From Simms:
Simms Fishing Products, preeminent manufacturer of waders, outerwear, footwear, and technical apparel in fishing, announces the acquisition of longtime Bozeman based specialty retailer, Simms at The River’s Edge Fly Shop. Established in 1983, The River’s Edge has been the headquarters for Montana fly fishing since its inception. With two locations in Bozeman, often described as the trout fishing capital of the United States, The River’s Edge offers a full-service experience – from guided Montana fly fishing trips, to fly tying and casting instruction, to expert product and fishing advice.
This transaction doesn’t change the primary focus of The River’s Edge – to provide customers with the best retail experience possible, which includes carrying a full range of categories, from wooly buggers and waders to fly rods and rainwear. The recent change in ownership will give Simms better insight on the retail landscape, allow Simms to explore new and innovative merchandising strategies, and receive direct product feedback from their consumers in order to better serve a vast wholesale and retail network.
“Fly shops are so much more than just a place to purchase gear. They are sources of information and intel. They are the catalysts that build unique communities. They are not only the heart and soul of our business, but they are also the heart and soul of our industry,” says Simms CEO, Casey Sheahan. “This transaction is the next logical step for Simms to get closer to, and better understand, the wants and needs of all anglers. We couldn’t be more honored to carry the torch and continue the legacy The River’s Edge has built right here in Bozeman.”
The ownership conversation between Simms and The River’s Edge has been an ongoing dialogue. In October of 2019, Simms announced an initial investment in their longtime specialty retail partner. With the rapid rise of interest in fishing the industry has seen over the course of the past two years, the time was right for Simms and The River’s Edge to take the next step and finalize a plan that has been in place with those initial conversations.
“Since the first day we opened our doors, Simms has been a critical partner in our success,” said Dan Lohmiller, former co-owner of The River’s Edge. “In addition to consistently designing and developing the best fishing gear and apparel, Simms has also served as an invaluable consultant. Their approach, expertise, and commitment to providing anglers with the best experience possible has greatly contributed to the longevity, growth, and reputation our business has achieved.”
As the industry continues to change and evolve, so too have the collective strategies and business practices of both brands, all to enhance the customer experience.
“Partners like The River’s Edge have been a significant component to Simms success over the last 40 years,” concludes Simms Chief Revenue Officer Mike Moore. “We are so lucky to have over valued 500 valued specialty partners across the country. Our goal is to learn more about enhancing the consumer experience through our unique partnership with Simms at The River’s Edge and bring those findings to specialty fly and conventional retailers across the country. To do so with great, fishy friends like Dan, Daniel and Steve is a real treat. Their experience as guides, outfitters and retailers will benefit Simms and Simms retailers across the globe.”
About Simms Fishing Products: Established in 1980, Montana-based Simms is the preeminent manufacturer of waders, outerwear and technical apparel in fishing.
About The River’s Edge: Established in 1983, The River’s Edge quickly became one of the premier fly fishing shops and outfitters in SW Montana. Now with two locations, former partners and now co-managers Dan Lohmiller, Steve Summerhill and Daniel Uter keep alive the same tradition of customer service, outstanding selection, and world-class outfitting and in-store expertise that was established over 35 years ago.
7 Comments
“The recent change in ownership will give Simms better insight on the retail landscape, allow Simms to explore new and innovative merchandising strategies, and receive direct product feedback from their consumers in order to better serve a vast wholesale and retail network.”
It also expands there already customer direct sales policy and should give every retailer in the fly fishing industry cause for increased concern. Potentially, it would serve as an outlet for those consumer direct sales that Simms is missing from their already aggressive customer-direct sale approach.
This is one more step in a direction that raise the eyebrow of every independent fly shop owner. It appears that, along with the FarBanks/Sage/Reddington model, the first-tier tackle/equipment companies in our industry are now our largest and most aggressive competitors.
These are companies that the independent shops helped, to a large degree, build to a position of prominence. Their reputation goes beyond the quality of their product and is, arguably, the result of a great deal of of support and promotion by the professional shops and guides in our sport.
Many, perhaps the majority of guides in fly fishing are associated and depend on profesional shops for their business.
While this may be good news for River’s Edge and Simms, it appears to this industry dinosaur to be but one more nail in the coffin of independent, professional fly shops.
Emphatically,
Mike
I might ad dealers that the original Farbanks mission statement was “Specialty products for specialty shops.”
In spite of what Mike Michalak said above, I feel that this will give Simms great, first-hand information on what really goes on inside a retail shop. A committee can sit around a conference room table and make many decisions. Most of those will be made with incomplete data and information. Having a retail presence in Bozeman will certainly negatively affect other retail stores in close proximity, but will certainly positively affect retail operations in the rest of the world. I think it’s a good move in many respects. Simms, Sage, and so many heritage brands need to constantly remember that it’s the specialty shops that made them and their products and their business what it is today.
All sounds good to me and makes sense for Simms. Now, if they truly want a sense of community they’d add a few chairs and tables to the place and serve coffee and baked goods to let people chat about rivers, holes, flies, gear, etc.
My fellow Fly Fishers,
Reviewing the comments, regarding Simms acquisition, with the exception of Mike’s rant about something nobody will read past the 2nd line, this is a great move by Simms to keep moving forward. (Mike, you have kinda of a ‘chip on your shoulder ‘ towards Simms. Something you might want to get checked out!)
Simms is quality, and stand behind their Products, like no other manufacturers. In this day and Age, that is superior.
Howie, in the spirit of the Community, use the local cafés and diners for baked goods, etc. However; one would agree, coffee, and a chair or two to chat about past and current experiences would be the finishing touch.
My comment wasn’t addressed to “fellow fly fishers”. It was a message to others in the trade. I wasn’t a rant, and if there’s a chip on my shoulder regarding Simms, those who have been getting The Fly Shop’s travel and retail catalogs for the last 43 years haven’t seen it. Those pages have read like a Simms brochure for decades, and few in the fly fishing retail arena have been more supportive of Simms.
What I point out is that this is but one more move in a consumer-direct model that has gone far beyond a slippery slope. This is a company whose reputation professional shops helped build – that has joined other manufacturers in the industry and has become the fly fishing retailer’s largest and most aggressive competitor.
The article was about something that may very well be good for Simms. If they want a company store(s) or an outlet(s), that their business and their prerogative. They’ve finally found an avenue to get all their soft goods on a floor. But calling it “a way to get a better pulse on the consumer” smells exactly like what it is.
The Fly Shop® will continue to offer Simms waders to our clientele. Their core products are the best in the industry and our customers deserve nothing less. But am I pleased that one more of our sport’s top tier manufacturers courts direct consumer sales with an almost daily barrage of e-solicitations – and do I think it’s good for my business, or that of other professional shops? What retailer in his right mind would?
Simms doesn’t owe fly shops anything. You signed a wholesaler agreement with them and made money off their brand and product. It’s America. Your fly shop business can evolve just like Simms business can evolve. In lieu of being negative, use this as an opportunity to retool and rethink your business model. This kind of “competition” is what makes our free market economy the best in the world. And let’s the honest, the fly fishing industry could use some (a lot of) innovation.