Moosejaw eyes leap to national frontier Jennifer Youssef February 23, 2007 MADISON HEIGHTS -- When Robert Wolfe and his then-business partner David Jaffe opened their tiny sporting goods store in Keego Harbor in 1992, the only people who had ever heard of Moosejaw were those living in the city of the same name in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Today, Moosejaw is a hip retail haven for Michigan's outdoor enthusiasts, with five stores statewide and one in Chicago, and 80 percent sales growth last year alone. Tomorrow, the company hopes to find the same success on the national sporting goods frontier, as the 15-year-old company prepares to expand beyond Michigan. In January, Moosejaw Mountaineering and Backcountry Travel Inc., based in Madison Heights, sold a majority stake to Parallel Investment Partners, a private equity firm in Dallas. Parallel is providing the resources Moosejaw needs to grow, Wolfe said. Moosejaw has picked a good time to expand, said a researcher with the Outdoor Industry Association. Outdoor recreation is a $33.3-billion-a-year industry and growing. Sales of outdoor gear, equipment and accessories have grown to $7.14 billion in 2006 from $5.07 billion in 2002, according to the association. "Sales are strong and the trend should continue with people needing to get outdoors and live a healthy lifestyle," said Clint Wall, research manager at the association. With increasing U.S. obesity rates, Americans are beginning to understand the importance of getting outside and engaging in physical activities to improve their health, Wall said, and outdoors-related businesses are reaping the benefits. Whenever Charles Munk of Clarkston is planning an outdoor trip, he heads to the Moosejaw store in Birmingham to buy clothes and accessories. The 32-year-old orthodontist was at the store recently to get some shorts and bug spray for his African safari trip this week. "Every time I come here, I find what I'm looking for," Munk said. Web sales up 100 percent Wolfe, who with his siblings Julie and Jeffrey operates Moosejaw, wouldn't release financial information about the privately held company, but did say that Internet sales have increased 100 percent since this time last year, and total sales, including mail order and store sales, have increased 80 percent. No surprise that Moosejaw has outgrown its headquarters in Madison Heights and is looking for a new building to relocate dozens of employees who take care of mail order and Internet customers. Wolfe wants to keep the jobs in Oakland County because many of the company's 180 employees live in the area, he said. Moosejaw sells 104 different types of items from clothes and shoes to snowboards and kayaks. The company serves everyone from outdoor recreation fanatics to shirt-and-tie-wearing office workers who appreciate the comfortable, earthy style of outdoor wear. In addition to its own brand, Moosejaw carries several popular lines of outdoor clothing and outerwear such as The North Face, Marmot and Patagonia. Moosejaw brand products are made in North America and all over the world. It's a far cry from its early days, when the company had one employee at the 1,400-square-foot Keego Harbor store and sold a handful of recreational items for hard-core outdoor enthusiasts. Karen Paradise of Royal Oak wouldn't call herself an outdoorsy person, but she loves to snuggle up in the soft, oversized sweatshirts the store carries or go casual in the colorful T-shirts and flip-flops that adorn the store walls. Paradise, who has been a Moosejaw customer for seven years, prefers Moosejaw to its competitors because "the staff is so helpful and they have a better selection." Officials taking slow, steady route Officials from Moosejaw and Parallel Investment are analyzing their next move. Wolfe said they want to take their time analyzing the plan and will spend another three to six months studying the market before making any decisions on expansion. "If we grow more slowly, it'll be easier to make sure (the brand) is still cool," 36-year-old Wolfe said. "We want to expand our mail ordering and brand, but we want to do it responsibly." Wolfe is eager to see his company grow, but he doesn't want to compromise quality for quantity. "It's more important for us to be the best than the biggest."

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