SALT LAKE CITY — eXit Outdoors, a shop tucked away in the avenues is closing their doors for good.
The store was feeling the effects of COVID-19, losing a lot of their business from trade shows that were canceled, but the owners were hoping to stay open until at least March.
“You know I honestly can’t tell you we all work hard and we’re hoping to keep building and keep growing,” Darin Newell the Owner eXit Outdoors says. “We thought you know… we would stay open till the end of march."
The big reason the store is now closing is that they've been robbed three separate times since late last year.
“We’ve been robbed twice in the last week so we can’t stay open anymore,” Newell said, adding, “We can’t afford any more windows.”
The store was broken into in late 2020, thieves stealing thousands of dollars in the latest winter gear for snow sports.
FOX 13 spoke with them after they had decided to shut down, talking about how their business had been impacted by the pandemic.
Read: COVID-19 business impacts are here to stay despite optimism of new year
The last 2 times the store was robbed has been within the last week.
“Somebody came in… bust in all the windows with bricks and he reached in and steals like three pairs of shoes,” said Newell. Reflecting on the latest robbery, he said, “Next thing you know… we get attacked with a giant sack of tomato sauce.”
Newell is hearing from those in the community around him however that their store isn’t alone.
“This last week I had a gentleman come into the store and he’s like, somebody just stole my truck out of my driveway.”
The store is going to move their merchandise to another location in the south valley, bidding this store goodbye and closing for good.
Despite the major setbacks, Newell is trying to hang on to hope for the future.
“I guess that’s all you can do is hope… right now its pretty bad to hope when you get trashed on 3 times in just a little bit of time.”
