• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

End of an era, North Face Outlet closed in Berkeley

Climber

Climber

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 13, 2004
Location
Clovis/Fresno
Moto(s)
01 Goldwing GL1800
Name
Brett
Last sign of The North Face disappears from Berkeley
The last location of The North Face shut down in Berkeley earlier this month, ending the company’s presence in the city where it was once headquartered. Located at 1238 Fifth St. in Berkeley’s Gilman District, the store functioned as an outlet, selling at times heavily discounted goods. Berkeleyside first reported on the closure.
Click to expand...
I shopped there many times, starting in the early 90's back when the deals were unreal.

I got a ton of Christmas presents there for my family and outfitted myself and my kids there.
 
That's really sad to hear. I actually worked at the Palo Alto store (on Alma) from 1999 to mid 2000. I only worked there for the 50% discount on my backpacking gear. I did the bare minimum, I worked 4 hours per week- just for that discount (I already had a full time day job making 10X/hour what NF was paying me), so when some pimply faced kid said "You need to start working weekends- like everybody else". I said "See Ya".
 
Lived in teh East Bay my whole life, and I've always been pretty outdoorsy, doing regular camping trips, hikes, etc. I never went to the NF outlet or even purchased NF gear elsewhere :laughing
 
mercurial said:
to be fair, TNF gear has been mostly crummy for a long time, and the brand is beyond stale. Like many US outdoor clothing brands, they started off making hard core gear for outdoor enthusiasts and gradually pivoted into urban yuppie wear.
Click to expand...
That happens so often. Somebody comes up with a great idea that captures a certain audience, they achieve domination in that space, then over time they lose sight of what made them great.
 
I thought North Face was dead and gone more than 40 years ago when they left Palo Alto. And I have some of their gear.
 
mercurial said:
to be fair, TNF gear has been mostly crummy for a long time, and the brand is beyond stale. Like many US outdoor clothing brands, they started off making hard core gear for outdoor enthusiasts and gradually pivoted into urban yuppie wear.
Click to expand...
REI still seems solid.
 
Patagonia and REI both kick their butt. And Patagucci is sustainably made, pays their makers a living wage, plows the profits back into the planet and used items are repaired or can be sold back when you tire of them cuz they don’t wear out much. Ba bye North Face.
 
I set up a few aircraft for Doug Tompkins of Esprit Clothing fame for his South American non profits. One of his aircraft, a C-206 had a headliner that would droop depending on the weather. When I asked about it, he told me it was made of fabric that his friend Yvon gave him. Not only did it do the droop thing but it was never flame tested or certified so I arranged to have a new headliner fabricated. I've always hated effing around with headliners but Doug was generous and appreciated the effort.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bcj
I do have a couple of soft luggage bags from NF, I found Gilman dis. had a lot of stuff, REI and sailboard stuff I was always shopping, since the 70's

Big thing when NF was sold to Japan, colors and materials changed for a different consumer.
 
Warehouse sale was killer. I have lots of $10 packs and five dollar gloves. Will they still honor their lifetime warranty?
 
Our relative lives in the old Singer sewing machine building (where they made them) in Soho, NYC. It's now an artist co-op.

The north face paid $1M annually to rent to bottom floor. That was 15 years ago. Woof

If you outsource your manufacturing to a place with little to no local trademark protection, don't be surprised to find your products in the market without your blessing. International labor markets come with international retail markets. Growth is good, greed is not.
 
Abacinator said:
Lived in teh East Bay my whole life, and I've always been pretty outdoorsy, doing regular camping trips, hikes, etc. I never went to the NF outlet or even purchased NF gear elsewhere :laughing
Click to expand...
I haven’t lived much in the east bay , but purchased plenty of North Face when I needed it .. from other places, like REi or even the store I think on Post in SF.

I don’t read people’s labels when walking down in sf, but I guess some or most yuppies do it. Either way, wasn’t “Yuppie” a word with origins in the 80s? 90s? Nowadays north face-wearer is a kid born in Los Altos, going on a park walk once and being iced almond lattes

Don’t know North Face in Berkeley is closin, probably nobody wants to go there and/or no parking. Always those
 
In the far-reaching efforts to sell your brand, when I saw the embroidered shoulder of a fleece pull-over stating North Face, I thought...

"Now the kids will be able to nod approval of their classmate's choice of clothing when walking behind them in the school hallways. Genius!"

Wife knew Doug & Susie, Yvon (Chouinard) and all those that got started in the Go Climb A Rock era. Mirrors my involvement in tennis. We both have seen friends and acquaintances grow with a boom, as early entrepreneurs rode the wave and are now in the sunset phase of life.

We were in a local store that has outdoor gear with an emphasis on climbing. Guys behind the counter were asking of our interest, conversation turned to where have you climbed. Wife started with the well-known climbs and the qualified the list with,

"Well, I lived and worked in Yosemite."

More than twenty questions later, the dudes were gobsmacked with envy. That's my gal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top