Howler Company, an extension of Howler Bike Park near Branson, opened its second Springfield store in the Brentwood Shopping Center across Glenstone Avenue from the Battlefield Mall.
The store, located at 2714 S. Glenstone Ave., hosted a grand opening Nov. 20 and 21, with more than 50 people showing in the first two hours, founder and co-owner Max Penny said. The new location will feature outdoor lifestyle products, like backpacks by Topo Designs and Kavu hiking wear. The store will also have select bikes that customers can demo, Penny said.
The new retail store opens as Howler attempts to rebrand itself from a mountain bike business to a broader outdoor lifestyle company, Penny said. The Brentwood store will expand Holwer's customer base, he said.
“Instead of just bikers or just people that are interested in the bike shop...now we can get” people involved “in camping out there,” Penny said. “Being able to provide more services for people is what we want to do.”
Family-run business
At the helm of Howler Company is Penny and his parents, John and Jennifer. Max Penny originally opened a mountain bike shop near Nixa in 2020, which spawned the idea for an all-immersive mountain bike experience.
In 2022, the company opened a sprawling 200-acre mountain bike park off of U.S. Highway 65 in Walnut Shade, Missouri, complete with trails cut in the Ozark hillsides for every level of mountain bike enthusiast. That same year, the company opened its first Springfield retail store, located at 615 S. Pickwick Ave., in the historic Rountree neighborhood.
In September, Penny closed the original store near Nixa and started preparing to open the new Springfield storefront. The new location will highlight outdoor enthusiast brands Howler partners with, like Kavu, Topo Designs and 686, Penny said.
“We're really, really stoked” to sell those three brands, Penny said. “Those are kind of hard brands to find.”
Selling Springfield-based brands
Howler, named after the mythical and elusive creature that purportedly haunts Ozarks hills and hollers, will also sell bike racks from Springfield-based Kuat Innovations.
As Howler dives further into the outdoor-gear world, it will continue to partner with Kuat, which has started making gear for overlanding, Penny said. Overlanding is a combination of remote travel, off-roading, and camping.
Howler “has worked with Kuat forever,” Penny said. Kuat “is getting into overlanding about the same time we're getting into the outdoors.”
The company plans to sell other Springfield-based brands soon, Penny said.
“There are some Springfield-based companies, but they're pretty small at this point,” Penny said. “We've been in communications with them. As soon as they're able to start doing wholesale accounts, we're jumping in.”
