Outdoor Emporium — Local services in London

I am a returnee customer; I brought many things throughout the years from Outdoor Emporium – such as sleeping bag, walking boots and shoes, trail running shoes, waterproof jackets and trousers, travel bags.

Yusuf, the manager of the shop, is friendly, patient and he has a superb knowledge of outdoor gear. He always listens carefully to what I actually need, explains what products are available on the market with their pros and cons and then recommends the most suitable brands and products depending on my needs and budget. I have not once regretted any of my purchases from Outdoor Emporium and I am still using several of the items purchased years ago.

The shop is a bit of a Tardis – stocks a good selection of competitively priced products and brands for camping and hiking. Yusuf also ordered stuff for me several times when I was looking for something they do not normally stock.

I took a friend to Outdoor Emporium a while back as she usually struggles with buying walking shoes. We spent hours – literally – in the shop. I was losing the will to live, but Yusuf remained patient throughout the entire time, did not pressurise my friend at all and recommended her to sleep on the decision and come back another day to make sure that she was happy with her choice.

I would highly recommend Outdoor Emporium in Camden. The shop is next to Camden Road overground station and only a few minute walk from Camden Town underground station. It is a family owned small independent shop. You are guaranteed to get personal service and a completely different shopping experience from what you get in the big chains. Give it a try, you will not be...

Although I do a lot of my outdoor shopping online, there are some things which simply can't be bought without the valued advice of an independent outdoor shop. I wanted to buy a pair of boots and hiking jacket from Alpenstock in Stockport but was disappointed to find out that the owners had retired. As I work in London, I Googled to find that only one independent outdoor shop exists in the city. I visited and couldn't believe how helpful Yusef was in trying on new boots and a new coat. I simply wouldn't be able to get this kind of personal service if I shopped online and I have often found that the cheaper chains are staffed by shop assistants with little or no experience of the merchandise they are selling. If you are looking to carefully choose a piece of apparel you really can't go far wrong here. These shops are dying out and it really is worth paying a little more for something that will last and be a great investment. I got a great insight into the industry from Yusef and it is really sad to see that there are fewer of these shops now. My last pair of boots lasted me over 5 years and that was because of the expert advice I received and I expect this pair to to last me as long. In the long run, it really does work out cheaper than buying on the internet. I hope the Outdoor Emporium continues to thrive and that the outdoor community values its knowledge...

I visited this shop because of the excellent reviews as I was looking for walking boots for myself and my daughters. I have to say that we had a terrible experience in this store and received very unfriendly service from the start. We were hardly greeted but immediately asked if we were buying that day and how much we wanted to spend. We were then informed that there was a service charge of £10 if we didn't buy anything. When we gave our shoe size the store attendant told us there was nothing within our shoe size and that finding a fit would be "very difficult" (size 8-9 women). He tried to sell us the more pricey shoes by telling us he might have a bigger shoe size for those; it turned out he didn't and we were being misled in order for him to sell us a more pricey boot. Generally was extremely unhelpful and cold and did not offer any advice. We were even told we would be better off going to a larger store in central London. Thankfully we did this and received excellent service at the Cotswold store in Covent Garden. The service in this shop was shocking, there was no suggestion that we could try some of the boots and that they could order our size. Obviously didn't want to serve us at all. Very disappointing and difficult to believe the reviews are genuine. I would have given this shop no star if there was an...