Outdoorsman

Neil Stern

Neil Stern, left, with son Erik, who are always up for an adventure, be it casual or extreme, stand in front of the wall of pictures their customers have brought back from their jaunts. (By J Carrier For The Washington Post)

Neil Stern, owner of Casual Adventure in Arlington, is continuing a family tradition six decades in the making. What started out as a small grocery store opened by his grandfather Oscar in 1945, morphed into an Army-Navy surplus store 10 years later. In 1971, when he was just 23, Stern took over the business after his grandfather retired. He expanded the store's merchandise to encompass all facets of outdoor living and recreation. He also oversaw a name change from the Surplus Center to Casual Adventure in 1985.

We thought we'd pick his brain about camping, gear and how to survive as an independent outfitter in a field dominated by REI, Eastern Mountain Sports and Hudson Trail Outfitters.

"Casual" adventure? That's a name that stands in the face of the growth of the extreme outdoorsman. Where do you fall -- casual or extreme?

We kind of focused on leisure time, and we have a tagline now: "We can outfit you from Great Falls to Nepal." We thought we could do the whole gamut instead of just emphasizing the extreme aspect or the casual hiker. In May of 2000, we outfitted a man with Mountain Hardwear to summit Mount Everest, so that was the fuel for that tagline.

What's your favorite outdoor activity?

I like doing non-technical hiking and climbing. We were out near Jasper in Canada two summers ago and we took this long hike up this mountain and then hiked across to this other mountain that had a glacier on it, and you could hear the glacier groaning and creaking in the summertime. We hiked up to the top of this . . . and you have this 360-degree view all around, and it is just so exhilarating.

I'm surprised that the big-box stores haven't muscled you out of the business. What makes your formula work?

Pick your niches. We have a Boy Scout/Girl Scout department. We are very loyal to the brands that we started with, if they are still working right. We tend to pick something and stay with it so that people can count on us for that product. . . . We know a lot of people by their first names. How many stores can you walk into, "Hey, John. Hey, Chris. How ya doing?" The general manager [Dave Haggerty, a longtime Casual Adventure associate] calls it "Cheers without the beers."

We all know about gearheads who go shopping and buy everything in sight just because it sounds like something they need. What's the new gadget they actually should buy?

Cascade Designs has this lightweight pad that folds up really small. Also, there are some new camping dishes by Orikaso. They are made out of a polypropylene that folds up origami style to create three containers -- a bowl, plate and mug. They wash easy and then unfold for light, easy storage.

I'm not a winter extreme camper, but I like being out in the spring and fall. What's the sleeping bag for me?

Look for a three-season bag, somewhere around 25, 30 degrees. Say you go out in late October and you hit a cold snap, you're okay. The same thing can happen in March, early spring. And if it's really warm in the summer you can leave it unzipped or sleep on top, just a fleece or a Coolmax liner and sleep in that.