Appalachian Outdoors Celebrates 40 Years

This November, Appalachian Outdoors is celebrating its 40^th Anniversary. We’ll be celebrating our anniversary with special blog entries all week. To kick off this week of celebration, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at where we’ve come from.

Appalachian Outdoors was started by current owner Geoff Brugler in 1974. But the idea of an outdoor adventure store in State College was actually conceived a few years earlier.

Geoff graduated from Penn State University in 1972 with an engineering and veterinary science background.  He worked in a bicycle shop and as a waiter while paying for graduate courses at Penn State. After assessing the market, it soon became clear to Geoff that the only way he would have a job would be to start one himself.

2 years later and with only a few hundred dollars in his checking account, Geoff, at the ripe age of 24, began searching for options.  He soon opened a very small store in State College with the tag line: For the Serious Backpacker and Outdoorsman.  Appalachian Outdoor House was born!

At the time, there actually was another outdoor store in town, and they mostly focused on the apparel aspect: shirts, jackets, pants, and socks. We knew from the get go we weren’t going to be a ‘clothing’ store like they were.  We focused more on equipment and gear, but still supplied clothing to those that needed it. It didn’t take long for our store to grow and supplant the competition in State College.

The store expanded several times over the years, nearly doubling in space by 1985. In 1988, the store changed its name to Appalachian Ski &Outdoors. In 2001, we moved from our location on College Avenue to our current location on Allen Street, but it wasn’t until 2011 that we expanded for a final time.

Over the years, Appalachian Outdoors has seen plenty of ups and downs. Our women’s department has gone from a single rack to nearly an entire store, while our online store AppOutdoors.com continues to grow and reach customers all over the country!

Our Ski Shop in State College, PA  has become more advanced, especially with our recently acquired Wintersteiger Sigma SBI Machine. Our Spring and Winter Expos continue to get bigger each time, and we’ve also been able to increase our total events during the year to include Ladies’ Night, First Fridays, and special guest speakers. We’ve even won several awards over the years, including SNEWS/Backpacker Retailer of the Year in 2011 and Outdoor USA Magazine Top 100 Retailers of the Year in 2014.

All this is to say we’ve been quite busy over the last 40 years!

While Appalachian Outdoors has continued to grow, it’s all been done with the hope of providing you, our customers, the best service, products, and knowledge possible. We pride ourselves on being State College’s go-to hub for equipment, apparel, and guidance for any adventured. We love partnering with local organizations, charities, and outdoor centers. We get super excited when the temp starts to drop and Tussey opens up for the winter.

Without our wonderful staff and fantastic customers, we wouldn’t have made it 2 years, let alone 40. We hope to be a part of this great community and continue to serve you all for the next 40 years.