Orvis Fort Worth Grand Opening
I don’t have much information for some reason, but the new ORVIS FORT WORTH is celebrating their grand opening this weekend.
Just the smidge of activity related to the event has drawn some attention to my long held belief that Orvis has done a fantastic job of rebranding itself in this decade.
If you are new to the fly game, then you may never have known that the “Old Orvis” (sports in tweed) is nothing like the “New Orvis” (all the more reason to retire old Tom Rosenbauer in my opinion). What can I say, it’s very difficult to generate a fly fishing personality with “cult status” these days. Lefty is gone, and that’s the end of that phenomenon.
Orvis has really packaged their experience into a neat and clean corporate bundle of everything you need in Orvis Green. Splashy fly rod ads, and rollouts of new rods come like a Rolling Stones rock tour (yeah I know, have you seen the Stones lately). I am just giving credit where credit is due. They could have done a lot worse, and the backbone of their move is, after all, very good quality gear.
Orvis Fort Worth has been rumored for a couple of years now, so it wasn’t any surprise – except for the actual surprise – the store was opening. Fort Worth is fertile ground – more fertile geographically than Dallas, but not demographically of course. It has been done before though, tried and failed.
Those factors alone have kept hope alive for Backwoods, which finally came closer to the light with more of their corporate trips in recent years … amazing how willing people are to plug themselves into the corporate machine, the safety net I guess, that comes with these company expeditions. Whether it’s trips by Tailwaters, Backwoods or Orvis — they seem to be more similar than distinct … kind of like fast-food for the fly fisher with funds. Make no mistake, hire me to come along and photograph your junket and I AM THERE! I can’t be bought, but I can be had.
Have a great weekend. The weather is on your side, even if not much else is. I am hitting the gridiron tonight to photograph some Friday Night Lights in Fort Worth.
Category: Destination Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing World Destinations, Fly Shops
