every kind of outdoor event, from multiday backpacking trips to climb nights at local gyms to summer cookouts. It also offers educational classes, like backcountry navigation or how to plan a backpacking trip.
“If you wanna try a bunch of new things and you’re not sure about your skill level and you just want a friendly environment to maybe embarrass yourself or ask dumb questions, that’s where Gearhouse thrives,” Maynard explained in an interview with GearJunkie.
Every aspect of the system is carefully thought out. It can be a lot to go on a multiday backpacking trip with a total stranger, so Gearhouse also offers social events in the space for people to get to know each other. It’s a lot less intimidating to go on an 8-mile hike with someone if you’ve hung out with them at a board game or trivia night before.
The 3,000–square-foot space functions as a coffee shop and café during the day, a mix of modern architecture with warm touches and cozy seating. At night, it transforms into the event space with plenty of room to gather.
The Membership Model
In order to break down barriers to entry, Maynard came up with a membership model. Members can pay a monthly fee for multiple levels of membership, ranging in price from $33 to $195 per month. The two highest membership tiers — Trail Club and Summit Club — come with access to events and unlimited gear rentals, allowing people to try new things without committing to buying gear.
Not only does the membership model save people money, but it also leads to engagement. “The other thing the membership does for us is drive identity and frequency in a way that drives community. It kind of makes people commit to showing up, rewards you for showing up, and that is the key to finding friendship,” Maynard said.
If you’re new to Seattle, there’s no better way to learn about the outdoors scene. Don’t know where the good hiking trails are, or need to find a new climbing partner? Showing up to a Gearhouse event is a sure-fire way to find out. Even if you’ve lived in Seattle for years, there are so many outdoor spaces across the Pacific Northwest, and Gearhouse helps residents explore their own backyards more fully.
The brand’s several hundred members all participate in a Slack channel, where they propose trip ideas or ask for local beta. Many of the current events on the calendar were proposed by members. Trips are led by Gearhouse staff, who are experts in the sport in question.
Building Community
Seattle is well known for the so-called “Seattle freeze,” a standoffish culture that can make it hard for newcomers to make connections. In Maynard’s view, this phenomenon comes from the fact that we’re all busy and overwhelmed.
“It’s not that people are unfriendly; it’s that people are really busy, and that we have so many options for things to do. Even within the identity of being outdoorsy, it’s really difficult to connect on a regular basis with the same people,” he said.
Even if you and someone else both like to hike, maybe one of you does 4-mile days, while the other wants to go for a 20-mile hike. The Gearhouse events solve that problem by giving people a variety of options where they know exactly what they’re getting into. If you’re a hardcore, summit-a-mountain-in-a-day kind of person, there are events for you where you’ll meet like-minded people. If chilling at a cookout on a lakeside campground is more your vibe, there are plenty of opportunities for that, too.
While there was a surge in outdoor activities following COVID, Maynard has seen that start to fade. More and more companies in Seattle are requiring workers to come back to the office, and commutes and busy schedules can easily hamper one’s ability to plan outdoor trips. Gearhouse takes away the complications of planning and logistics and just asks people to show up. It even offers shuttles and transportation to events.
Gearhouse is also the antidote to the city’s work-first, hustle-hard culture. The shop’s events are “an easy way to remember that there’s a lot more to life than working. We need to make sure that people are getting out on the regular and seeing each other,” Maynard said.
Maynard could see Gearhouse expanding to other outdoorsy-minded cities, but whatever comes next, connection comes first. “I always want Gearhouse to be that place where you walk in, and you feel like, oh, I found my people. These are my people, and just your cup’s instantly filled,” Maynard said.
