Overland Sheepskin Co. is continuing to expand its footprint in the Northeast.
The company has opened a store in Portsmouth, N.H., which brings its total to 19 units across the country. The 2,000-square-foot store sports a Western-style interior and sells a wide array of the company’s premium sheepskin products for men, women and children as well as home decor.
While Portsmouth may not be on the wish-list for most companies when searching for a store site, it fits the bill for Overland.
“A significant portion of our customers come from the Northeast, and Overland products are a tactile experience,” said Gabriel Openshaw. “Having stores closer to many of our customers has been a great win for everyone. We had a store in Manchester Center, Vt., for more than 25 years, which used to be one of our top-performing stores, so we already knew that the demand was there. We only closed that one because the shopping there turned to almost exclusively outlet style shopping, which is not us.”
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Indeed, a sheepskin bomber retails for $695 and a long coat is $1,295. Leather jackets start at around $395 and go up to nearly $2,000.
Several of Overland’s stores are in unconventional locations such as Saratoga Springs, N.Y. — its first store in the Northeast — which opened last year. Openshaw explained that the choice of locations is often based more on gut instinct than data.
As the story goes, Roger Leahy founded the company in Taos, N.M., “with a bale of sheepskins, a sewing machine and a dream” in 1973. His early success drew the rest of his Iowa-based family to help with the business.
Marge and Jerry Leahy, Roger’s parents, would take road trips around the country, suggesting picturesque locations where they believed an Overland Sheepskin store would thrive and picking up pieces in antique shops and flea markets to decorate the spaces.
“My folks were really involved in the business since early on, too,” Roger Leahy is quoted as saying on the company’s website. “They would drive around and open up stores. They opened up several stores in the first several years of the company. They are why we got into retail.”
The process is not much different today, Openshaw said. “We do well with locations people come to visit, and towns where sheepskin resonates,” he said. “That’s been the model our entire history.”
The company, which is still owned by Roger Leahy and his wife Nancy, sells primarily sheepskin outerwear but also offers a number of leather and suede options, all with a distinctly Western edge. As a result, the bulk of its stores are located in vacation and ski towns in the West such as Santa Fe, and Taos, N.M.; Aspen, Telluride, Durango, Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs, Colo.; Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Napa, Calif.
The family-owned company, which is based in Fairfield, Iowa, is strictly direct-to-consumer and offers a wide range of other products “inspired by the American West” including sweaters, hats, gloves, slippers and bags as well as a full line of rugs, blankets, throws and furniture.
Openshaw said all of the stores are open year-round and in the warmer months, it’s the leather jackets that are bestsellers. Sheepskin is the fabric of choice in colder times.
Openshaw said since the Portsmouth store opened in late September, it has performed well, attracting both existing customers as well as newcomers.
Looking to the future, he said the company maintains a “conservative approach to business,” but would “love to open several stores a year.” Without getting more specific, he said ski resort towns have proven to be good markets for the company and there are “certain areas we’ve had our eye on for a long time, we just have to find the right location.”
