Alpine Shop
Alpine Shop is a privately held, 50-plus-year-old specialty outdoor retailer based in St. Louis, Missouri, selling apparel, footwear, and activity gear across eight outdoor verticals through physical stores, the alpineshop.com e-commerce site, boot-fitting and personal-shopping services, and the Swap365 consignment program, serving outdoor enthusiasts and families in the Midwest.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1978
- HeadquartersSt Louis, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Alpine Shop does
Alpine Shop is a privately held, specialty outdoor recreation retailer founded in 1978 by Russell "Holly" Hollenbeck in St. Louis, Missouri, where it continues to operate more than fifty years later as a regional Midwest business with 51-100 employees. The company sells outdoor apparel, footwear, accessories, home/lifestyle goods, and activity-specific gear across eight vertical categories (Camp & Hike, Climb, Cycle, Paddle, Run, Travel, Snow, plus a general activity assortment) carrying premium brands including Patagonia, The North Face, Smartwool, Columbia, Kuhl, Osprey, Salomon, and Vuori. Its core technology is a unit-priced e-commerce storefront (alpineshop.com) with free shipping over $100, complemented by physical retail stores in the St. Louis area that host in-person services.
Alpine Shop operates a primarily direct-to-consumer go-to-market motion combining physical retail, e-commerce, and community-driven engagement. Revenue streams include one-time retail product sales, paid services (boot fitting, personal shopping appointments scheduled via Calendly), and a transaction-fee revenue component via its Swap365 year-round consignment program that lets customers trade used outdoor gear for store credit, cash, or new equipment. Pricing spans budget items ($5-$25 accessories) up to premium hardgoods ($300-$450 range, with some categories extending to $700+). Beyond transactions, Alpine Shop drives acquisition and retention through recurring community assets, most notably its 29-year tradition of hosting the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, plus Map & Compass navigation and First Aid classes, blog content, and email marketing. The customer base is broadly horizontal — outdoor enthusiasts, families, and gender/age-segmented apparel shoppers across men, women, and kids (including baby and toddler). The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, no parent company, no funding rounds, and no M&A activity in the available data.
Alpine Shop firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Alpine Shop
- Legal name
- Alpine Shop
- Website
- https://alpineshop.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1978
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Alpine Shop is a privately held, 50-plus-year-old specialty outdoor retailer based in St. Louis, Missouri, selling apparel, footwear, and activity gear across eight outdoor verticals through physical stores, the alpineshop.com e-commerce site, boot-fitting and personal-shopping services, and the Swap365 consignment program, serving outdoor enthusiasts and families in the Midwest.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Alpine Shop industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Outdoor Recreation Retail
- NAICS
- Sporting Goods Retailers (45911), Clothing and Clothing Accessories Retailers (458110), Shoe Retailers (4582)
- SIC
- Retail-Apparel & Accessory Stores (5600), Retail-Shoe Stores (5661), Retail-Miscellaneous Shopping Goods Stores (5940)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Climbing & Mountaineering Gear Retail (CRAMAMAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Ski & Snowboard Equipment Retail (Skis, Boards, Boots, Bindings, Poles) (CRAMAJAA)
Keywords
Where Alpine Shop is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- St Louis
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Alpine Shop business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Retail Product Sales: Sale of outdoor apparel, footwear, and gear through physical stores and e-commerce platform
- Services: Boot fitting and personal shopping services
- Consignment (Swap365): Year-round consignment program where used gear is sold with proceeds going to customer as store credit or cash
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Wide price range across product categories |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels4 records
Alpine Shop product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Alpine Shop is a specialty outdoor retailer that sells apparel, footwear, and activity-specific gear (camp/hike, climb, cycle, paddle, run, travel, snow) through physical stores and an e-commerce site, stocking brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Smartwool, Columbia, Kuhl, Osprey, Salomon, and Vuori. It complements the product sales with boot-fitting, personal shopping, the Swap365 consignment program, and educational community events including the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour.
Product overview
Alpine Shop is an outdoor recreational retail store offering a comprehensive portfolio of products and services for outdoor enthusiasts. The core offerings include apparel (jackets, shirts, pants, baselayer), footwear (boots, shoes, sandals), and activity-specific gear for camping, hiking, climbing, cycling, paddling, running, travel, and snow sports. The store also provides accessories (hats, gloves, socks, sunglasses) and home goods. Services include the Swap365 year-round consignment program for trading used gear, professional boot fitting, personal shopping appointments, and educational classes such as the Banff Mountain Film Festival, navigation courses, and first aid training. Alpine Shop carries an extensive range of outdoor brands including Patagonia, The North Face, Smartwool, Columbia, Kuhl, Osprey, Salomon, and Vuori.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Swap365: A year-round consignment program where customers can trade used outdoor gear for store credit, cash, or new adventures.
Products and services
- Apparel Outdoor recreation apparel including jackets, hoodies, sweaters, shirts, vests, pants, shorts, dresses/skirts, jumpers/rompers, baselayer, underwear, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, and socks for men, women, and kids (plus baby and toddler), stocked across brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Columbia, Kuhl, and Vuori.
- Footwear Outdoor footwear including boots, shoes, sandals, and slippers for men, women, and kids, along with activity-specific socks (crew, ankle, no-show, run, hike, everyday, cycle, ski & snowboard) and gaiters, across brands including Salomon, Smartwool, and others.
