A note was sticked to the original pages of this article, written by Regis's hand:
I designed this building, interior fixtures and decor
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THE SPORTING GOODS DEALER / MAY, 1977, pp. 59-62
Highly Departmentalized Xen's Caters to Northern Sportsmen
By Peter Regis
Even though Xen's North Country Sporting Goods isn't scheduled to open in Bemidji, Minn., until June, trade scouts have already spread the word about its innovative merchandising concepts. Xen A. Stoner's new 8,000 square-foot store contains nothing that might be characterized as revolutionary, but does have notable features that set it apart from most contemporary sports shops.
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The textbox inside the article:
Team Produced Xen's North Country
Consultants and contractors in
the Xen's North Country Sporting Goods project included:
Special planning, Peter Regis, 49 Jupiter River Park, Jupiter, Fla., 33458;
Exterior design, Art Hedlund, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minn., 55403;
Consulting Engineers, Stuart & Walker Inc., Bemidji 56601;
Fixtures, Streater Division, Litton Industries, 26 North Fifth street, Minneapolis 55403;
Construction, Al Christianson, general contractor, Bemidji 56601;
Decor fabrication, Creations, Route 1, St. Cloud, Minn., 56301, and
Financial consultant, Greg Wermerskirchen, 101 South Lewis street, Shakopee, Minn., 55379.
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Xen's North Country Sporting Goods
Xen's $6,500 Weatherman console at left will compile up-to-the-minute data and display it by electronic digital readout
Take the meteorological center for example. There's nothing special about a sporing goods store serving up weather information for querying anglers and skiers, but how many of them have a $6,500 console with up-to-the-minute weather data compiled electronically and displayed visually by digital readout? And how about the 24-hour telephone answering service for weather, snow, fishing, and hunting conditions? Not only will Xen's provide these services, but the program calls for regular radio and TV announcements covering these and other areas of interest to the sportsman.
And then there's the bait shop, built as a separate wing to accommodate the fishing fraternity's dawn patrol. It warrants the close scrutiny of industry watchers because of its sophisticated refrigeration equipment and special tanks for preserving and displaying trophy fish.
Another new merchandising wrinkle that just may evoke appreciative praise from fisherfolk is the arrangement of the fishing department. Xen's has established a mini-department for each species of fish caught within a 200-mile radius of Bemidji. All the specialized gear for guys hooked on Northern Pike, for example, will be displayed on gondolas and wall cases reserved for that particular species. Even the need of youngsters has not bee overlooked -- a section set aside for panfish rods and lures.
In addition to the standard departments of a full-line sporting goods store -- ski, hockey, photo, hunting, clothing, camping, shoes and boots, and gifts -- Xen's hopes to corral a substantial hunk of the tourist trade, which supports more than 300 motels and lodges in this northern Minnesota resort area. A full-fledged art department featuring paintings and carvings by prominent Minnesota wildlife artists will be part of Xen's attraction to tourists.
Spotlight on Northern Sports
In fact, the whole idea of Xen's North Country Sporting Goods is centered on goods and services typical of the people and environment of this area.
"Stores everywhere have all kinds of things that capture the flavor of the nautical sailor or the western cowboy," says Stoner, "but try to find a store that has a line of products which are neither eastern nor western -- stores with a distinct North Country influence. We've tried to supply one that leads itself strictly to the North Country."
Stoner built his store around this marketing idea by assembling a team of specialists to do the job, rather than turn it over as a project to a single firm. His group was made up of a planning consultant, an interior designer, an accountant, and an architect.
Stoner Comes In As Novice
Stoner comes into this business with no experience in sporting goods retailing, but with solid credits as a marketing and business executive. Up until two years ago he was president and half-owner of Minneapolis-based Cat Pumps Corp., distributor of industrial high pressure water pumps. Prior to that he held various executive positions in life insurance, and in earlier days owned and operated a gasoline filling station and managed a hardware store. Two years in the U.S. Army Air Force as weather observer lends credence to supposition that Xen's meteorological station will be a successful operation.
After he made his decision to get into sporting goods, Stoner discovered that "the more I read and the more I learned about this business the more I found out I didn't know. But I did discover that fantastic things can be accomplish when you're not really aware of how tough the job might be."
