W O O D Y ' S
A D V E N T U R E G E A R
Meet the Team!
Basil - Director of Greetings
Basil is our resident chocolate Labrador and the first team member you're likely to meet when you walk through the door. You'll usually find her stationed by the front entrance, where she takes her responsibilities very seriously: welcoming customers, accepting compliments, and collecting belly rubs.
When she's not greeting visitors, Basil enjoys supervising the shop floor, napping on the job, and monitoring snack-related activity with remarkable dedication. Her specialties include tail wagging, making new friends, and convincing people that one more belly rub is always necessary.
Basil's outdoor credentials include hiking, swimming, snow adventures, and testing the comfort level of every patch of sunshine she can find.
If you see her during your visit, feel free to say hello. She'll be delighted to meet you—and she'll assume you've come specifically to pet her.
Meet Talos — engineer by weekday, gear nerd, and mountain addict every other possible minute. He’s joining us part-time at Woody’s to do what he really loves: talk skis, fix foot problems, and get people stoked for winter. Talos has been outside basically forever. He grew up guiding kids at summer nature camps, spent college designing bike components for fun, and somehow squeezed in becoming a go-to bootfitter at Bill & Paul’s, where he handled the tough shell-molding and multi-issue fits nobody else wanted. He’s tested more skis, boots, and bindings than most of us have owned, and he even picked up insider knowledge from a stint at Shaggy’s. You’ll catch him at Woody’s full days on Fridays — and maybe some evenings once he sees how fast he can escape his engineering job. Bring your boots, your questions, your weird feet… he’s ready.
Colin is our master boot sculptor — the guy who can take any boot and make it feel like it was custom-grown around your feet. With 30 years of bootfitting experience, he doesn’t just tweak boots… he engineers comfort with surgeon-level precision. Weird feet? Complicated issues? Colin lives for that stuff.
When he’s not in the shop shaping plastic like an artist, he’s out living about six different lives: playing soccer multiple times a week, mountain biking, hiking, camping, alpine skiing, telemarking, and heading into the backcountry any chance he gets. And when the snow melts? He becomes a skilled fly-fishing guide, wandering the rivers like some kind of outdoor monk.
If your boots aren’t perfect yet, don’t worry — Colin will make them perfect.
Shawn – Professional Fun-Haver, Adventure Seeker & Basil's Mom
After successfully owning and operating her own business for many years alongside her husband, Rick, Shawn decided retirement sounded a little too quiet… so now she hangs out at Woody's for fun. When she's not helping customers around the shop, you'll likely find her digging in her garden, soaking up everything Northern Michigan has to offer, or plotting her next adventure. Along with her husband, she loves hitting the open road in their RV, exploring new places, meeting new people, and collecting stories from all corners of the country. Shawn is also the proud mom of Basil, Woody's resident shop dog and Chief Greeting Officer. Truth be told, we actually hired Shawn so Basil could have a ride to work every day. Basically, if there's sunshine, flowers, a scenic back road, a good adventure, or a chocolate Lab nearby, you'll probably find Shawn there too.
Hi there! I'm Brooke, the owner/buyer of Woody's.
Northern Michigan has always been home, so being able to live here full-time and own Woody’s still feels a little surreal — in the best way. I’m a mom of three, have spent nearly 30 years in the outdoor and ski industry, and firmly believe there’s no such thing as bad weather… just the wrong gear.
After almost 20 years in Chicago, my family and I made our way back north to raise our kids in the kind of place where trailheads, ski hills, and water access are part of everyday life. When we’re not at the shop, you’ll probably find us skiing, trail running, mountain biking, camping, or chasing one of the kids toward the nearest lake.
One of my favorite parts of owning Woody’s is helping people get outfitted so they can stay outside longer, stay comfortable, and have more fun doing it. I personally test many of the brands we carry — which is my very professional excuse for constantly buying new outdoor gear — and I love sharing products I genuinely trust and use myself.
Come work with us. We are actually pretty cool.
Share a few details, and we’ll reach out soon.