Jonathan Kahn owns Confluence Kayak & Ski in Denver. (Karoline Leonard/BusinessDen)
A local kayak and ski retailer has acquired Colorado Kayak Supply’s e-commerce site.
Confluence Kayak & Ski bought CKS Online in June and is in the final stages of merging and reconciling inventory.
Confluence owner Jonathan Kahn said he bought the website and the intellectual property of CKS Online for $50,000 to $60,000, along with buying its inventory at a discounted rate.
“They basically indicated that they had gotten into some troubles and were looking to sell that part of the business,” Kahn said. “It seemed like a good opportunity. They’ve been a competitor of mine for almost 30 years in one capacity or another. Now, we’re the owner of this great website.”
Colorado Kayak Supply was founded in 1978 by Jim Stoholquist in Nathrop, and later merged with Summit Kayak and moved to Buena Vista. In 2015, the ecommerce site CKS Online split from the CKS River Supply brick-and-mortar shop.
Shifting ownership several times over the years, Hala Gear founder Peter Hall purchased CKS Online in 2019.
Hall founded his Steamboat Springs-based paddle board supplier in 2011. Hall said high interest rates and “supply and demand whiplash” forced him to sell both CKS Online and Hala Gear. He sold the latter to Colleen King, who had been with Hala for six years. King said Hala Gear closed its storefront in Steamboat Springs but its online presence is still operating.
“Hala Gear and CKS Online, they’re both going to keep going and carry on the legacy,” Hall said.
Kahn has owned and operated Confluence Kayak & Ski since 1998. The brick-and-mortar shop is located at 2301 7th St. across the street from Denver’s Downtown Aquarium.
Demand was high during the pandemic, Kahn said, but in the years since, outdoors manufacturers and retailers have been hit hard. Kahn said he’s been lucky, but he’s known others go out of business because of the last few years.
Kahn said he hasn’t officially decided if he will merge the branding of Confluence Kayak & Ski and CKS Online, but said the CKS Online website is running with a new URL and will most likely be the central digital store. Confluence has had its own website.
“We’re going to keep running coloradokayak.com, which is the new URL that the CKS Online was on,” Kahn said. “It’s much more sophisticated than our website. … It seems like a chance to reach customers that are not in our local trade area and really have a national presence.”
Jonathan Kahn owns Confluence Kayak & Ski in Denver. (Karoline Leonard/BusinessDen)
A local kayak and ski retailer has acquired Colorado Kayak Supply’s e-commerce site.
Confluence Kayak & Ski bought CKS Online in June and is in the final stages of merging and reconciling inventory.
Confluence owner Jonathan Kahn said he bought the website and the intellectual property of CKS Online for $50,000 to $60,000, along with buying its inventory at a discounted rate.
“They basically indicated that they had gotten into some troubles and were looking to sell that part of the business,” Kahn said. “It seemed like a good opportunity. They’ve been a competitor of mine for almost 30 years in one capacity or another. Now, we’re the owner of this great website.”
Colorado Kayak Supply was founded in 1978 by Jim Stoholquist in Nathrop, and later merged with Summit Kayak and moved to Buena Vista. In 2015, the ecommerce site CKS Online split from the CKS River Supply brick-and-mortar shop.
Shifting ownership several times over the years, Hala Gear founder Peter Hall purchased CKS Online in 2019.
Hall founded his Steamboat Springs-based paddle board supplier in 2011. Hall said high interest rates and “supply and demand whiplash” forced him to sell both CKS Online and Hala Gear. He sold the latter to Colleen King, who had been with Hala for six years. King said Hala Gear closed its storefront in Steamboat Springs but its online presence is still operating.
“Hala Gear and CKS Online, they’re both going to keep going and carry on the legacy,” Hall said.
Kahn has owned and operated Confluence Kayak & Ski since 1998. The brick-and-mortar shop is located at 2301 7th St. across the street from Denver’s Downtown Aquarium.
Demand was high during the pandemic, Kahn said, but in the years since, outdoors manufacturers and retailers have been hit hard. Kahn said he’s been lucky, but he’s known others go out of business because of the last few years.
Kahn said he hasn’t officially decided if he will merge the branding of Confluence Kayak & Ski and CKS Online, but said the CKS Online website is running with a new URL and will most likely be the central digital store. Confluence has had its own website.
“We’re going to keep running coloradokayak.com, which is the new URL that the CKS Online was on,” Kahn said. “It’s much more sophisticated than our website. … It seems like a chance to reach customers that are not in our local trade area and really have a national presence.”
