What’s the business?

Here’s the mission statement I jotted down upon a napkin a few months back:

Create a shop founded on community and education to promote consumer'-friendly brands and get people engaged in the outdoors to make lifelong adventurers instead of one time sales. Encourage folks to test, discuss, explore, and learn about gear and nurture the adventure spirit. Promote accessability and green initiatives in the outdoor industry and community.

Save money, live better

Just Do it

I’m lovin’ it

All these slogans are just advertisting, but for Wisconsin Johnson, they’re ways of life. Too long have we lived under the opressions of social conformance and economic compliance, but it can end today! Stop shoping on Instagram (or in general, really) and start selling! Or modify that piece you’ve outgrown, patch those holey knees, fix the busted zipper! I reckon you’ll find that you’re lovin’ it too!

Wisconsin Johnson checks out Mount Rushmore. It looks very good!

This is the only picture I got with Mt. Rushmore, lolololololololo

“Send it”

—Nate Bennett

Ol binocular boy peepin across Devil's Lake in Baraboo, Wisconsin
There's a daytime view of the Mountain known as Stuart

How are you different from R.E.I., Sierra, or Backcountry?

I’ll give you the insider scoop having worked for some of these names. They make their money by selling cheap goods at huge markups. The hotter the name, the bigger the margin; and often times the lower the quality. We don’t futz around like that. We love repeat customers, but ironically the ethos of the store is that we’re trying to keep customers from having to come back for a very long time. Save that paper by fixing up the stuff you have and save the world while you’re at it. You don’t need a brand new rootin’ tootin’ overengineered carbon fiber-titanium composite to take a hike through the woods by your lake house. The best gear is the gear you got.

And here we see that “make it do” spirit in full force! Zowie!

Tarp and hammock setup for a canoe camping excursion in the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area

“From start to finish, working with Wisconsin Johnson’s Refitter was pleasant and stress free. The stuff I got and things they did were perfect and beyond what I could have imagined in my wildest dreams.”

- Could be us but you playin