His first accomplishments included a prime store site on Old Highway 71 three blocks outside the city limits of Bemidji (Population 12,900), and purchase of adjacent land "for more North Country business such as a gift store and cheese shop."
From then on it was a crash program to learn everything he could about the sporting goods industry and the design and construction of a viable store. He traveled thousands of miles, visited and closely examined dozens of shops, collared every store manager within reach to brain-drain him for information vital to his enterprise.
Consultants Prove Value
By the first of the year he had selected his team, delineated his sales and profit objectives, apprised the group of his ideas relative to the store's size, interior environment and merchandising system, set performance standards, established delivery and construction schedules, and on acknowledgement that his desires fully understood -- fired the starting gun.
The first element to emerge from the think tank was a merchandising system tailored to generate $400,000 in sales during the first year. Fishing and hunting were pegged to produce almost half of the projected volume, with skiing, sportswear, shoes, and gifts taking the lead to fill the rest of the quota.
"We set realistic, achievable goals on a month-to-month basis," said Stoner, "based on the best information obtainable. Actually the projections are tilted toward the conservative side to compensate for any unexpected developments."
A front-to-rear boulevard of paving tile essentially divides the sales floor in half. One side -- hunting, fishing and camping -- is generally fixtured for self selection with pay points established in the hunting department and the main entrance checkout station. The right half of the store is given over to clothing, shoes, skis, tennis and photo.
The gondola runs of the self-service area have been kept down to 16 feet to gain a balanced configuration and maintain integral traffic flow. Each steel-framed module is 61 inches high and has a spacious 22-inch base. Extension posts between the back panels of each unit may be raised to provide an additional two rows of shelving -- a welcome capability especially during the Christmas season.
Wood Gondolas Rough Sawed
Five floor units across the aisle in clothing and photo are custom-made gondolas fabricated of rough-sawed wood. A pair of clothing racks and two fitting rooms, both of matching design and materials, were made to blend with the store's interior design.
Checkout counters with flanking showcases have been positioned in hunting, photo, and the main entrance. All these fixtures have been specially designed to conform with the decor.
The interior environment of Xen's has a distinct North Country flavor. It is established initially by wood strakes of the portico at the outside entrance and repeated throughout the interior, particularly in the signing and panels above the cornice line. A canopy 14 feet long over the ski section features a roof of handcut shakes with interrupting vertical spaces of bright red to give the corner a measure of crisp vitality.
The weather station at the wall directly facing the main entrance is the first thing the shopper sees. A large animated sunburst mural, framed behind an arched canopy, dominates the decor elements of that whole section. Within the enclosure are the weather instruments that indicate wind speed, wind direction, temperature, barometric pressure, rainfall, solar radiation, humidity, and wind chill.
Handy to the ski wall is the entrance to an 8x12 work shop fully equipped with tools and benches for attaching bindings to skis or stringing tennis rackets. Next door is the team room -- Bemidji is a college town and members of the academic community are expected to be regular visitors to Xen's.
In addition, Bemidji attracts thousands tourists and is a favored spot for winter sportsmen. Many among the town's 12,000 year-round residents are hunters, skiers, fishermen and campers. The market for Xen's seems strong for seasonal lines and year-round equipment. The largest city for miles around, Bemidji is near some of Minnesota's largest lakes, with hundreds of smaller ones dotting the region's wooded countryside.
Right Place, Right Time
"I think, I'm doing the right thing at the right place and at the right time," declared Stoner. "My comprehensive survey and study had convinced me that there's no reason why a large, full-line sporting goods store can't be a glorious success in rural Minnesota. But it is paradoxical that this information seems to indicate that the same doesn't for other business such as auto sales, men's clothing or women's fashion shops."
Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations encountered by Stoner was the failure of product suppliers to follow up on his inquiries. "I left my card at 53 booths at the NSGA Show in Chicago and only two salesmen called on me. I sent out hundreds of letters, received dozens of responses with rep's names listed, but they never called on me." So he took his problem directly to the mountain -- letters to the company presidents. And "Wow! salesmen and reps started coming out of the woodwork. But it took some doing on my part."
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