By Liz Moomey
liz.moomey@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Jeff Moose and DeWitt Brown love the outdoors. They bike, run and paddle board.

The two, who met as college roommates, are opening up a store, Backcountry & Beyond, for the outdoor enthusiasts later this week.

“We can go after the runner,” Moose said. “We can go after the cyclist. We can go after the camper. We can go after the water sports. We can go after the person who likes to cook on grills. We definitely have a wide variety of people we can reach out to. We will be very active here.”

Moose and Brown agreed off of Interstate 85 between Charlotte and Greensboro with national parks and lakes nearby, there was a need for a store that carried high-end products for the outdoors.

“Our goal and kind of our tagline is equipping you to go beyond,” Moose said. “We’re supplying this area with high-quality outdoor products. High quality is the best way to word that. We want to have a good knowledge. We’re only going to be carrying 18 brands. We want to have a very good knowledge of every brand we carry so we can discuss in-depth with the people about the brand, about the usefulness of the brand. We use these brands.”

Salisbury was the perfect location, according to Moose.

“We’re sitting in a pretty good area where there’s a lot of recreational activities that can be done,” he said. “We want to be that store that somebody who is two hours away say ‘Man, I need to go there.’”

Brown added Salisbury residents won’t have to drive to Charlotte to buy a paddle board or an electric bike.

Brown is a avid paddle boarder and Backcountry & Beyond will carry paddle boards.

“It was a real opportunity here, an unmet need for the products were carrying,” Brown said. “There’s need here.”

Moose said he was in a tire shop that sold Yeti cups when he realized the lack of stores geared to the outdoor enthusiast. The employees said the Yeti cups were popular with customers. He, then, talked to Brown, who had recently been laid off,  about opening up an outdoor store.

“It was good timing,” Moose said. “I had this crazy idea back in May. It’s really formulating quick. It’s not been a lifelong thing. DeWitt one time had looked at opening up a bike shop. Something like this has been on his radar for a long time.”

Brown is an avid paddle boarder and Moose has done a triathlon.

“We can really relate to that outdoor enthusiast,” Moose said. “We want to create that atmosphere that people want to be outside. That’s where we’ve come up because we’ve always enjoyed outdoor activities.”

Backcountry & Beyond will carry brands, including Costa, Yeti, Yolo Board, QuietKat and Garmin — reaching a variety of customers.

“Ultimately we’re looking for the outdoor enthusiast,” Moose said. “We’ve said from the hiker, camper, hunter, fisherman, but anybody who likes to be outdoors. We’re going to have products in here that relate across the board for the outdoors. We’re going to have products that relate to runners. Of course, we’ll have the water sports with the paddle boards and even grills. We’re going to have anybody that wants to be cooking we’re going to have cooking outdoors.”

Brown explained they will have events in the community like grilling out and teaching people how to paddle board. He also said they plan to partner with other businesses in Salisbury like Skinny Wheels Bike Shop for tune-ups.

“We definitely want to get to know everyone around here and be partners,” Brown said. “We want to support other small businesses like that and hopefully they do the same in return.”

Backcountry & Beyond, located at 1301 E. Innes Street, Suite 101, will open later this week.

The store will be open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, visit www.backcountryandbeyond.net.