Wanderer’s Outpost: A Journey of Outdoor Adventure and Community Spirit
Sep 24, 2024 10:59AM ● By Mary Colarik
Ben Cranson and Caitlin Faust have both wandered here to our wonderful beach town to run their business far from their respective birthplaces.
by Mary Colarik
The Wanderer’s Outpost is an apt name for the amping, hiking and general outdoor goods store that has recently opened in the same plaza as Trader Joe’s. Its two owners, Ben Cranson, and Caitlin Faust, have both wandered here to our wonderful beach town to run their business farfrom their respective birthplaces.
The Wanderer’s Outpost is an apt name for the amping, hiking and general outdoor goods store that has recently opened in the same plaza as Trader Joe’s. Its two owners, Ben Cranson, and Caitlin Faust, have both wandered here to our wonderful beach town to run their business farfrom their respective birthplaces.
Ben moved to California almost 30 years ago, working at Copelands Sports in Emeryville. In 1999, he moved to Tahoe where he opened a ski shop that worked with members of the US Ski and Snowboard teams. After leaving Tahoe, he and his wife moved around to several different cities, including, San Francisco, Aptos, Massachusetts and Costa Mesa. Now, he and his wife, 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter have landed in San Clemente, living in a great neighborhood for families in Talega. Meanwhile, Caitlin grew up in Hawaii and moved to Southern California to go to school but discovered attending college was not the right fit for her and decided to stay in Orange County. Both grew up in families that enjoyed camping and hiking together.
Caitlin camped during summers on the East Coast and hiked in Hawaii with her family. She also surfs, but not here in SoCal – the water is too cold. But when she’s back home on the island she is always happy to catch the waves in warmer water. She is currently living in Oceanside.
Cranson and Faust met working at a Surf Shop in Huntington Beach. While working together they often lamented about the lack of good, quality, well-fitting hiking, snowboarding, skiing and other outdoor sporting clothes and gear for girls and women. The adage, “shrink it and pink it” is not really a valid solution for athletic, active women involved in more adventurous sports. After 30 years in the outdoor industry, they both felt frustrated and began thinking of a solution. Plus, the two were ready to move on from working at the surf shop.
They decided to open a store with eco-friendly products featuring an attractive and technical outdoor clothing that would fit women without being oversized and made for a man’s body. They wanted to have an outdoor retail store that was not a corporate entity with a huge space, large IT team and a fancy social media presence. The duo’s idea was to offer a hands-on approach, marketing and selling all types of camping and hiking equipment. One that would appeal to customers looking for an opportunity to “touch, feel and play” with the different products before purchasing. They worked hard at curating special product lines to sell so their customers could have more of a one-stop shopping experience and not have to continually search for specific products at different outlets. Some of their favorite brands include, Cotopaxie, Osprey, Purnell, Prana and Outdoor Research. Their goal was to have the best outdoor gear for women of all backgrounds, and ambitiously opened their brand-new store in Huntington Beach at Pacific City Retail Mall in November 2019 on Black Friday! Both said it was crazy with lots of last-minute preparations.
In less than three months of starting the new business, in March 2020 the pandemic hit. They moved all their products to a warehouse in Santa Ana and decided to sell online. A double whammy hit at the same time when Ben was diagnosed with Stage IV Colon Cancer. So, while he was undergoing multiple surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, Caitlin was holding the business together selling their products through their website. Finally, in the fall of 2021they found a space to lease at the San Clemente Outlet Mall and reopened a brick-and-mortar store.
After 18 months of working out of the warehouse the two of them discovered the online format was not suited to their goal of having a hands-on approach with their customers. They loved being in San Clemente and began searching for a space to lease outside of the mall. Eventually one of the units in the same strip plaza as Trader Joe’s was available. They were persistent in their pursuit of that space, negotiating for months. The location seemed perfect for them as the two businesses are compatible with lots of good food products available at Trader Joe’s for hikers and campers. Ben’s dad flew in from Massachusetts and Caitlin’s dad flew in from Hawaii to help Ben and Caitlin plan and design the space. The four of them did the entire build out in about four weeks. Luckily, both dads have an extensive background in construction and are skillful at building projects and have encouraged their children to be handy with tools.
The store has a renting program for campers giving people the opportunity to try out camping, especially designed to see if camping suits their family lifestyle without making a huge investment in products they may never use again. The partners will also help people pack and organize their backpacks for hikes and they give discounts to church youth groups and scouting troops for their camping needs. They also participated in the ‘1% for the planet charity’ for a few years which gives one percent of total gross profits to a multitude of charities nationwide. Now they are focusing on sponsoring charities on a more local level.
Their fun website has outdoor topics, such as S’mores by the fire, Car Camping Check list, Gone to the Dogs, Prepped and Ready and Traveling Abroad. All with lots of tips, and book and product suggestions; depending on a particular interest.
Wanderer’s Outpost provides technical outdoor apparel for women, men and children and sells hiking boots, trail runners, sandals, climbing shoes and socks. It has some unique special services, (one of the added benefits of being a tiny two-person operation.) They offer free shipping in 100% biodegradable packaging, a one-year return policy, and a fun, super cool feature is that all the hang tags are made from biodegradable seed paper that will produce wildflowers when planted with full instructions listed on their engaging website.
Owning a small retail operation has allowed Ben flexibility with his ongoing chemo treatments and surgeries at USC Keck Medical Center and the City of Hope facility in LA as he does not have to request time off from an employer. Cranson and Faust both say, “we love it here!” Stop in and see for yourself all the great gear and get some tips for camping and hiking adventures from Caitlin and Ben soon.
Wanderer’s Outpost is located at 638 De Los Mares, (next to Trader Joes) (949)449-0299. wanderersoutpost.com.