- Activity Gear Activity-specific gear spanning Camp & Hike (tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, camp kitchen, lighting, electronics, hiking footwear, hiking clothing), Climb (harnesses, hardware), Cycle (bikes, helmets), Paddle (kayaks, canoes, paddles), Run (clothing, shoes), Travel (luggage, hydration), and Snow (skiing, snowboarding).
- Accessories Outdoor accessories including socks, hats, scarves, gloves, mittens, sunglasses, belts, wallets, and purses.
- Home & Lifestyle Home and lifestyle goods including pet supplies, kitchen items, bath products, backyard furniture, books, maps, and stationery.
- Swap365 Consignment Program Year-round consignment service where customers can trade used outdoor gear for store credit, cash, or new adventure equipment, creating a trade-in/upgrading channel distinct from standard product sales.
- Personal Shopping & Boot Fitting In-store appointment-based services including personal shopping assistance and professional boot fitting for outdoor footwear, booked via Calendly.
- Classes & Events Educational classes and community events including the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, Map & Compass Basic Navigation courses, and First Aid in the Outdoors training.
Companies that use Alpine Shop
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Alpine Shop technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Alpine Shop partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Banff Centre Mountain Film FestivalcoreAlpine Shop hosts the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour, a 29-year tradition featuring adventure and environmental films. The event draws sold-out crowds to local theaters and serves as a major community engagement and brand awareness initiative.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights2 records
Alpine Shop competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Sun & Ski Sports: Multi-store U.S. outdoor and winter-sports specialty retailer operating physical storefronts and e-commerce — a very close format analog to Alpine Shop's regional store + online model.
- Backcountry: Online outdoor specialty retailer with deep assortment and expert content across the same activity categories Alpine Shop serves (camp, hike, climb, cycle, paddle, snow), making it the closest pure-outdoor e-commerce competitor.
- L.L.Bean: Heritage outdoor catalog and specialty retailer with apparel, footwear, and outdoor gear; shares Alpine Shop's focus on quality, expertise, and customer experience around outdoor recreation.
- Moosejaw: Outdoor specialty retailer (now backed by Walmart) with multi-category apparel, footwear, and gear curation aimed at the same camping, hiking, climbing, and snow-sports customer as Alpine Shop, plus a playful community-led brand voice.
- Patagonia: Premium outdoor apparel and gear brand with a growing owned-retail footprint; competes with Alpine Shop both as a brand partner (carried in-store) and increasingly as a direct-to-consumer retail competitor for the same enthusiast.
Emerging players
- Public Lands: Dick's Sporting Goods' outdoor-focused specialty concept launched in 2021; carries apparel, footwear, and gear for camping, hiking, climbing, paddling, and snow sports, competing for the same outdoor-enthusiast customer as Alpine Shop.
Broad incumbents
- REI: U.S. consumer co-operative and the country's largest specialty outdoor retailer, with broad assortment across camping, hiking, climbing, cycling, paddling, and snow sports plus services and classes — directly competes with Alpine Shop for the same outdoor enthusiast.
- Dick's Sporting Goods: Largest U.S. sporting-goods big-box retailer with growing outdoor / camping / hiking / snow assortment; competes with Alpine Shop across apparel, footwear, and gear categories at scale.
- Bass Pro Shops: Large U.S. outdoor and sporting-goods retailer (incorporating Cabela's) with massive store-experience model; competes for outdoor apparel, footwear, and gear dollars with overlapping customer segments.
Regional players
- Scheels: Family-owned U.S. sporting-goods chain with flagship superstores carrying outdoor apparel, footwear, and gear; competes for outdoor enthusiasts with a similar multi-category, experience-driven store model across the Midwest and Mountain West.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Alpine Shop social profiles
Digital presenceAlpine Shop financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Alpine Shop leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Alpine Shop funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Alpine Shop M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Alpine Shop
What does Alpine Shop do?
Alpine Shop is a specialty outdoor retailer that sells apparel, footwear, and activity-specific gear (camp/hike, climb, cycle, paddle, run, travel, snow) through physical stores and an e-commerce site, stocking brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Smartwool, Columbia, Kuhl, Osprey, Salomon, and Vuori. It complements the product sales with boot-fitting, personal shopping, the Swap365 consignment program, and educational community events including the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour.
Is Alpine Shop a public or private company?
Alpine Shop is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Alpine Shop founded?
Alpine Shop was founded in 1978. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Alpine Shop based?
Alpine Shop is headquartered in St Louis, United States, in the North America region.
How does Alpine Shop make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Retail Product Sales are the primary driver. The others are services and consignment (Swap365).
Who are Alpine Shop's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Sun & Ski Sports, Backcountry, L.L.Bean, Moosejaw and Patagonia. Public Lands is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are REI, Dick's Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops. Scheels is listed as a regional player.
Does Alpine Shop have an API?
No public API is recorded for Alpine Shop.
What industry is Alpine Shop in?
Alpine Shop's product category is Outdoor Recreation Retail. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAMAMAB, Climbing & Mountaineering Gear Retail, with a secondary code of CRAMAJAA, Ski & Snowboard Equipment Retail (Skis, Boards, Boots, Bindings, Poles). Its NAICS code is 45911 and its SIC code is 5600.