Robinson's Outdoor Store
A downtown outdoor shop for gear, clothing, and trip supplies.
A bike shop opened three days after the 1929 crash, still going.
George Robinson borrowed a hundred dollars against an insurance policy and bought a Broad Street bicycle shop in November 1929, days after the market collapsed. Almost a century and four generations later, the family still runs it from 1307 Broad, having traded bikes and rifles for fly rods, tents, boots and climbing gear sometime in the eighties. It is the opposite of a big box: small, deeply knowledgeable, the kind of place where someone who has actually fished the river fits your pack. For Islanders outfitting a real trip, not a costume.
The move
Skip the online cart and come in for the things that need fitting: hiking boots, a loaded backpack, fly-fishing setup. Tell them where you're headed and let a well-travelled staffer talk you out of the wrong gear. Ask about Trekking Rewards.
Go when
Weekday afternoons before a weekend trip, when staff have time to fit you properly. They keep short hours: closed by 5 most days, 4 on Sundays, so it's a daytime errand, not an after-work one.
“Service, value and knowledge.”
Gayle Robinson, third-generation owner, to the DVBA
Known for
Perfect for