The Allen’s passion for long-distance thru-hiking has always been hampered by the fact that there’s little of it around their area of the Midwest. (Photo: The Hiker Box) Creating a trail town feel The Allens’ current foster dog, Barkley, is slowly warming up to socialization with help from store customers. In 2014, The Hiker Box opened, filled with hiking and backpacking hard goods, a handful of technical apparel pieces…and, of course, a dog. Without any retail background, the couple dedicated themselves to research, figuring out on their own how to do everything from making connections with vendors to filling a retail space. “There was a big learning curve, definitely,” says Jessica. The need for a gear shop nearby prodded them into outdoor retail. That eventually morphed into the desire to move to the area and to work for themselves. Years later, she says hiking and backpacking became an activity she and Tom could both share. “As a little girl, instead of going to camp, my grandparents would take me to their cabin in Eagle River for the summer,” says Jessica. Jessica and Tom Allen, owners of The Hiker Box. It was traveling regularly together to Wisconsin for vacations, that the couple fell in love with the outdoors. Jessica, originally from Chicago, was working as a software engineer and Tom, from Georgia, as a warehouse operations manager. When the couple met in 2005 in Tampa, Florida, they kept up the practice together. Jessica Allen began fostering dogs over 20 years ago. All are temporary fosters that owners Jessica and Tom Allen have taken in for a little extra love in this unique, big-hearted gear shop. None of The Hiker Box’s four-legged residents are permanent. But The Hiker Box in Eagle River, Wisconsin takes it to a whole new level, playing host to upwards of five dogs and even litters of kittens in the short three-plus years since the shop has opened.Īnd they do it for a good cause. In fact, they’re almost a prerequisite for the coolest and most popular specialty retailers. Shop dogs are nothing new in the outdoor industry.
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