Denver Outdoor Gear Store Forced To Move, Asking For Public's Help

By Jeff Todd

DENVER (CBS4) - A popular Denver outdoor store is trying to move, but it's looking for help from the community first.

"We're asking for support and that's scary," said Jimmy Funkhouser, the owner of Feral Mountain Co.

Funkhouser founded the outdoor gear store in March 2016 and set up shop in a small 700 square foot house on Tennyson Street near 43rd Avenue. The block is being torn down for a new housing development.

"We will be out as soon as Xcel shows up to disconnect the power, and what's interesting is we don't know when that is. We're quite literally day to day," Funkhouser said.

The crew at Feral isn't letting the development set them back, they're moving down the street to a bigger space. Funkhouser wants to create a bigger store with more offerings, including community space.

"We want to grow something special. We're tired of saying we'd love to have that,. We don't have room," he said.

Feral has plans to move to the old Flesher Hinton Music Store near 39th Avenue. The building has been vacant for years and needs about $100,000 of work.

Funkhouser is asking the community to help him get the money up front.

"If the community wants us here, we're asking for their support. It's scary to ask for anything and that's what we're doing," he said. "We want to be in a unique space, we want to be in a space that's going to be there 30 years from now. But, we also want to preserve the personality of this neighborhood and that includes buildings just like that."

LINK: Build The New Feral Indiegogo Fundraiser

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.