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thePeorian.com
W
hen Rich Pestien went
to college to study
math and computer
science he didn’t figure on be-
coming an expert in anything
else, let alone something to do
with sports.
“
I was your basic math nerd
in high school and college. But
in college (at the University of
Illinois) I wanted to do some-
thing different. So I joined a rock
climbing club,” said Pestien, who
before that had become adept at
chess.
“
I really enjoyed it. We’d go to
a little place over in Indiana or
up to Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin.
It got to the point where college
was something we did in between
weekend trips to Devil’s Lake.”
After getting his degree in
math and computer science and
starting to study for his master’s
degree in computer science, Pes-
tien went to work for the original
Bushwhacker store in Cham-
paign. A year or so later, his life
changed forever.
“
The store owners asked me if
I would like to invest with them
and become a partner. I thought
that sounded like a good thing,
so I said sure. Needless to say,
the master’s degree was forgot-
ten,” said Pestien. He opened a
Bushwhacker store in Spring-
field in 1975, then opened one in
Peoria at Main and University
streets, where One World Café
now is, in 1976.
“
At the time there were a lot
of hard core, granola-crunching
backpackers and rock climb-
ers around. I was one of them.
Business was good. Then, times
changed,” he said,
Those backpackers and climb-
ers — hippies, Pestien called
them —started getting married
and having children, running out
of time for their outdoor sports.
Bushwhacker started losing
money, the original partners
got out and Pestien was left to
bail out the business if it was to
survive.
“
I didn’t bail. Instead we
started looking at other outdoor
activities to get into. We started
learning how to use equipment
so we knew what we were talk-
ing about when we were sell-
ing it and became a year-round
outdoor specialty store. When
Vitesse closed, we got into bik-
ing and became experts at that.
When it stopped snowing as
much around here and the cross
country skiing business went
north, somebody suggested we
sell downhill ski equipment. We
learned how to downhill ski so
we could teach it.
“
We did whatever we needed
to do to survive. And we sur-
vived,” Pestien said. The Peoria
store is the only one remaining
and it moved from its original
location to the Metro Centre in
1985.
Its present location, a sepa-
rate building at Metro Centre,
was built in 1991.
“
Metro Centre has been a good
location for us. It’s centrally lo-
cated and easy to find,” he said.
Specialty Retail: Outdoors
MEETING YOUR OUTDOOR
SPORTING NEEDS
Bushwhacker has the goods
for year-round enjoyment
Paul Gordon
