“I can’t imagine Corvallis without Peak,” said Larry Desaulniers, the current owner of Peak Sports in downtown Corvallis.
Recently the long-standing local business has fallen on hard times, “By midsummer, we had to make the very unpleasant decision to actually lay people off actively, which I’d never had to do,” said Desaulniers.
Desaulniers started working at Peak as a part-time bike mechanic in April of 1993. In July of 2016, Desaulniers bought the business from the retiring owner, Jeff Katz, who opened and owned Peak in 1971.
He started the story of Peak’s changes with the pandemic in 2020, stating that before the pandemic, Peak had been operating with 32 employees for 20 years, compared to the current 16 to 18. Once the pandemic began in March 2020, nobody was shopping for outdoor supplies and equipment, a major department of the business.
Luckily, during this time cycling was booming, so much so that Peak couldn’t get enough stock. The cycling side of Peak was considered an essential business to the state of Oregon and was permitted to stay open, given it followed protocols.
By the summer of 2020, outdoor interest was booming and like cycling, Peak couldn’t get enough stock to account for the demand. Desaulniers attributes this to manufacturing in Asia being at an all-time low due to them being in lockdown. “We went through the rest of 2020 and the rest of 2021, with half of what we wanted to order,” said Desaulniers.
By 2022 however, the stocking situation had flipped with manufacturing coming back online, giving Peak a glut of product. But by late summer of 2023, demand really tanked for the business.
“In late summer 2023, demand really tanked, and we went through the winter with sales being down a lot. I mean terrible, terrible, terrible. Finally got to the point where it’s well below cost of operation,” said Desaulniers.
By November 2023, Peak had consolidated what was two separate stores (bike and outdoor) into one shop. While they knew they needed fewer people, layoffs had not yet begun. However, employees were warned that if demand did not pick up by spring and summer, they’d be looking at downsizing.
If employees needed help finding positions elsewhere, they got it, according to Desaulniers. Some employees took the offer and found employment elsewhere, and student employees who were finishing up during midterms were not replaced. Finally, in mid-summer of 2024, layoffs had to begin, leading to the current total of 16 to 18 employees.
The “boom and bust” cycle of outdoor hobbies has led to these unfortunate circumstances, according to Desaulniers. With warehouses being overstocked on products, they sell at a discount. Despite Peak purchasing the product at full price, they have to sell at a loss to match online prices. Many products are not being restocked as they try to make ends meet. Desaulniers is hopeful that by the end of the 2025 bike season, demand will normalize again.
“Everything that everybody buys right now makes a big difference, more than it ever has,” said Desaulniers, “I’m hoping that the community hangs in there with us while we’re basically in a survival mode.”