Versa Capital - new owners of EMS lays off 110, restructure company

[Christa]

Does anyone know if they are keeping the repair service? I have an EMS pack where I need a little bit of sewing down to reattach a strap to the padding.

Yup. Repair service is staying in Peterborough.

 

[Quietman]

Got another bargain today. Picked up a lightly used pair of Hillsound Trail Crampon Pros for $19 that someone else returned!

 

[Raven]

I have always had good luck with most EMS gear. The jackets/fleeces have been good and the EMS vacuum bottle I have is outstanding.

Probably the best customer service I ever experienced. When thru-hiking the AT in 2000, my partner and I were in periodic contact with a rep in Peterborough who sent us gear to various town post offices when we needed it and even let me exchange a pair of boots I had bought at an outfitter along the trail; they were hiked in a day or two before deciding they didn't fit right. He was above and beyond in terms of supporting us. Name was Seth I believe.

 

[mhobbs]

EMS in Nashua is moving to the old Borders bookstore across the street, supposedly opening in early March. I wonder if this is still happening.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

It is, if you believe their Facebook page.

Tim

 

[sierra]

I hope the EMS brand sticks around, as I think it fills an important niche: pretty good stuff, and not that expensive. I fully agree that you can get higher quality stuff from Patagonia, Arc'Teryx, Mountain Hardware, and a few other manufacturers, but you're going to pay roughly 2-3x as much. If it lasted 2-3x longer, that would be one thing, but that hasn't been my experience (OBVIOUSLY, YMMV). I've had an EMS brand single wall tent, a Goretex shell jacket, and a belay jacket each for >12 years. The sum total paid was $500. I could not replace those items with "high end" stuff for less than $1200. And $1500 is probably more realistic. I take advantage of ALL that New England has to offer in all 4 seasons, but I'm not putting up FA's in the Karakoram. EMS is a good value for the hiking and climbing that I do.

I have multiple pieces of Patagonia clothes, that exceed 20 yrs.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Where in NH can you even find multiple pieces of Patagonia? Lahout's Summit Shop in Lincoln is the only retailer I've seen that sells them.

Tim

 

[skiguy]

Where in NH can you even find multiple pieces of Patagonia? Lahout's Summit Shop in Lincoln is the only retailer I've seen that sells them.

Tim

I used this store locater and choose a 100 mile perimeter from Conway,NH. And got ten different locations to find Patagonia. you might want to give it a try for your area. My experience is that there are a variety of shopping experiences with Patagonia or shopping presentations. The only have a few full on retail stores Worldwide in addition to outlet stores and thirdly retailers that carry their product. Due to their wide selection and multi sport product line you are going to find one of the above experiences depending based on location and what the focus of the activity is within a given location. Also of course there is the catalog. I have had mostly a positive experience with Patagonia and have experienced admirable longevity with their product but have always been frustrated with what I perceive as an extremely accelerated product selection turnover.

http://www.patagonia.com/us/store-locator

 

[bikehikeskifish]

Yeah, available selection is the problem. If I am going to make a trip, I want to be able to try stuff on. Lahouts is the best choice for hiking stuff, but if I am up there, I am usually hiking during their normal hours.

Tim

 

[bikehikeskifish]

EMS in Nashua is moving to the old Borders bookstore across the street, supposedly opening in early March. I wonder if this is still happening.

Opening March 4, 2013 per an e-mail I just received.

Tim

 

[Christa]

EMS in Nashua is moving to the old Borders bookstore across the street, supposedly opening in early March. I wonder if this is still happening.

Yes, this is absolutely still happening. The old Nashua store will be closed for a few days towards the end of next week while they move the inventory, fixtures, registers, etc across the street and set up the new store with additional space, inventory, etc.

They will have the entire top floor and about 1/2 of the bottom floor - something else is going into the other half of the bottom floor.