I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t find Adventure16 early on in my “adventuring” days. I did the flannel shirt / jeans heavy hiking book wandering that resulted in great weight management (because I was sweating so damned much carrying the ridiculously oversized / overweight rigid frame canvas backpack), and did most of my shopping at the local Grant Boys in Costa Mesa or the Army/Navy Surplus stores in Huntington Beach or Old Town Orange. Coleman is a great (and heavy!) brand!
REI was over in Santa Ana, and their employees weren’t particularly approachable and their store was difficult to navigate to.
Adventure16 opened up at a new shopping center called “The Camp” across the street from the Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa, and I went in to check it out. At first I thought it was a Patagonia outlet because it had so much floorspace dedicated to the brand. In fact, the first thing I purchased from Adventure16 was a Patagonia Half-Mass Messenger Bag in bright orange.
The employees were knowledgeable, they actually went outside, and they had some great products. The store was much more ‘approachable’ than the big ol’ REI store, and within a couple of trips I felt like Norm from Cheers; everybody knew my name!
Over the years I have visited the Los Angeles store, the Torrance Store, and even the San Diego store. All of the stores seemed far more … “cozy” and the items in the store more “touchable” than at any other outdoor store. The prices weren’t great, but outdoor equipment is never cheap – but boy is it light! And they carried a great selection of the stuff I wanted.
But all things come to an end. After 58 years, the Adventure16 is in the final throes of closing.
Excerpts from their email:
“Adventure 16 was started 57 years ago by members of a Scout Explorer Post who were passionate about high adventure. They created a backpack that changed the course of pack design, and over the years we grew to seven unique outfitter shops, while also designing other innovative and high-end gear for exploring our planet’s wilder places.
We’re proud to be employee-owned and to have run a Foundation, that with the help of our Customers, put tens of thousands of pieces of gear into the hands and onto the backs of adventurous underserved youth throughout Southern California. So we’ve seen a lot, learned a lot, made a lot of friends, and hopefully, we did some good along the winding trail. It’s certainly been an enjoyable and rewarding journey and a great run with all of you!
But times change. It’s no secret that our style of retailing is extra challenging these days. Online shopping, including direct selling from manufacturers, is on the rise and continues to outpace traditional specialty stores like ours. It’s time to strike camp and move on.
It’s been our great joy to have served you and So Cal’s outdoor community for so many years. We’ll certainly miss it. On behalf of our entire crew, I thank you for your friendship and support.”