Outdoor and sporting goods retailer Orvis will be closing its store just outside Charlottesville after the holiday shopping season, as economic headwinds push the company into a real estate retreat.
Jake Billmyer, who manages the Orvis at the Shops at Stonefield, deferred questions to Orvis’ corporate offices, but he did confirm to The Daily Progress that the location would be closing for good Dec. 24, Christmas Eve.
In total, the Vermont-based outdoor retailer is closing more than 30 locations across the country. In Virginia, Orvis stores in Leesburg and Virginia Beach will be shuttered. Locations in Richmond, Roanoke and Vienna will remain open.
“While Orvis remains committed to providing the very best gear and apparel for many years to come, we are also navigating economic headwinds that have led to the difficult decision to close our Charlotesville [sic] location,” Simon Perkins, president of Orvis, said in a statement.
Perkins in another statement said the company is “stepping into an exciting new chapter — one focused on our core passions of fly fishing and wingshooting.”
The real estate retreat comes as prices for some of the brand’s core products, fly rods and reels, have skyrocketed.
The company announced in October 2024 it would be laying off 8% of its workforce, 112 people.
“We are deeply grateful to the associates who have represented Orvis with passion and expertise in this community, and to the loyal customers who have supported this store over the years,” Perkins said.
The Stonefield Orvis opened in 2013, a year after the shopping center was completed. The store will be discounting almost all items anywhere from 40% to 50% until its last day.
Orvis products will still be available in Charlottesville through an authorized dealer: Albemarle Angler.
Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Tax Foundation says the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies will raise $2.3 trillion in revenue over the next decade. Those tariffs, however, are paid by domestic importers, hitting the operations of American businesses and effectively raising prices for American consumers.
Charlottesville-based electronics retailer Crutchfield Corporation has filed an amicus brief laying out how the tariffs, and even the threat of tariffs, have hurt its business.
The brief says that Crutchfield obtains almost all of its products from different suppliers and vendors overseas, making business decisions very difficult.
“Crutchfield wants to avoid the economic harm not only of the tariffs, but also of the chaos and uncertainty resulting from wild gyrations in the tariffs that make rational business planning impossible,” the brief says. “Although many of the highest announced tariffs are currently paused, they hang like the proverbial sword of Damocles over every retailer that imports any product, or component part, from anywhere in the world.”
The brief was filed in a case where the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing the legality of Trump’s announced tariffs.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
Be First to Comment