Orvis announced it would close 36 locations by early 2026 — roughly half its U.S. retail footprint. For longtime customers, that sounds alarming. But closing stores and shutting down a company are two very different things.
This article gives you a clear answer on where Orvis actually stands, why the closures are happening, what the brand looks like going forward, and what it means if your local store is on the list.
Orvis Is Not Going Out of Business
Let’s get straight to the point: Orvis has not filed for bankruptcy, announced a liquidation, or said it’s shutting down. There is no Chapter 11, no going-out-of-business sale, no wind-down announcement.
Company president Simon Perkins has publicly described these changes as a “new chapter” for the brand. That framing matters. A company preparing to close permanently doesn’t invest energy in talking about its next chapter — it talks about settling debts and closing accounts.
What’s actually happening is a restructuring. Orvis is shrinking its physical retail presence, cutting costs, and refocusing its product line. That’s a significant business shift, but it is not the same as going out of business.
Multiple outlets covering the story — including USA Today and Texas Fly Caster — explicitly state that Orvis is not shutting down, only significantly downsizing. The confusion is understandable given the scale of the changes, but the distinction is important.
The Scope of the Store Closures
Here are the specific numbers: Orvis is closing 31 retail stores and 5 outlet stores, with all closures expected to be complete by early 2026 (first quarter). That’s 36 locations total.
Before these closures, Orvis operated around 70 U.S. locations. After the closures, the company expects to have approximately 33 stores and 2 outlets remaining, based on figures reported by Retail Dive and other outlets. Some sources put the post-closure count slightly higher, around 35, so the exact number may land somewhere in that range.
One practical note: no single public list of all closing locations has been compiled in one place. If you’re wondering about your local store, your best move is to check the Orvis store locator directly or look for local communications from the store itself. Don’t assume your location is closing just because others are.
Why Orvis Is Making These Changes
Perkins has been specific about the reasons. In interviews and public statements, he pointed directly to what he called an “unprecedented tariff landscape” as a primary driver. When import costs rise sharply — whether on raw materials, finished apparel, or gear components — a specialty retailer takes a direct hit to its margins.
Think of it like an airline cutting routes during a fuel price spike. The airline isn’t shutting down. It’s reducing the routes that cost more to fly than they bring in. Orvis closing underperforming stores is the same kind of capacity and cost adjustment.
Tariffs aren’t the only factor, though. The broader picture includes several moves happening at once:
- Workforce reductions: In late 2024, Orvis cut approximately 8% of its workforce (around 112 employees), followed by another reduction of about 4% (around 50 employees). These cuts affected non-core functions as the company consolidated operations.
- Catalog discontinuation: Orvis ended its iconic mail-order catalog — a significant move for a brand historically known as the oldest mail-order retailer in the United States. This is part of the same cost-reduction and digital-shift effort, not a separate crisis.
- Retail footprint optimization: Like many specialty retailers, Orvis had expanded its physical presence in an era when e-commerce and retail partners now carry more of the load. Closing underperforming locations while strengthening online and wholesale channels is a common and rational response.
These aren’t isolated bad signs. They’re pieces of one strategic move being made under real financial pressure.
What Orvis Is Focusing On Instead
When a 169-year-old company restructures, the question isn’t just what it’s cutting — it’s what it’s keeping and why.
Orvis was founded in Manchester, Vermont in 1856 by Charles F. Orvis. For most of its history, the brand was synonymous with fly fishing and wingshooting. Over the years, it expanded into lifestyle apparel and other product lines that drifted further from those sporting roots.
The restructuring is, in part, a course correction back to what the brand was built on. Perkins has been clear: Orvis is doubling down on fly fishing and wingshooting, along with adjacent apparel and a core dog product line.
What does that actually look like in practice? Think of it this way:
- A technical sun-protection fishing jacket built for a day on the water — that stays.
- A fashion-casual blazer with no real connection to sport or the outdoors — that goes.
Perkins was also clear that Orvis is not abandoning entire product categories. The goal is to tighten the assortment around performance-driven, technical pieces that connect directly to fly fishing, wingshooting, and the lifestyle around those pursuits. Dog products remain part of the mix as well.
This is a brand returning to the identity that built it — not one abandoning its customers.
Where Customers Can Still Find Orvis Products
Even if a local Orvis store closes, the brand isn’t disappearing from reach. Orvis currently works with over 550 retail partners across the U.S., including Bass Pro and Sportsman’s Warehouse. Those partnerships don’t go away because company-owned stores close.
Perkins has said directly that customers will still be able to “shop and learn and experience Orvis” in person, online, and through local retail partners. The physical store count is shrinking, but the distribution network is broader than the company’s own retail locations.
Online sales also continue. If you’ve been an Orvis catalog customer for years, the catalog is gone — but the website remains the direct ordering channel.
For business owners and managers watching this situation, it’s a useful case study in how a legacy brand can redistribute its customer touchpoints when it pulls back on company-owned retail. The product still reaches buyers; the channel mix just shifts.
What This Means for Employees and Communities
It’s worth being straightforward here: these changes have real human costs. Store closures and workforce reductions mean job losses. Communities that had a local Orvis store — often a destination for fly fishing expertise, casting lessons, and in-person gear advice — lose that resource.
The combination of roughly 162 jobs eliminated in workforce reductions, plus the eventual loss of staff at 36 closing locations, represents a meaningful impact. That’s separate from the strategic picture and worth acknowledging plainly.
How to Read These Changes as a Business Story
For anyone tracking retail trends, Orvis fits a pattern that’s played out across specialty retail over the past several years. External cost pressures — in this case, tariffs — combine with shifting consumer behavior toward online purchasing and force a recalibration.
The companies that survive these moments tend to make hard choices early: cut underperforming locations, reduce product complexity, strengthen the channels that actually work, and refocus on what the brand does better than anyone else.
That’s the playbook Orvis appears to be running. Whether it works depends on execution — but the moves themselves are consistent with restructuring for survival and focus, not preparation for shutdown.
If you’re a business owner navigating your own version of cost pressure and strategic recalibration, One Business Click covers practical business decisions and real-world examples worth following.
The Bottom Line
Orvis is not going out of business. It is closing 36 stores by early 2026, cutting its workforce, ending its catalog, and narrowing its product line back toward fly fishing and wingshooting. Those are big changes, but they’re restructuring decisions — not signs of a company in its final days.
If your local store is closing, check the store locator for confirmation and explore Orvis’s retail partners and website as alternatives. The brand has operated for 169 years by adapting to pressure. This round appears to be another adaptation, not an ending.
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