Sunlight Sports, Cody, Wyoming

The first thing you notice when you swing open the doors at Sunlight Sports, in downtown Cody, Wyoming, is a cooling whoosh like an airlock separating the store from the outside world. Once you’re in, what catches your attention next is a faint pine and vanilla scent that smells familiar and comforting, like you’ve just stepped into a summer camp dream. You’re not just imagining that smell, either. They pipe it in, and Sunlight Sports spent considerable resources crafting just the right aroma to hit whatever pleasure centers of the brain harbor a longing for the outdoors.

This isn’t a subliminal sales tactic. It’s part of the store’s cabin-adjacent atmosphere, a carefully calculated effort to create a special retail experience. Something you can only find at Sunlight Sports, and not, say, Dick’s Sporting Goods. Or any REI anywhere. The railing connecting the store’s upper and lower floors is built from discarded metal blanks Black Diamond once used to make pitons and ice