Store Solemate: River Rock Outfitter

Read on for conversation highlights, including how their store focuses on community by offering customers the knowledge and the best gear for their outdoor adventures, and how April and her husband have been credited with bringing the outdoors to Fredericksburg.

Derick: Let’s start off with River Rock Outfitter—was it an outfitter before, or was it your creation? How long have you been open?

April: It was our creation, and we opened in 2014. Our area did not have any outfitters, and my husband is a retired Marine. I’m retired from a government job. The best way I describe it to people is that, with our jobs, we lived everywhere. We’ve been all over the world, and we were missing home. Not home in the traditional sense, but just home, a community, a place where we were contributing and making friends and setting roots. We had always loved this area, so we decided to settle here in Fredericksburg. All the things we love about the South exist here: the friendliness, people wanting to talk, and people wanting to slow down. We both love the outdoors; we’re high school sweethearts, we’ve lived our whole life together, and the outdoors was the thing that connected us. Ten years later, River Rock Outfitters is exactly what we hoped it would be.

Derick: That's awesome. The town needed an outfitter, and you decided, “Let's open an outfitter.” How did you make it stand out, or did you need to do anything? You’re near trails; it’s an outdoorsy town. You just needed to open, and people came?

April: It's so funny because that's exactly how it started. My husband, Keith, and I met while rock climbing in high school. Keith's a rock-climbing guide in his spare time. I'm a paddling instructor. We have the Rappahannock River that runs right through Fredericksburg. And so, Keith and I were like, “This is an outdoorsy place. How can it not have an outfitter? We need to be the outfitter to help all these outdoorsy people!” 

Within about three months of operation, we realized that was not true at all. We have amazing outdoor resources, but this place is not outdoorsy at all. It's very much a commuter town. People hop in their cars, and the only interaction they have with the Rappahannock River is driving over it on I-95.

Derick: Are you telling me that you brought the outdoors to the town?

April: I think we did, and we've been credited for that in a lot of ways with local awards because we learned quickly our business was going to die if we didn't build a community that could support it. 

We changed how we operated: All the brands we carried, how the shop was laid out, how we were marketing the store, and the type of employees we were hiring all changed. We threw out our business model and started from scratch. We focused more on 101-level adventure, teaching this community about its amazing river and how to access it, and to fight and advocate for local trails. We had to do a program where we got people outdoors. 

Then, five years ago, we started a used gear program. And so that really helped break down barriers. So, this mind shift made us a much more interesting business.

Derick: I love a lot of things that you said here. Talk a little bit about your used gear program. How does that work?

April: Yeah, it's honestly one of the most exciting things I feel like we've done. It came totally out of necessity in 2020. As you know, COVID happened, and in 2021, we struggled with getting gear in the store because the outdoor industry was exploding. 

We recognized, one, we needed gear in the store to be able to sell, but two, we also knew that with more people entering the outdoor space, there were more people who were not ready to commit to new gear.

Our hashtag is #keepgearinthewild. So, it's like let's get that gear back out on a mountain, on a trail where it should be. We also have this new customer base who appreciates the sustainability piece. It tears down an economic barrier. They want to just test something out before they commit. 

Derick: Balancing the business and working with customers in your community, that's great. What are some events that you do with the community? 

April: I wanted to lean into the fact that we're a female-owned shop with great female staff. So, we started a program called Girls G.O. It stands for Girls Get Outside. And basically, it was based around women's specific education and outdoor training. I teach them how to prepare from a safety perspective, so they feel comfortable getting out there hiking. 

Derick: I love your passion, and that's what we need most. You're in the right business because I've noticed the big leaders, the ones who are making a difference, are the ones who have that passion. And really, it's about the community and the people around them. This is the kind of interview that I like a lot. 

So, alright, is there anything more that you would like to share about Rock Outfitters? 

April: One of the things that I love about running a specialty shop is that we can pivot. I'm the one buying for the store if something isn't working, if I can do something more, if I can change a brand, if I can create a program like Re-Boot, or if my staff tells me we need to do something more for women. So, we create all these things, they can just happen organically, and we're constantly evolving and changing over time. 

That's what I love so much about our store. It keeps my brain energized, and it keeps me excited about what I do in my community. I love that about specialty retail. I'm just so happy that this was the industry I chose. It's perfect for me, and I think that our store continues to make a real difference in our community.

Derick: Tell me more about Oboz Footwear and your store:

April: Oboz is such an interesting story in our shop because I love the brand, but I fell in love with the brand mainly because of our rep team. Oboz just hires the absolute best rep teams. So, it's a special interaction we have between us and our rep team and the brand. 

We opened our second store this year. Oboz is building out a shop-in-shop model that worked out for us because I really want Oboz to shine in our store. That's the kind of brand that we believe in, and a brand that's been with us since the beginning. 

Peter from Oboz (Outreach & Education) and his green Oboz van visit us frequently at River Rock. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to understand. We’re a small business, and Peter loves to come to our store, and he loves to talk to my staff. It feels like I'm working with another specialty brand. 

Oboz treats me in the same way they would treat their REI buyer or another specialty outdoor brand out there that's been around a lot longer than me. They still give me the time, and I just appreciate that. So, I'm loyal to the end.

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