Tariff Shock: Iconic 169-Year-Old Orvis Slashes 36 Stores
Orvis’s announcement on Oct. 10, 2025 took many by surprise. The Boston Globe and Fox Business report that Orvis – one of America’s oldest outfitters – will shutter 36 stores by early 2026 bostonglobe.com retaildive.com. In a statement, Orvis President Simon Perkins explained that “changes in US trade policy had … caused a sizable shift” in the company’s model bostonglobe.com. He said the firm must “rescale the business by tightening our assortment and reducing our corporate store footprint” to ensure “a durable brand and model for decades to come” bostonglobe.com fox10phoenix.com. As Perkins put it, Orvis is “returning to our roots” and will focus on fishing and wingshooting – winding down home goods and other non‑outdoor lines bostonglobe.com ts2.tech. The flagship store in Manchester, VT will stay open, but many longtime Orvis towns will lose their local retailer, and remaining stores will offer steep “last release” discounts on discontinued items bostonglobe.com ts2.tech. Tariff pressure is central to Orvis’s retrenchment. Industry trade-journal Retail Dive notes that in April the Trump administration imposed a broad 10% tariff hike, immediately boosting the average U.S. duty by ~16%. Orvis sources much of its merchandise from overseas, so these duties “disrupted our business model in
