A behind the scenes look at the new and improved Tackle Warehouse (continued)

The new facility and going green: San Luis Obispo is an interesting location for a company like Tackle Warehouse to have their headquarters, it is right in the middle of San Francisco and Los Angeles, but for those that have spent time in SLO there is a consensus is that it is very a nice place to call home. Both JIP and I went to University here and honestly one of the worst things about S.L.O. is having to leave. We are always excited to go back down to our old stomping grounds as well as visit with the team at Tackle Warehouse.

The new retail store has plenty of tackle but just a fraction of what TW carries online

Last Saturday we pulled into the new facility and found that each of the different Warehouse brands now has their own retail storefront. Some of these stores were bigger than others and Art’s Cyclery is now part of the family of brands and had a massive retail shop. Tackle Warehouse still does the majority of their business online but also now has a nice retail storefront that is much larger than their previous operation.

Rich helps customers find products that are not displayed on store shelves and is stocked in the warehouse

As we walked up the stairs and in the door we were greeted by Rich and Brandon Taylor (BT for short). We were eager to see what changes had been made and started snapping pictures of the retail storefront. While we were doing so a number of local anglers walked in to purchase products. While the retail store has a good sampling of products it only has a fraction of what is available online so anglers would talk to a representative at the store who would help make recommendations then key in the orders and run to the back to pull product for customers. The store also has a computer set up in the front so that customers can browse the complete TW selection.

Rich shows us new swimbaits for the season

One product that caught our attention in the store was new foul weather gear from Gill. Gill is a brand from Europe that has roots in sailboat racing but has made a big push into fishing apparel starting with providing gear for team Yamaha. We have been testing Gill products for a few months now and while we have thus far been very impressed with the product we also couldn’t find many tackle e-tailers that carry the brand. Tackle Warehouse has already tested the gear and already has them in the retail store as well as listed a few of the products online.

We were excited to see that Tackle Warehouse has brought in Gill products as we have been testing these high quality garments for months and like what we have seen thus far

Tackle Warehouse has also expanded into their own branded "Pro Gear" apparel

All of these buyers are anglers themselves and work closely with the Customer Service team to determine what anglers really want. In fact if anglers are looking for something in particular the Customer Service team will relay that information to the buyers for consideration. They also have prostaffers that provide valuable feedback from the tour including West Coast Anglers Randy Mcabee and Jared Lintner.

Rich points out an award given to the company by the government for their green initiatives