Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Neumie
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Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Neumie »

Saw some things on social media about ACK. When you go to their website you get redirected to another site selling Chinese off brand outdoor gear.

Wonder how this affects those who may have holiday gift cards, kayaks on order, etc? What about KATS?

Anybody know what's going on? There's quite a bit of confusion and lack of information.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Tombo »

All good questions, following. A long time employee Juan Carlos no longer works there.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by SWFinatic »

They were bought out several years ago I believe by Summit Sports. When I went to their website it takes me to a company called "The House". https://www.the-house.com/summit-sports ... t-redirect
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Dandydon »

Neumie, the normal ACK websites all appear to be down. That's bad news for those of us who frequent their Houston store.

Hope we find out what happened to them. Did they fall to Covid or get bought out by China? Who knows? Either way, I'll be buying more kayak accessories online now. Image

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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Digital Fuel Capital LLC owns Summit Sports, among lots of other companies,and their site calls ACK an "add-on" to Summit. It's amazing that in over two years, they hadn't messed up ACK, but that may soon change. Mariner Sails in Dallas probably isn't large enough for them to mess with. And the beat goes on, on, on...........TexasJim
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Neumie »

Drove by the San Antonio store and they were closed.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by shoffer »

I just had a rudder repair done at the Houston store before the year ended, and it looked like business as usual (although the inventory of stuff seemed a little lighter than usual). I will run by there this morning and see what I can find out. It is right around the corner from my house.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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I got my first kayak, an Aquaterra Prism from the ACK store location in SW Houston back when it was Canoesport, this in the late 1980s. I bought my last and most favorite kayak there, my WS Commander 140, maybe 10 years ago. That was the last time I was in there.

I’m trying to keep my Commander going as long as it will float. Kayaks and kayak design has seemingly moved in directions I’m not sure I’m all that excited about. All these Pedal drives and a million hatches and ports for this and that, these changes are not exactly my cup of tea. Evidently, Dinosaurs, or at least one, still ply the waters around Freeport.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Wow. I was kind of wondering when this was going to happen. I used to sell a lot of product to ACK for decades when the Messena’s owned it. They sold (or merged was the story) and Steve “retired” shortly after I did. I could see it go downhill rapidly there after. Unfortunately this is just another sign of the times. We need to support our local brick and mortar retailers. AND at the same time they need to support our needs. But one can happen without the other. That is the conundrum.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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JW FunGuy wrote:Wow. I was kind of wondering when this was going to happen. I used to sell a lot of product to ACK for decades when the Messena’s owned it. They sold (or merged was the story) and Steve “retired” shortly after I did. I could see it go downhill rapidly there after. Unfortunately this is just another sign of the times. We need to support our local brick and mortar retailers. AND at the same time they need to support our needs. But one can happen without the other. That is the conundrum.
Admittedly, I haven't done too much business with ACK since I started kayaking. Mainly due to where I lived I had local options (Corpus - JerryB's & Wind & Wave; DFW - Mountain Sports & Mariner Sails), but when I moved back to SA/Austin Areas in 2018 I would occasionally pop in and pick up or order a few small items here and there as needed for replacement. The customer service I have received wasn't the best, where I feel like I had more negative experiences than positive, but I still supported them because it was still important to have their presence locally. (I know their CS was stellar before the merger/sell a few years back, and I would think most would agree their CS started to decline after that point)

The issue now with San Antonio and Austin is there are no shops to support a very large paddling population of Texas. There's T&G Canoes in San Marcos........and that's it? Of course there are REI's and other box stores, but all the other major cities in Texas have those as well.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by SWFinatic »

I'm guessing online business has something to do with them closing stores. I too used to spend a lot of money at ACK Austin especially when I worked right around the corner. Poor customer service drove me to buying more online. I know it's not good for local shops but when I walk in a store looking for an item I usually have one or two options to choose from at best. Online I could have 20 options or more. Also I live in a remote area and have to drive around 30 miles to get to a store that sells kayak or fishing accessories so buying online many times is just easier for me.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Ron Mc »

It costs money for them to keep inventory in stores.
20-something sales staff also costs money.
The only ACK staff that ever really impressed me was San Marcos.
The staff there were beyond helpful, experienced. They could probably keep that one shop open to service both San Antonio and Austin.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Tombo »

On a related note, Fin Factory is opening a new store in San Antonio. Maybe other smaller venues will open in other cities
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by TexasJim »

