La Loupe Garmisch-Partenkirchen No. 5

L.L. This year Sport Conrad celebrates its 120 th anniversary.
How did it all begin?
H.C. It all started with my great-grandfather, a master
shoemaker in Penzberg – which is also where the Sport
Conrad headquarters which we refurbished just last year is
located. Later my grandfather ran a proper retail shoe shop
and in the 1950s my father started selling skis – a product we
still fell deeply connected with. Of course, everything used
to be much smaller, the shoe shop had less than 100 square
metres, the ski shop about 150. Which is why the bindings
had to be mounted in the cellar and the skis were transported
up and down via a hatch. I was a young boy back then and I
still remember helping out on the weekends.
Sport & Freizeit
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engl. / One of Europe’s largest winter sports
and outdoor gear dealer can look back on
a success story of more than 120 years: Sport
Conrad. What stands behind the concentrated
skiing and mountaineering competence
is a real family business that employs 170
passionate staff today. Aside from the shops
in Penzberg, Murnau, Wielenbach, and
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, there is the successful
online shop where customers from all
over the world shop. La Loupe spoke to Hans
Conrad about the company’s foundation
as a shoemaker’s shop in 1897, about the
advantages and disadvantages of the online
business, and new trend sports.
L.L. Only in the 1970s did the trend towards hiking tourism
pick up and the demand for the right gear increased. Sport
Conrad saw this development – which was a courageous
step at the time. How exactly does the company’s pioneering
spirit stand out?
H.C. When the topic came up, the choice was still very
limited. Very few companies were ready to deal with
mountaineering and hiking. We swtill have close connections
to these companies, one of them is Schöffel, for example.
Those were exciting times, everything was new.
In 1983, we as a family flew to Nepal where we did a sixweek
trekking tour. Only after that did the outdoor-sports
segment in the company really pick up. All of a sudden,
we were selling American brands like The North Face and
Patagonia; brands that had been unknown here until then
and that changed the market significantly.
L.L. Was there even demand back then?
H.C. At that time everything looked very similar, there
were just a lot of navy jackets made from heavy cotton.
Then we started stocking a few red Gore-Tex jackets from
Schöffel. And with Patagonia we brought more bright colours
into the shop. In retrospect, these companies strongly
shaped the market for mountaineering, climbing, and
all things outdoor.
“You really feel
the passion for it
in everyone, from
great-grandchildren
to great-grandfather.”
“Personal advice
still is at the core
of our business.”
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