By Don Nelson
Zumiez is still growing — and still increasing the number of retailing whizzes it convenes in the Methow Valley every May for sales training and company-wide camaraderie.
This week, the Lynnwood-based retailer of hip clothes and equipment for outdoor action-oriented kids brought together about 600 of its store managers and executives — from all over the United States and Canada — for a couple of days of intensive training rooted in the company’s core values. Company founder and chairman Tom Campion said it’s the largest group ever in the 20-plus years that Zumiez has been meeting in the Methow.
Although the Zumiez contingent fills motel and resort rooms from Winthrop to Mazama and breaks into four training “camps,” all 600 gather at the Winthrop Barn for team-building events and end-of-training competition in handling typical in-store situations.
Campion said this is the first Methow meeting for about 200 of the attendees. “They were employees, but not store managers,” Campion said.
Many of the others started as “rookie” store managers and then worked their way up the corporate management ladder.
Two of the veterans were in the valley this week: Ryan Ringe, who has been with the company about 13 years and is a Chicago-based regional manager; and Bob Powell, who has also been with Zumiez for about 13 years and is a regional manager in Spokane.
Ringe said that the annual meetings are more organized and focused than when he began. “When we [first] came here we were students … now we are here as leaders,” he said. “There are new challenges every year.”
“We used to be able to fit all of us in one hotel,” Powell said. “But it’s still about teaching and empowering … teaching them not what to think, but how to think.”
A typical Zumiez store manager is in his or her 20s — closely aligned with the store’s youthful demographic. Ringe and Powell said that despite how some people view younger generations, the people they are hiring are ready to succeed.
“We cater to a young audience,” Powell said. “For many of our employees, this is their first job.”
“I think kids now are just as hungry and just as eager to learn,” Ringe said. “You just have to find out how to connect with them.”
Zumiez now has about 550 stores including a foothold in Europe, and will continue to expand in the United States, Campion said.
Campion said Zumiez stays relevant in the tumultuous retail sector by sticking to its cultural values that emphasize being competitive while having fun, acknowledging and rewarding achievement, and empowering employees to make decisions.
“It starts with products and people,” Campion said. “We may change products but we never change strategies.”
Campion said he talked to his employees briefly about a tragedy that shocked the company: a random shooting spree in a Columbia, Md., mall in January that left two Zumiez employees dead and several other people injured.
“It was the most tragic day in the history of Zumiez,” Campion said with obvious emotion. “We put our arms around each other and go on.”
Campion and his wife, Sonia, own a home in the Cassal Ranch area and are long-time supporters of the Methow Conservancy and other local causes. He said the Methow is an important part of what Zumiez does. “We have deep roots in this valley,” Campion said. “We love being here.”
