In Fall of 2019, Weby Corp, now known as GRITR Sports & Outdoors, moved their corporate headquarters from Arlington to North Richland Hills, occupying the former Total Shooting Sports building at 7901 Boulevard 26. This was a monumental addition to NRH, not only because they occupied a large, prominent building in a key area of town, but also because they were the first large-scale omni-channel retailer to open in the city. The retailer represents more than 800 widely known brands in both physical storefronts and popular third-party online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Walmart.com. In addition to their corporate offices, the NRH location houses a distribution warehouse, pistol and rifle range, and retail showroom, offering outdoor accessories, sporting goods, and the largest firearm inventory in DFW, all of which may be purchased online or in-store.
Since 2019, e-commerce has continued to grow nationwide, increasing demand for omni-channel retailers like GRITR. The company has seen double digit growth over the past 5 years, totaling $80 million in gross sales in 2021 and shipping between 1,000-2,000 packages to consumers each day. As sales volume increased, so did the need for space. Luckily, GRITR was in a position for expansion as their property had room for growth. In 2020, the business took over the remainder of the building, adding 41,000 sq. ft. of space and making room for new categories of products including surf gear, skis, snowboards, workout equipment and more. Just in the past year, GRITR has grown from 42 employees to 76, and they are currently hiring with starting wages of $18/hour.
What’s next for GRITR? The company recently began creating and selling their own line of outdoor gear including items like holsters, knives, bags, and cleaning kits. They’d like to continue to expand the GRITR line in the coming years. They also plan to begin selling specialty overland off-road vehicles on display at their NRH location and have big plans to someday expand their business to Europe. If you haven’t already stopped by, check them out. For more information, visit GritrOutdoors.com or www.gritrsports.com/our-store. Follow GRITR on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gritrsports/.