Nomad Ventures

Finally! For those that love the outdoors or for newbies, this place is perfect. Every member of their staff is extremely knowledgable and helpful when answering questions and explaining types of gear. Plus, this store is a one stop shop, it has everything you’d need for climbing, camping, hiking, kayaking, ect. The quality and variety is really the best around, thanks for all the help and tips!

Nomad Ventures is a great place for the outdorsie. One of the fun things I do is wander around looking for the bargain (s).
Chris G — 20 year customer from San Marcos, Ca

This place is awesome quality outdoor equipment from climbing to kayaking, the staff is very knowledgeable and nice !! I work as journeyman power lineman and I went in to buy a pair of mountaineering boots for work, they have the best in store selection of the boots 100% they had exactly what I was looking for like la sportive and scarpa. In my opinion if u are looking For boots nomad ventures beats REI hands down, it might be a small store but it kicks ass definitely a hidden gem !!! And they threw in any pair of socks I wanted for free after I purchased a pair of la sportivas boots. Thanks again guys you rock !!!

Probably as good as it gets. Personalized service from an outdoor retailer that has been around for 20 or so years. Climbing, backpacking or any other kind of recreational adventure, they are there to help. Bruce has done an outstanding job.
Thanks for all the years of help!
Stacky’s Best of Escondido Award™-Sporting Goods

My 14 year old son and I are taking a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon this summer. Naturally we have a list of gear that we need to buy including hiking boots. I wear two different size shoes and was dreading the thought of having to fork out money for 3 pairs of boots (2 for me and 1 for my son). So I started to call and email stores that sell hiking boots and explain my situation. Every response I received was the same «sorry, we don’t do that.» It was really disappointing that these BIG companies could have cared less about their customers. As the realization of the extra expense was sinking in, I found Nomad Ventures online and took a chance and emailed them my situation.
The next morning I received a call from Bruce and Emma saying they wanted to help me out. My son and I went into Nomad on Saturday afternoon and Fitz helped us right away with our hiking questions. He was extremely knowledgeable having worked in the Grand Canyon for 4 months and he currently works in Idyllwild. Fitz has a chill vibe and he made my son and I feel very comfortable. He told us some cool stories about the Grand Canyon and gave us some advice and tips for our trip.
Fitz got us each fitted with boots (not an easy task trying to fit my two feet… finding two boots in the same color/​style in my sizes), hiking socks, and convertible pants. He didn’t try to sell us a bunch of expensive gear we didn’t need and even told us things we could use that we might already have at home. Pretty amazing that he was trying to save us money. And most of the gear he did recommend for us was stuff he uses so it gave me peace of mind knowing that an experienced backpacker/​hiker had tested this stuff out.
While they couldn’t split the boot sizes for me, they gave me a SIGNIFICANT discount on both pairs and it ended up costing me almost the same as one pair of hiking boots. Incredible! I wanted to hug Bruce, Emma, and Fitz!
Nomad has clothes, hats, sunglasses, camping gear, footwear, and it looked like a lot of climbing gear as well. If you are doing any outdoor adventures, you must come here!
I can’t even begin to express my appreciation to Nomad for being willing to help out someone they don’t even know. Naturally I will come back here for ALL of my outdoors needs. They have made a customer for life!

Kat, camille, and britany all helped me out to find some shoes. They are epic people that know their climbing gear. Their intelligence is only matched by their beauty and they even told me where to get the best cheap tacos in town. But for reals they matched rei pricing so I didn’t have to drive around and got a great deal.

They close hours before Rei and even if there are people in the store they’ll stand around bsing but won’t let you in to buy anything. Joshua tree nomad v is good. Escondido nomad will go the way of Oceanside adventure 16. Out of business.

One of the guys who worked at rei recommended this store to me and my boyfriend because we were looking for nice climbing shoes and rei doesn’t really have much to pick from. So we went and OMG we love this store so much. Not only is the staff super nice and friendly and helpful but this store is amazing. We’ve been looking for climbing shoes for our two year old and hit dead ends everywhere including online but sure enough they had them along with tones of other really nice rare shoes we didn’t find anywhere else. As we spent two hours in the store the staff played with our son as they were helping us out really cool people here. They have tones of chalk bags rei doesn’t carry. And the harnesses omg I finally found the one I’ve been wanting that I couldn’t even find online. They have stole our blueness away from rei even tho it’s a drive from our house this store is our new favorite store hands down! Honestly the staff here has helped us more in two hours then rei’s staff in 7 months !! We love it !!

We were on our way to REI in San Diego, but decided to check out Nomad Ventures, as it was along our route to REI. We ended up buying everything needed at Nomad Ventures. Then we proceeded to REI to compare prices and merchandise. We were completely ready to buy everything again at REI and return the Nomad Ventures purchases on our way home if REI was a better option. It wasn’t.

