VÅGA Bricks & mortar series
10 Questions With
MOI OUTSIDE
In the first of our Bricks & Mortar series interviews, we caught up with Moi Outside. Nestled in Hebden Bridge, in the Calder valley at the very heart of the Pennines, Moi Outside is an incredible community space that provides the outdoor folk of the valley with a cosy place to meet, enjoy some food and a speciality coffee and sample some of the very best outdoor gear. A vibrant atmosphere of cyclists, runners and climbers has made Moi the place to be. Chris, Laura and the shop dog Tux opened their doors in 2023 and we’re incredibly proud to have the latest VÅGA headwear on their beautiful shelves.
who are you and how did you start Moi Outside?
(Chris) We’re Chris and Laura (and that’s Tux) and we started our business about six months ago now, but we’ve had an idea for a space that’s part specialty coffee, part outdoor retail for about five years now. We used to live in the States and in every mountain town we went to, they always had a community spot that was either like a bar or coffee shop that kind of served the local outdoors community and when we moved back to the UK we really missed that. So, instead of complaining about it, we thought we’d create one. (Laura) I think these types of concept stores were always something we were drawn to, whether it was in mountain towns or in a city centre. I think having that mix has always allowed us to not to put ourselves in a box, and yes we serve speciality coffee and offer outdoor retail, but we also do events and we like to think of it as a bit of a hub for people to come and hang out and meet each other.
Why did you start this?
(Chris) We’ve both got quite a lot of experience working for brands over the last 20 years and we had an idea for a way of doing retail better. It felt like the high street went through a bit of a bad spot but, that’s created the opportunity to do things a bit differently and be a bit more community driven and experiential. We thought we could take some of our experience but do something that we wanted to do with it and that was our creative decision, to be more connected to the stuff that we’re really passionate about. We thought we might as well have fun with stuff as well, like Laura said, the main parts of the business are the speciality coffee and the outdoor retail stuff, but bringing people together for events and workshops and exposing them to the South Pennines (which is amazing but often overlooked in favour of the Peak District or the Lake District) is the really special part of it all. The rugged beauty of the South Pennines is pretty special and is an amazing network of bridleways and trails to go run, to go ride, so we’re quite passionate about giving that a bit of a showcase as well. (Laura) I think that’s one of the reasons that, as Chris said, we’re really passionate outdoors people. We cycle, we run, they’re our main sports if you will, and the great thing about this area is that there’s so much accessibility to great riding, great trail running and there’s an amazing cold water swimming community here too. So it’s a bit of a melting pot if you’re prepared to get a bit dirty and a bit muddy from time to time because the weather is pretty unforgiving here, but we love it.
how would you describe your relationship with the outdoors?
(Laura) When we moved back to the UK, we were struggling to decide where to live. We knew we didn’t want to live in a city, but we knew we wanted to live somewhere close by to a city but still be in a rural setting. We’d been to Hebden Bridge quite a few times over the last decade or so and it always felt like a really nice place to come and hang out. It just felt like a really good community here and with the access to beautiful walks and sports on your doorstep, it just felt like the right fit. (Chris) We’re both from the Pennines originally and we both kind of took it for granted as kids how amazing it was here, we both got into ‘real’ outdoor activities quite late in life, specifically when we lived in the Pacific North West for a bit. Then as when we came back we realised how much amazing stuff there is here too, so I guess, as we were get a little bit older we were looking for a place where you can get adventure on the doorstep and the valley’s perfect for that. We’ve had a love / hate relationship with running, we used to be really into running and then got a bit bored of the mass participation events, that segwayed us into cycling which has turned into cycling as a means to explore and go and see different places - more adventure cycling than anything. Weirdly, over the years, that’s reignited a love for running but using that as a means to go and explore the valley, go and see different places as well so it’s less about mass participation events but getting out and seeing cool stuff.
AND how would you describe your relationship with the people that come through your door?
(Chris) When we moved to the valley, getting on 4 years ago now, we realised there was a really active outdoors community across fell running (there’s a really famous fell running team here), across mountain biking, cold water swimming and there’s lots of these little micro communities here but nowhere that brings them together or a place for them to hang other than going to pubs. So, we thought it’d be cool to create a space that those communities can use to hang out and come to meet likeminded people. Lots of people are moving to the valley but its difficult to meet likeminded people. That was kind of the vision behind it, and a large reason behind stocking the things we do, why it looks the way it does too. That’s been one of the most rewarding things about the past 4 months, that people come here to hang out and talk to other people. Someone who’s new to the valley might come in and ask if we have any recommendations for a hike or a bike ride and actually, some of the customers will answer and show them trails on the map. To see that happen organically is exactly what we hoped for but never knew if it would. (Laura) What’s really interesting is, when we’re open Thursday-Friday, we get a lot of regular local customers that have been living and doing their sport here for years, it’s a place for that and for them to come and hang out with likeminded people. But, on a weekend we get a lot of tourism. People who are visiting for the day or the weekend often want a tip of where to go for a walk and I’m proud that we can offer that advice to people. People that have always wondered how to become more outdoorsy or felt like there were some barriers to the outdoors can hopefully come here and be inspired and encouraged to get outside more - it doesn’t have to be through a sport, it can be a nice hike/walk or whatever. It’s equally important for us to try and get people to spend more time outdoors. (Chris) One amazing thing happened in our opening week; there’s a well established weekly off-road ride that’s really well attended, they meet across the road on a Tuesday night. We saw some of the people from that group ride coming into Moi and at the end of our first week one of the regulars showed us their Whatsapp group and they’d all been talking about the space and touting it as the new clubhouse for their ride - without us having to create that, it was instantly recognised as that which felt pretty special.
