An Image Ready For Remodeling

In summer, Twin Lake's parks and resorts are crowded with recreational campers and fishers. In fall, hunters favor this area in search of deer, pheasant, grouse and waterfowl such as ducks and geese. Traditionally in winter, Twin Lakes received only a small number of visitors who came for ice fishing, but in recent years the area has become a popular spot for snowmobiling and cross country skiing. A recently opened wildlife preserve and nature center is beginning to draw visitors interested in bird-watching and prairie ecology.

The Great Outdoors' first image makeover came early in its life. The business was established in 1979 by Sedalia Fischer and her husband Stephen, and was originally named Fischer's Bait and Lures. It was a full-service bait and tackle retail shop catering to fishing enthusiasts visiting the area. In addition to the standard bait and fishing tackle, the store featured specialty lures and flies designed and hand-crafted by Sedalia's father who took up this hobby after retirement. From 1979-1983, the store was only open from April to October although income for the business increased steadily.

As winter visitors to Twin Lakes became more numerous, Sedalia and Stephen decided to expand to year-round operation and changed the name of their business to The Great Outdoors. During the winter of 1983, they bought and remodeled an adjoining storefront and diversified their inventory with camping gear and hunter's clothing and accessories. In 1984, they added ice-fishing equipment and bait in the winter. In 1985, they added snowmobiling clothing and winter camping supplies to the store. Sedalia took over designing and building flies and lures in 1988 after the death of her father.

From the beginning, Sedalia has been the store manager and responsible for ordering inventory, hiring and supervising part time staff, and overseeing retail operations. After the death of Sedalia's father, she also took over the designing of flies and lures. Stephen, who had a full-time position as a computer programmer, does the business's bookkeeping and has developed an unexpected flair for design. Stephen has taken over designing the retail window and floor displays. Stephen and Sedalia make major business decisions about the store together.

The business's net income increased steadily since the store opened year round but gross income appears to have reached a plateau since 1996. Stephen and Sedalia have conducted a survey with their current customers and feel that they can not achieve further growth without making changes in their marketing strategy.

Eighty percent of their current customers are middle-aged men who live within a 200 mile radius and regularly spend weekends in the Twin Lakes area. The survey found that the average customer has shopped at the store more than 10 times this year and has been a customer at The Great Outdoors for more than 5 years. While Steve and Sedalia are pleased to find this kind of customer loyalty, they are concerned that so much of their income depending on a local customer base, particularly since the area's farm economy is rocky.

This survey identified a customer group that they had overlooked. Fifteen pecent of customers shopping at The Great Outdoors were vacationers for whome this was the first visit to the area. Although these customers stated that they were unlikely to return to the area , they were pleased with the merchandise selection and had spent an average of $350 in the store that they. These customers were typically affluent and indicated that they shopped using the Internet on a regular basis. They stated in the survey that they would visit a web site for The Great Outdoors if it included online ordering.

Marketing for The Great Outdoors has been limited to small print ads in outdoors magazine and tourism-related publications like the "Guide to Local Attractions" developed by the Twin Lakes Visitors Bureau.