Eastern Mountain Sports is moving, tripling size of North Conway location

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. – Looking to better serve one of its oldest locations, Eastern Mountain Sports, one of the nation’s largest outdoor retailers, will relocate its North Conway store from its original location at Eastern Slope Inn three miles away to Settlers’ Crossing, a new retail development located at the gateway to this busy summer and winter resort destination. Tripling in size, the new 18,000 square foot store will showcase a wider selection of gear and apparel and serve as the headquarters for the Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School, the oldest climbing school on the East Coast. The climbing school quadruples in size from 750 square feet to 3,000 square feet with a new modernized look and feel. This is the second new store to open in New Hampshire during the past year, with the Portsmouth store opening last August. A grand opening community celebration will take place June 27-29, where one percent of the weekend’s proceeds will be donated to the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, a provider of environmental education programs and camps for children and adults.

“The North Conway store has been an important part of our heritage,” said Will Manzer, CEO and president of Eastern Mountain Sports. “We have been fortunate to be right in the heart of one of the most passionate climbing communities in the U.S., which speaks to our roots. Our new location enables us to provide greater resources to a very loyal consumer base, while introducing the outdoor experience to visitors who return every summer and winter.”

The Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing School, originally located in Boston, is the largest climbing school in the eastern U.S. In addition to North Conway, other climbing school locations include: New Paltz, N.Y.; Lake Placid, N.Y.; West Hartford. Conn.; and eight satellite locations in New England, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Each school is conveniently located close to some of the world’s premier traditional climbing, sport climbing and bouldering areas. Professional guides staff all of the programs, which are offered seven days a week, and all climbing equipment is provided.

The store features an experiential shopping layout that includes a community “Hub”, a place to share community information on upcoming events and trip planning. The selection of gear and apparel has been expanded, highlighting Eastern Mountain Sports’ proprietary products such as its outerwear layering system SYNC and Techwick, its versatile, moisture management base layer. Like all other Eastern Mountain Sports stores, this store will include Foot Gurus, sales associates specially trained to analyze feet and custom-fit athletic footwear.

In addition to the North Conway retail location, other New Hampshire stores are located in Concord, Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth, Salem and West Lebanon. The company is headquartered in Peterborough.

The grand opening celebration will feature Eastern Mountain Sports School clinics, a free cookout, free public climbing wall; and live music by Gerard Truffle (www.gerardtruffle.com). The first 25 customers on Saturday and Sunday receive a gift bag.

About Eastern Mountain Sports
Founded in 1967 by two New England rock climbers and based in Peterborough, N.H., Eastern Mountain Sports is one of the nation’s leading outfitters of outdoor gear, clothing, footwear and accessories with 66 retail stores in 12 states. Eastern Mountain Sports designs and sells products for outdoor adventurers who participate in a variety of sports, such as mountaineering, backpacking, camping, hiking, adventure racing, climbing, kayaking, mountain biking and snow sports. Eastern Mountain Sports product and technology is tested by its product development and quality assurance teams in conjunction with the Eastern Mountain Sports Climbing, Kayaking and Ski Schools. More information is available at www.ems.com.


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