“we’re trying to create a culture of collaboration and community. A commitment to doing things well and collaborating with other people usually ends up in fun, quality stuff that we want to be involved in.”
What do you look for in a product when stocking your store?
(Laura) One of the very early considerations when we were deciding on the size of the space was that we knew that we didn’t want a big, huge store so in thinking along those lines, we always knew that whatever products we were looking to stock had to be curated to work in that space. So, with that had to come a really sharp idea of what brands would work with our brand but, a big part of it was looking to stock brands that we use ourselves, that we trust and feel have a multi-purpose use. There’s a lot of product out there for the outdoors/lifestyle sector and some of those products can be very specific (which is great), but what we wanted to offer was something that someone can wear to cycle, to run and go for a walk in. We know people are strapped for cash at this moment in time so we wanted to have that multi-purpose use be something that was really clear to our audience as well. (Chris) There’s a lot of interesting things happening in the outdoor space at the moment and there are a few brands that are at the forefront of that, so we wanted to showcase some stuff that’s new and different and that people might not have seen before, but that we use and back ourselves. We’re also looking for brands that are willing to work with us as well, VÅGA have been a great example of that. Whereas some brands, we’d love to stock them (and would probably sell well for us), but they just handed over a corporate order book and that’s not the relationship we’re trying to have with our suppliers. We want to do events, workshops and we want to work together with a brand to showcase a product and get it used out in the hills.
How does this decision making process relate back to your customers?
(Laura) I guess we learnt a lot in the first month or two about what things are really important to our customers, like colours, styles and price points, what works and what doesn’t. I felt like we had a good idea of what this was initially and it’s only taken a few small tweaks in the first couple of months, so I feel like our forecasting came in well at the beginning. What I love about working here is that customers will always talk about brands they like and it’s always great to hear customer’s feedback on the things people are interested in. It’s a really nice space for people to come and talk about brands they love. (Chris) That multi-functional thing has proven to be really popular too. The reality is, it’s very rare that someone is ever ‘just a cyclist’ or ‘just a runner’ or you just go hiking - that’s definitely the case in the valley, runners that run for a club might join an off road riding group too and there’s a lot of crossover with the cold water swimming community as well. People have bought products that they use for multiple activities and it’s something we’ll continue to do, stocking products that are useful for multiple activities whilst still looking cool too.
why is vÅGA a great fit for your store?
Definitely the utilitarian side of the products, that’s the thing that made us love the brand as a stockist as well as personal users of the brand before we even started Moi. We love the Fleece Beanie, it’s exactly a representation of what we want to do with the store, it’s a classically northern piece, it’s done in a utilitarian way, it’s done in a different, modern way too but it’s very authentic to the roots of fell running and the outdoors in the UK. It’s a very specifically northern item, done really well and works as a lifestyle item. I’ve used it for swimming, running and it’s always in my pack when I go hiking. (Laura) We’re genuinely excited whenever new colours come out, VÅGA just seem to get it right with that. (Chris) We thought we might be going wild with some of the colours but our customers have responded really well to the brighter colours. The orange and the purple have gone really well for us.
If you could give one message to our audience, what would it be?
(Chris) I guess what’s at the centre of what we’re trying to do is create a culture of collaboration and community. For us as a business, that’s working with partners from our food and drinks suppliers to the brands that we stock that are relatively local and have a collaborative vision for doing things well and right. That’s the idea we’re trying to get across to our audience too, if they have ideas for events they want to put on or if they want to use our space to start a shop run, or whatever it is, they can create community and do that on our behalf too. A commitment to doing things well and collaborating with other people usually ends up in fun, quality stuff that we want to be involved in. (Laura) We won’t always be the front and centre of our brand, we’re quite happy if the opportunity arises for us to be more facilitators and let leaders of a certain activity take the space and use it to drive the community together.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone looking to take on a new challenge?
(Chris) Have a plan and be prepared for that plan to not be the thing that you do, I think from an endurance event point of view as well as the opening a shop point of view, it’s good to have your spreadsheet of what you need to hit when, when you need to stop and resupply, when suppliers need to deliver things by, but it’s never going to happen smoothly and that’s part of the fun of the journey. If you’ve got a plan that reassures you of the journey and that it’s possible then just have fun with it, life is too short to not take opportunities when they pop up. Be prepared for the unprepared and be prepared for hard work as well - it’s quite rewarding in the end. (Laura) To put arms around what Chris has just said, build your support network early on and have those key mentors to help you through those difficult times. I think that’s something we’ve been very fortunate and grateful to have, those people that have helped us get here. I think any big challenge will have its ups and downs, its a rollercoaster, but like Chris said as long as you’re having fun and driving the things you want to do, you’ll figure it out on the way.