Favorite Places, News and Events, and Adventure Stories pages provide gathering place for outdoor enthusiasts.

OuterSports.com, an online retailer of outdoor equipment and accessories for hikers, climbers, campers, and winter sports participants, recently brought online its new outdoor community, where users can find and contribute helpful information related to getting out. “Our company is dedicated to helping people enjoy the outdoors, whether they like to hike, camp, climb, snowboard, or whatever,” says OuterSports.com co-founder Darron Robbins, “Until now, we have been strictly in the business of providing the gear folks need to make their outings successful. The new OuterSports.com community enables our customers to share their insights and experiences from the outdoor recreation world with others.”

The new OuterSports.com community features three categories: “Favorites Places”, “News and Events”, and “Adventure Stories.” The Favorite Places section of the community is for finding and sharing details about outdoor spots recommended by community members. The News and Events section lists various competitions, tradeshows, new product reviews, and other activities of interest to recreation lovers. On the Adventure Stories page, community participants can read others’ tales about trips and activities that have exciting twists to them. They can also contribute stories of their own.

This new release of an online community is the first step in OuterSports.com’s effort to become more than a retailer of products for its customers. Richard Robbins, co-founder, explains, “We want to eventually become the primary source for people who are planning a getaway into the wilderness. Not only will we sell tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, and such, but we will provide tools that help our customers get to a place they will enjoy with the gear they need at the price they can afford. Our new site [to be released in January] will facilitate more interaction between our customers and each other and us.”

Other plans for OuterSports.com in the near future include designing and manufacturing new products in response to customer requests as well as allowing customers to rate products currently for sale on the site. In most cases, products available through OuterSports.com will have at least one review included with the retail description, giving potential buyers information that can be used to determine whether or not to purchase a particular item. Commenting on these features, Richard Robbins said, “The last thing we want is for someone to buy a backpack from our site, then find out after using it once or twice that it hurts the back or the straps feel uncomfortable. There are enough other problems to worry about [in the outdoors] that you don’t want to deal with annoying or ineffective gear.”

About OuterSports.com OuterSports.com was founded by Darron and Richard Robbins in 2002 as an online store retailing equipment and accessories for outdoor recreation, including hiking, climbing, and camping.