My wife needed to get outfitted for 6 weeks in Peru in June, with at least 3 weeks of that above 12,000 feet (cold at night) at a very remote archaeology field school in the Northern Highlands. All she had was a backpack. She needed everything else– quality sleeping bag, sleeping pad, merino wool under garments, good boots, multiple layers of synthetic packable clothes, and more. About $ 1200 in gear total. She was able to purchase the highest quality gear (Northface, Thermarest, Merino, Mtn Hardware, etc.) with plenty of selection, despite Nomad being a fraction the size of REI.
We drove to REI for our comparison, and the difference was stark. Don’t get me wrong, REI is an awesome big box store. They have everything! The big difference was the quality of personal customer service. At Nomad, «Cat» took care of my wife. She was like having a personal consultant/​shopper. As my wife was being helped by «Cat,» I was on line at REI comparing prices, and the prices were essentially identical. At REI, the service was ok and the staff is knowedgable. They were doing their best, but there was just so many customers that as soon as they’d answer one question, they’d be pulled away by another customer and we kept having to chase down another, and another employee to get help. At Nomad, «Cat» also had to juggle other customers during our time there, but she did it smoothly, by communicating with people, and by taking advantage of dressing room time to break away and help others.
The Nomad Ventures experience was first rate. The staff is super friendly and knowledgable. I’ve also shopped at the Idylwild and Temecula stores and found them to be excellent (though significantly smaller) as well. It also felt good to be spending our money in a smaller local business. I also am not aware of their return policies, but I was up front with them before I left and went to REI. I told them I may be coming back with returns, and they said it would be no problem.
I highly recommend Nomad Ventures.

If you want the right outdoor gear, then this is where you come. Great selection, Great group of people.
Get in here before you get out there!

So this guy that works there, I won’t say his name but he’s the manager… HE SUCKS AT CUSTOMER SERVICE… assumed I was from another climbing store, assumed I was just going to try on shoes and leave, assumed I wasn’t there to help his business, luckily he had a worker that was much better than him in customer service that was able to help me pick out the right equipment. I honestly never want to go here again because of the manager or any other Nomads, I hate this place

I’m not a rock climber, but I had a project that required some pulleys and other gear. The manager was very helpful and guided me with my choices. One of the pulleys did have an issue, and I came back the next day for an exchange. Even though returning rock-​climbing gear is against store policy, the manager worked with me and approved the exchange. The new pulley worked great. Thanks for the help!

My very favorite outdoor shop. I like them enough to order things from them before trying anywhere else, even when I am spending time in Wyoming.

I just wanted to say the guys here are stoked on life to help you pick the best gear you came in to buy. It’s a notable difference from most stores. That and they carry a lot of rock shoes you just can’t find elsewhere, sometimes not even online.

Here’s a tip for those that think Nomad Ventures is too pricey (and I agree it can be). If you can find it cheaper somewhere else, mention it to the staff and they might match it. I went into the Escondido store for a kayak anchor and anchor trolley kit. Both items were priced at $ 40, however I told the staff that Oside Dive & Kayak had the anchor for $ 30. They not only dropped the price of the anchor to $ 30, but the trolley kit as well! Now that is good customer service.

After doing my first two indoor climbs I was hooked and knew I needed to buy my own shoes ASAP. The guy at Solid Rock San Marcos suggested Nomad Ventures as being more knowledgeable than REI and I think he was right. I explained that I planned on doing indoor only for at least nine months and the nice clerk showed me a couple of options.
I decided on the lower priced pair and tried a couple on, he was totally right on about them stretching a bit. I was afraid that I got them too small since they were really tight in the store but after a few gym visits they fit great! I would definitely recommend them to anyone for outdoor gear.

I have no experience with the return policy, but from what I’ve seen, the prices aren’t very different from REI. I like the small store feel, and the staff takes the time to talk to you one-​on-​one about climbing and bouldering. There is a good amount of knowledge amongst the staff. Instead of b.s. salesmanship, you have enthusiasts who outfit beginners and fellow enthusiasts.
Also, a great place for hiking shoes, bouldering shoes, and vibram five-​fingers. There is a wide selection and the staff will sit down and find which shoe works best for your needs and fit.
The only weakness is one of its strength — it is a small store. The selection is more limited than other much larger chain stores.

What a great store. I explained to the guy who helped me (Greg) that I was new to rock climbing and he really took his time to explain the differences in climbing shoes and gave me the lowdown about local spot to climb. Also recommended a good book on the basics that I needed. You could tell the folks working there love the outdoors. I really liked that it was a small store and not some mega place. Definitely going back.

A prime location with great views on a busy downtown Escondido street. They usually have a big kayak modified with wheels out front with a sign on it. It’s much larger than the Temecula location and has everything a climber, hiker, camper, kayaker would need. The prices are the same as all other locations and they carry quality products in more abundance than a marketed established place like REI. It has it’s quirks like set up is cramped, but lets face it an outdoor place needs space. They do free shipping form other stores inventory if you need it they do regular transfers. If you’ve been to REI and they don’t have it then come here. Or if you want something more intimate and personal come here. Either way you can’t go wrong as they will equip you with everything you’ll need to have great lasting adventures outdoors.

No one has reviewed these guys yet? I’m surprised. It’s the only outdoor gear shop in the area that I know of besides the chain stores like big 5 and sports authority.
The staff who work here are fabulous. They know the outdoors, and they know gear. I went in for some stuff sacks. Pretty simple. There were 2 people working and only one other customer, so the guy helped pick some out. He was friendly and let me take them out of the packaging to compare (I was looking for a size that would fit in my sleeping bag compartment more easily).
I would definitely come here for outdoor gear. It’s really the only shop in inland north county that I know of. Come here before driving all the way out to REI next time. They had a great selection of backpacking stuff and while I was there, a couple came in to look at kayaks and they seemed to be in the know for those and had a good sized selection. Oh yeah! And they have climbing gear out the whazoo.
Great local business. I will definitely come back.