By Carol Ann Conover
Retail on Lake George has always run on a clock set by the tourist season: busy in July and August, quiet the rest of the year. Basecamp, the Adirondack lifestyle store that opened last month on Main Street, is betting it can outlast that rhythm.
“We’re pushing for year-round,” said John LaSalandra, who co-founded the store with longtime friend Joe Russell. “We’re following the Sagamore’s schedule — it’s important for their guests to have a place to go to eat and shop. Not everyone’s open, and really having a sense of life on the streets and Main Street is important. We’re going to work really hard at that.”
That bet aligns with where the region’s tourism numbers are heading. Warren County visitor spending reached nearly $957 million in 2025, up 3.1% from the previous year, according to the New York State Division of Tourism’s annual economic impact report. The Lake George Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau reported that 45% of that spending last year came during the shoulder season rather than the traditional summer peak, with low-season short-term rental revenue up nearly 18% and hotel occupancy climbing to roughly 54%. The bureau has said it intends to keep pushing for more year-round visitation — precisely the traffic Basecamp is positioning itself to capture.
The strategy is built around four brands under one roof rather than a single storefront identity: Basecamp, focused on outdoor and comfort apparel; RELAX, built around leisure and slowing down; Bolton Bigfoot, leaning into Adirondack folklore; and Greetings from Lake George, its postcard and fragrance line. LaSalandra said the combination is meant to give both overnight visitors and year-round locals a reason to return, rather than treating the shop as a one-time souvenir stop.
An online store at basecampmercantile.com is central to that plan. It lets the business retain customers who can’t get to Main Street once the season turns — a built-in strategy for a market where much of the customer base leaves town by Labor Day.
“It’s important because during the offseason, or when people aren’t here, or they want to get ready before they come up, our products will be available,” LaSalandra said.
LaSalandra’s other business gives that customer pipeline a head start. He is also founder and CEO of Luxury Lake George, which manages short-term vacation rentals in Bolton Landing, and a co-founder of LakeGeorgeVacay. “We deliver a great product and great memories to our guests. But we also deliver to the whole community,” LaSalandra said in a recent profile of the rental business. Russell and LaSalandra are also pursuing a project at the historic Green Harbour property on Lake George, part of a broader pattern of local investment beyond the storefront.
Inside Basecamp, that hospitality instinct shows up as much as the merchandise does. Guests can pick up a free Greetings from Lake George postcard, write a note and have the store mail it at no charge — a touch LaSalandra said has drawn repeat visits on its own. Select green products generate a $1 donation per sale to local conservation and nonprofit groups, and staff have tucked handwritten notes of encouragement into apparel throughout the store.
“I think people are thirsty for it today, especially in today’s environment,” LaSalandra said.
The store is also leaning on its Adirondack identity to build a longer-term local following. Beginning next month, Basecamp plans to launch Calling All Artists, inviting local artists to reinterpret oversized Bigfoot cutouts, built by an artisan in Chestertown, for display around Bolton Landing and potentially around Warren County before an end-of-season charitable auction. A related Bolton Bigfoot Experience will send the store’s mascot to community events and fundraisers.
“It’s through the arts that we’re able to have dialogue with everybody,” LaSalandra said. “We need this dialogue, whether it’s to preserve the lake or whatever we want to discuss. I think through the arts we’re able to do that.”
Just a few weeks after opening, LaSalandra said the store was already reordering sold-out inventory. “We’re kind of shocked by that, actually,” he said. “We have repeat customers and locals, and they’re so happy to see a store filled and not empty.”
Whether that early momentum holds through a Lake George winter will be the real test of the strategy — one LaSalandra said the store is prepared to make on Main Street and online all year long.