Welcome to the Bushwhacker.
PEORIA'S ORIGINAL OUTDOOR STORE. SINCE 1971.
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"It was a small little store over on Lincoln Avenue, just south of Krannert," Rich recalls fondly. "At that time, it was just backpacking and climbing gear. It was a popular connecting point for granola crunching back packers." And it was a world where Rich instantly felt at home.
When the store moved to a bigger digs on Neil Street in Champaign, Rich moved with them, crossing over from a frequent customer to a part-time employee. "I started working 15-20 hours a week, and by '75 I was up to about 40 hours a week. I knew every price on every item in the store by heart. I didn't try to know it; I just knew it."
Rich liked the store, and the owners liked his passion for the job. And so the three original partners gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy into the Bushwhacker brand. "I had one more test to pass and one thesis to write to finish my master's, and I thought, 'Nah, skip it.' And that's how I got into retailing," Rich says with a hearty laugh.
For the next couple of years the store rode the crest of a rising wave, as a generation of nature-loving hippies traded their ganja for granola and outdoor sports became "in". Bushwhacker soon had a second store in Springfield, Illinois, and in 1976, Rich headed to Peoria to open their newest store. "We did really well for a while," explains Rich. "And then two things happened. All the hippies got married, had kids and stopped backpacking. And it also stopped snowing a lot in central Illinois, so cross country skiing went north with the snowlines." With those two major developments, the wave crashed, the easy sales ended and by 1980, the store was hemorrhaging cash.
Rich quickly found himself in an uncharted territory as partners left, stores changed hands and everyone in the outdoor specialty business struggled to find solid ground. Around that time, a business consultant gave Rich his best advice. "If you want to stay in business, you'd better go out there and find something to sell." And with that, Bushwhacker began experimenting with sailboats, windsurfing and other emerging sports outside their traditional climbing and backpacking lines.
When windsurfing took off, Rich and then store manager Sally Brown became certified windsurfing instructors. "I spent the first 10 hours of my life as a windsurfer drifting down wind and getting rescued and doing it all over again," remembers Rich. "And then somebody finally showed me how to do it." When a customer suggested that they sell downhill skis, they hit the slopes, learning that sport as well. And once they had it down, they brought it home, sharing everything they knew with local skiers in classes that got people off the couch and on the slopes.
By the late 80s, all of the hard work began to pay off, and Bushwhacker celebrated their move back into the black with a party as unique as the store. Over beer and brats, Bushwhacker employees toured a temporary museum of old backpacking gear and cross-country skis that Rich set up in his backyard and reminisced about their struggles. "We called it 'Fifteen Rollercoaster Years: Celebrating Bushwhacker's survival as a backpacking shop … or is it a skiing, windsurfing, skateboarding or patio shop?'"
Admittedly, the store has changed a lot since cleats and climbing rope were among its top sellers. Today, Bushwhacker is one of the area's largest bike shops with a broad assortment of kayaks, windsurfing equipment and other outdoor gear that changes with every season. But for all those who've walked through the doors of this local Peoria store, it continues to be something more.
The year was 1974. Ford was in the White House. Nixon was on the outs. And the Towering Inferno was blowing up the box office at the local Cineplex. And over at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a young computer science student was experiencing the first spark of an interest that would soon take him away from terminal boredom, towards his personal bliss.
It all started innocently enough when Rich Pestien joined a club of local rock climbing enthusiast as an undergrad. But soon, late nights at the computer lab were looking a lot less interesting than a long weekend at Devil's Lake in Wisconsin. Slowly but surely, Rich was becoming an outdoor enthusiast. And like a lot of other kids with a passion for outdoor living, he got his gear at Bushwhacker."It was a small little store over on Lincoln Avenue, just south of Krannert," Rich recalls fondly. "At that time, it was just backpacking and climbing gear. It was a popular connecting point for granola crunching back packers." And it was a world where Rich instantly felt at home.
When the store moved to a bigger digs on Neil Street in Champaign, Rich moved with them, crossing over from a frequent customer to a part-time employee. "I started working 15-20 hours a week, and by '75 I was up to about 40 hours a week. I knew every price on every item in the store by heart. I didn't try to know it; I just knew it."
Rich liked the store, and the owners liked his passion for the job. And so the three original partners gave him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy into the Bushwhacker brand. "I had one more test to pass and one thesis to write to finish my master's, and I thought, 'Nah, skip it.' And that's how I got into retailing," Rich says with a hearty laugh.
For the next couple of years the store rode the crest of a rising wave, as a generation of nature-loving hippies traded their ganja for granola and outdoor sports became "in". Bushwhacker soon had a second store in Springfield, Illinois, and in 1976, Rich headed to Peoria to open their newest store. "We did really well for a while," explains Rich. "And then two things happened. All the hippies got married, had kids and stopped backpacking. And it also stopped snowing a lot in central Illinois, so cross country skiing went north with the snowlines." With those two major developments, the wave crashed, the easy sales ended and by 1980, the store was hemorrhaging cash.
Rich quickly found himself in an uncharted territory as partners left, stores changed hands and everyone in the outdoor specialty business struggled to find solid ground. Around that time, a business consultant gave Rich his best advice. "If you want to stay in business, you'd better go out there and find something to sell." And with that, Bushwhacker began experimenting with sailboats, windsurfing and other emerging sports outside their traditional climbing and backpacking lines.
And then there was one.
By 1984, Peoria was the last store standing. "I think at that time we had a negative net worth of something like $70,000." But even when they didn't have much, they had a philosophy set them apart. If they sold it, they learned how to use it, becoming the experts their customers relied on to get the most out of their gear.When windsurfing took off, Rich and then store manager Sally Brown became certified windsurfing instructors. "I spent the first 10 hours of my life as a windsurfer drifting down wind and getting rescued and doing it all over again," remembers Rich. "And then somebody finally showed me how to do it." When a customer suggested that they sell downhill skis, they hit the slopes, learning that sport as well. And once they had it down, they brought it home, sharing everything they knew with local skiers in classes that got people off the couch and on the slopes.
By the late 80s, all of the hard work began to pay off, and Bushwhacker celebrated their move back into the black with a party as unique as the store. Over beer and brats, Bushwhacker employees toured a temporary museum of old backpacking gear and cross-country skis that Rich set up in his backyard and reminisced about their struggles. "We called it 'Fifteen Rollercoaster Years: Celebrating Bushwhacker's survival as a backpacking shop … or is it a skiing, windsurfing, skateboarding or patio shop?'"
Admittedly, the store has changed a lot since cleats and climbing rope were among its top sellers. Today, Bushwhacker is one of the area's largest bike shops with a broad assortment of kayaks, windsurfing equipment and other outdoor gear that changes with every season. But for all those who've walked through the doors of this local Peoria store, it continues to be something more.
For the beginner, it's the starting point, where advice is free and questions are always encouraged. And for the pros, it's the connecting point — the one place where they return time and time again to share their passion for sport. And perhaps more than anything, it's that atmosphere of collective exploration that keeps Rich invested after nearly 40 years of retail. "You can't package that sort of vibe. That's real. That's us." And that's why Bushwhacker continues to be one of Illinois' greatest original brands.
Gear up. Make tracks
(309) 692-4812
info@bushwhacker.com
4700 N University
Peoria, IL 61614
Store Hours:
Mon & Fri 10-9
Tue-Thru & Sat 10-6
(309) 692-4812
info@bushwhacker.com
4700 N University
Peoria, IL 61614
Store Hours:
Mon & Fri 10-9
Tue-Thru & Sat 10-6