Digital Fuel Capital's M.O. is buying ONLINE marketing enterprises. Summit had four stores and ACK had five. Maybe they sold or moved them into The House, which is mostly an online retailer. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, the Coastal Bend has three or more kayak "stores", which usually have what you need. Don't know if they ship out of the area. Roy's Gold-Plated Boutique usually has what you need, if you can get anyone to wait on you, or tell you where to look.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by JW FunGuy »

No doubt retail is hard and it has only been getting harder. As a “manufacturers representative “ in the outdoor industry 27 years I still have a strong feeling for brick and mortar retailers, especially independently owned ones. But I too dislike going into a store and not finding even the basics. I have several stores that are on “my list” of not going back to because they never have anything.
I have been looking at Crescent Kayaks and I saw that TG now has them (because ACK never had them?) so I am hoping that they will step up their game and be the local store to go to around here.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Ron Mc »

Duane is good people - he was looking to sell his business a few years ago.
He also has a livery on the San Marcos River, but his boat inventory is over the top.

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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Went by the Houston store yesterday and it looks like business as usual, although their hours are now 11-5.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Ron Mc »

ACK is the most successful business in the history of kayak.
They've been the ambassador for every kayak brand and gear sundry, and the orders from every demo enclave alone keep everyone busy for months on end.
I can't believe someone with the means and a modicum of insight is not going to pick them up and run with them.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Selling kayaks and related accessories alone seems like a tough business to make it in. A million offerings out there and a ton of cheaper models always putting downward pressure on the overall prices. How good can the margins be to begin with? Big box stores and the internet selling every under the sun to compete with. If I am a typical customer they’d never make it. I’ve bought 3 new kayaks, two from ACK (one from canoesport) and one from FTU in over 30 years of fishing with kayaks. At least FTU sells other things. I’ve gone through a lot more vehicles in that time frame.

Seems like you’d have to add something to make it work well. Some added service, guiding or travel expertise or livery or something. There are a lot of energetic and creative business people out there to figure it out.

Fly fishing shops seem to be in a similar predicament. Internet, big box store competition with lower overhead driving down margins. People like Kelly Galloup seem to make it work with guiding, lodging and a fly shop all rolled into one operation.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Following fly shops from 1990 to 2020, they went from 100% fly tackle to 80% women's apparel and home decor.
If they didn't, they went out of business.
Men buy what they want. Women shop - if you can't keep the woman in the store, the man can't spend his money.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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“Not able to accept exchanges or returns “ that’s interesting.
I know ACK did get a “retailer of the year” award once but I personally know of several stores that would paddle circles around them in all aspect of retail. But they are in other states. ACK was still primarily an online business, the stores stocked very little of what they sold. When the Messena’s had it it was a tight ship, especially with Steve, but then it got ran into the ground (or oyster bed). There is nothing left to pick up and run with. Who knows what is happening with the inventory, but I’m sure a bank does somewhere. And the locations aren’t really an asset either. Someone willing to take a chance on retail could open their own kayak store ($$$) they could get ACK’s lines as long as there was not an existing dealer. Or someone like Academy could try and fill the void (scary!) And of course the dealers that are left TG, Roy’s, whoever you have should step up their game and pick up some extra business. If I was still a sales rep, and was losing ACK’s business I would be sitting down with those guys and discussing the future.
But until then we are all going to probably drive a little farther or peruse the Internet to get what we need.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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Last time I was in Academy, they had Ocean Kayaks! Only a couple, but looks like they're broadening their brand width. TexasJim
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

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I’ll nominate the Lake Jackson Academy for the worst one ever, at least as far as carrying stock in saltwater fishing tackle. Half the shelves in things like jigheads or paddle tails are bare whenever I get to the store and it’s been like that for years. 12 miles from the GOM and there’s very little saltwater stock. Pitiful.

Back in the day, independent fishing tackle and sporting goods places ruled. Palmer’s sporting goods and Beach Bait and Tackle were our local stores. Both those are long gone. Those mom and pop store days are about gone in most areas. Things seem stacked against the small independent operator. Hard to find quality service oriented young people is one issue. I guess if you can cultivate an online business alongside and together with the storefront you have a chance.
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Re: Austin Canoe & Kayak Sold?

Post by Ron Mc »

Roy's and Tackle Town are both still Meccas, but they have location and full-time tourism on their side.
Kind of like Hill Country Fly Shop in Fredericksburg, and Gruene Outfitters.

Still, if you ever attended the ACK demo days at the ski lake in San Marcos, it was like a Convention and Expo.
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