Member Spotlight: Spire Climbing + Fitness

Spire Climbing + Fitness, located an hour and a half drive from Yellowstone National Park, is nestled into the beautiful and outdoor-centric community of Bozeman, Montana.

This indoor climbing gym decided to utilize its community to build exactly what its community needed. Through trial and error, they built one of the most impressively diverse and all-encompassing retail operations in any gym. And this meant being willing to be bold and to take risks. 

Jake Byk, Content Manager, CWA (He/Him)

Tell me about your background and how you got into the indoor climbing industry.

Charlie Firer, Operations Manager, Spire Climbing + Fitness (He/Him)

I started here on the front desk when I was in school at Montana State University, and after dropping out of school I started picking up more hours, and I've been picking up more hours ever since. In a lot of ways, I feel like I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. I never thought in all my life that I would be able to make a living working at a climbing gym, but the more I think about it, the more fortunate and grateful I am. 

So often you hear, 'so and so left the climbing gym to go get a real job', and it just sticks with you so much, that climbing gyms aren't a real job. Now when I hear that, I hate that expression. There are plenty of real jobs in climbing gyms, and there are people who are contributing in a strong way to their communities through these roles.

Jake

Tell me about what makes Spire a unique climbing gym. 

Charlie

The gym started in 2004. and it has always existed to provide for the community what the community needs.

Bozeman being a mountain town and having so many people who want to pursue outdoor activities, I would imagine that our clientele spends a greater majority of their time climbing outside than inside, especially relative to other climbing gyms. So, that has its tentacles into our retail shop, into how we set our routes, and everything in between.

We know that our climbers want to take the skills that they are developing in the gym and apply them outside, very similar to the original climbing gym idea. Whereas, I think a lot of other modern city-esque gyms, deal with clients who are just there for the socialization and climbing of plastic.

Jake

I have not seen a retail store that is like yours. It sounds like it's integral to how you guys do business. Where did you guys start?

Charlie

Our retail shop opened in 2006 or 2007, very soon after we opened. Keep in mind, it was very bare bones. A gentleman named Ty Morrison-Heath is mostly responsible for the big growth of our retail operation. In line with offering what the community needs, some of the other big building blocks that allowed us to expand are other local shops in Bozeman closed down, allowing us to fill that void. 

EXPLORE: The CWA's Retail Webinar Series

I would say it wasn't until around 2015-2016 that we started implementing pre-season ordering alongside ASAP ordering for our shop and trying to forecast what we need in the future.

Our gym wasn't built with retail in mind. So most of our space is very retro-fit. The wall in front of my face used to have a window, and it doesn't anymore because we wanted to put up a wall for retail. For us, we've definitely utilized every nook and cranny that we could to display retail programming.

Jake

How did you guys decide that it was worth the investment? Both in terms of the time of your staff, and obviously the money. 

Charlie

I think it's a combination of Bozeman residents understanding the importance of supporting small businesses, as opposed to REI or Backcountry, which we have now.

It's also that you're already existing in a place where they want to visit to climb, so why not provide what they need to do those things?

From the beginning, it's always been a priority that if we're going to stock something, we will have it stocked well. We need to be really diligent in our forecasting for pre-season orders, because ASAP availability fluctuates and isn't always reliable.

Jake

It sounds like you guys are listening to your community. Your community was willing to embrace this concept of supporting small businesses. They saw you guys step up and fill the void. Was this something that came naturally to your gym? Really listening to your community, and making managerial decisions based on the feedback received?

Charlie

I think it's pretty critical, and you're doing yourself a disservice when you don't listen to the community. I get a lot of reports from vendors saying these are the best-selling shoes, shirts, whatever it is  - and in a lot of ways that doesn't necessarily apply.

What it comes down to is that we need to provide what is going to work for our customers, and they want to be climbing outside, and they want a shoe that is going to be able to go from the gym to the crag in the same shoe. 

If you didn't want to climb in that shoe, it's probably unlikely that someone else is.

Jake

What advice would you give to other CWA members about how to make an effective retail store, and what does 'effective' even mean in this context?

Charlie

I train all of our staff on retail. And I try to emphasize that we are a climbing gym first, and a retailer second. We don't do any hard selling, none of it is based off commission. We're trying to listen to what the person has to say, and if it comes down to you having a conversation with someone about where the cool climbing is and where have you been, and it doesn't lead to a sale, that's totally fine. We're never trying to force a sale. 

With that, you want to have enough variety so that they have options but not so much that they're overwhelmed with it. 

Jake

What does success look like to your operation in terms of your retail program?

Charlie

I think we're very fortunate that until recently, we haven't had to keep a very strict budget for retail, but I don't think we're alone in this, times are a bit tougher now, post COVID. I know after talking to other operators at the CWA Summit that they're feeling similarly. With that, we've had to look at those inventory on-hand costs. We've really had to hone in on what's working, what's not working, and ask questions like, do we need to do more sales? 

For us, what it comes down to, is managing the overall budget. If we're selling less, we just don't order as much. In the end, without getting rid of our staples, we can reduce and tighten down and hit those goals. 

Jake

How as Spire Climbing + Fitness benefited from membership with the CWA? 

Charlie

We start by having all of our staff CWI certified to be trained effectively and then apply that to every aspect of safety in the gym. Whether it's Work at Height, first-aid, CPR, things like that, we try to standardize all of it to make sure we're ahead of the curve as much as possible. We also benefit from learning what other gyms are doing successfully.

Being able to meet with other gyms and use it as a reference point is super beneficial. In all honesty, I probably don't utilize the resources you guys provide enough! 

About the Author

Jake Byk is the Content Manager for the Climbing Wall Association. He's an avid hiker, mountaineer, lover of hard-to-reach places and long drives. If his phone isn't on airplane mode exploring some far-flung region of Colorado, you can find him at home, perfecting his espresso addiction with his three cats and wonderful partner.