Community Highlights: Meet Timothy Grindle of Canoe Club

Today we’d like to introduce you to Timothy Grindle.

Hi Timothy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am from Indiana but lived in Chicago for most of my adult life. I ran an independent menswear shop in Chicago, which is where I met my business partner, Bob Lamey, as a customer. He called me out of the blue one day and asked if I was interested in starting a new store in Boulder. I didn’t know anything about Boulder, but we were so aligned with how we viewed clothing and fashion, that I said yes. We started Canoe Club in 2017 and have doing that ever since. We specialize in working with smaller brands that have a rich history or back story. We like to support cool people doing cool things.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We view ourselves as a startup and there are infinite problems in a startup, plus we went through a pandemic in the middle of getting things going, so yes, every day there are new problems and the team is small so finding solutions is on you. That being said, I think that what I love most about being an entrepreneur is the ability to problem-solve, innovate, and pivot quickly. Making those constant decisions and having your back against the wall motivates me a lot, so even though there can be a lot of struggle, I really appreciate the freedom to constantly evolve.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Canoe Club?
I am one of the owners of Canoe Club, an independent multi-brand retailer focusing on representing unique artisan brands from all over the world.

I am the store director and lead buyer for the company so I work with my partner to grow and evolve the day-to-day business as well as curate the brands and foster relationships with the designers we carry.

We carry a line from Japan called Kapital that I have worked with for a long time and built a great relationship and business with them because I truly admire and care about the work they create, so I am really proud of the work we have been able to do with them.

I’d like the readers to know that our entire team is deeply passionate about what we do. We jump through hoops to carry the brand assortment we do and with most of our designers, we are one of only a handful of stores that offer this assortment. I think that passion shows in everything we do from customer service to the community we’ve fostered of fashion-minded people here in Colorado, but also around the world via our digital channels.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Every time we bring in a new brand we take a risk. Many of these brands are small and specialty, so finding the customers isn’t always easy and we have to make sure we are fully educated so we can best tell their story and turn shoppers into customers. I think you have to trust that your point of view is fresh and necessary. When we started the store we felt there was a gap in the market. There are big stores that lack focus and small stores that weren’t taking risks. We wanted to fill that gap and felt our ideas had a place in the market.

Contact Info:

• Website: shopcanoeclub.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/shopcanoeclub
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTVB69BO5zH1DuS9oUPM3Nw