“We’ve been looking at a way to get downtown for a long time,” Cripple Creek Bike & Backcountry owner Doug Stenclik said.
Doug Stenclik, right, showing off a ski boot during employee training. Cripple Creek Bike & Backcountry is set to move into the soon-to-be former Wilderness Exchange next month. “We’ve been looking at a way to get downtown for a long time,” owner Doug Stenclik told BusinessDen.
He will close his current store in Englewood on April 6 and move its bikes, skis, accessories and tuning equipment to the space at 2401 15th St., which Wilderness Exchange owner Don Bushey has occupied since 2000. Stenclik opened the Englewood Cripple Creek store in 2021 as a warehouse for his Front Range customers. The Carbondale-based business owner said it was costly and inefficient to get gear to customers around Denver. As pickup became more popular, it slowly morphed into a retail storefront with ski and bike tunes. The former Wilderness Exchange space will be double the size of the Englewood spot, Stenclik said. Cripple Creek will do its retail out of the 3,700-square-feet that Black Diamond’s “store within a store” has been operating in since last January. The 2,500 square feet in the basement, where Bushey sold his consignment and secondhand gear, will be used for inventory. “For retail to work in 2026, a lot of excessive creativity is needed to keep it going,” Stenclik said. “I think Don got creative with the Black Diamond space, but it didn’t pan out for them there. It’s a challenge that we’re excited to tackle.” Bushey and Stenclik started talking about the space months ago, with the latter potentially taking over the main floor and Wilderness Exchange consigning from the basement. But that never materialized, Stenclik said. When Bushey told his landlord recently that he was going to retire and give up the space, Stenclik got a call to move in. He said his lease for the space wasn’t finalized as of Thursday afternoon, but he’s not worried about a deal getting done. Stenclik said Cripple Creek’s product mix will be more tailored to the backcountry skier and cyclist, compared with Wilderness Exchange’s extensive lineup of climbing and camping gear. That means skiing during winter and biking during summer. Cripple Creek also will offer ski and bike tunes. Stenclik’s staff does its tunes by hand, which is beneficial to the thinner, lighter backcountry ski with less material to grind off. “The only way we’ve been able to find success is having highly specialized assortment,” Stenclik said. “And being that close to REI, they have the generalists.” Stenclik started Cripple Creek on the Western Slope in 2012, just as uphill and backcountry skiing skyrocketed. At the time, he said it was one of the only shops around dedicated to going off-piste.‘The math just doesn’t work’: Little India to close in West Highland He added a store in Vail in the years after and in 2021 opened in Englewood. Since then, Cripple Creek has added outposts in Avon, Aspen, Basalt, Silverthorne and Seattle, Washington. That explosion in locations coincided with the surge in outdoor recreation as an industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the years since, business has been difficult. That cycle burst in 2023 and 2024 and tariffs complicated 2025, Stenclik said. Many of his parts are made of aluminum sourced outside the country.“2024 to ’25 was flat,” he said. “The winter this year, or lack of winter, hurt a lot. But we’re definitely seeing early pickup for bike season.”Denver's 97-year-old City Park bandstand 'a total loss' after overnight fireHow to check TSA wait times at DIA and reserve airport security time slotsSheridan School District teachers plan to go on strike next week'The Princess Bride' is back, Frozen Dead Guy Days, and more things to do
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