Did you hear?… James Retty leaves Arc'Teryx to be with family

James Retty, the North American sales manager for Arc’Teryx, since January 2000, is leaving the company for family and personal reasons. SNEWS® has been privy to the Retty-family challenges following the premature birth of twins last year. Our hat is off to company founder Jeremy Guard for the way he handled the situation by making it easy for Retty to be with his family during that difficult period. Retty told us that leaving the Arc’Teryx family was a very, very difficult decision for him, but being near his home of Whistler and with his own family more proved the deciding factor in swaying his mind. “I have two children, 6 and 4, and now the twins,” Retty told us. “I have quite a bit going on right now at home and I want and need to be there.” Retty won’t be straying far from the industry though. Once an employee of the Whistler-based specialty mountaineering and telemark store, The Escape Route, Retty is now the owner. “Owning the store is exciting and a bit frightening for me,” Retty said of his new business responsibility. No replacement for Retty has yet been announced by Arc’Teryx. SNEWS® View: Hard move, right move, smart move. Family always comes first, and Retty and Arc’Teryx realize that, thank goodness. Retty will have a leg up on many new store owners as he knows — perhaps too well in some cases — many of the major vendors he’ll now be buying from. He also knows very well, to his advantage, what a vendor wants and needs from a retailer and, what a retailer needs and requires from a vendor. We wish Retty nothing but the best. He’s a class act and example to us all.