Why Snow Peak Made the PNW Its Base Camp in North America

Author

Zoe Baillargeon

Photographer

Snow Peak

From its first US foray in the ‘90s to its newest retail location, the Japanese camping brand has firmly planted its roots in Oregon and Washington

Published: 05-27-2026

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It’s a warm spring afternoon in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, with some rare golden sunshine washing over the buildings as seaplanes whoosh overhead. Along a stretch of Stone Avenue populated by adventure and sport brands like Evo and Black Diamond, a new wood-paneled storefront beckons to passersby with a view inside of an Instagram-ready campsite in one corner, and titanium mugs, cookware, and earthy-toned clothing lining the walls and tables. This is the new Snow Peak Seattle, the latest retail store from the design-driven Japanese camping and hiking brand.

The Seattle store's early May grand opening arrives just in time for the Pacific Northwest summer. It’s the fifth US outpost for the Japanese outdoor brand, which also has stores across Japan and in South Korea and Taiwan as well a location in London. The company opened its first North American brick-and-mortar store and subsequent flagship in Portland, Oregon, followed by an NYC outpost in SoHo that relocating to Brooklyn in 2022. There's also Snow Peak Campfield Long Beach, an upscale campground on Washington’s Long Beach peninsula that puts the brand's uniquely Japanese approach to camping in practice.

Except for New York, the brand’s entire North American presence has been concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, making this outdoorsy region Snow Peak’s unofficial and official US hub. “Our style of being outdoors has a natural home in the Pacific Northwest,” Noah Reis, senior managing director of Snow Peak’s Western hemisphere operations, shares with Field Mag.

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Tents at Campfield Long Beach | Courtesy Snow Peak

The parallels are easy to draw; the Pacific Northwest's climate and landscape mirrors Japan's in many ways. Snowy volcanoes dominate skylines and dense forests filled with lakes and rivers blanket the countryside. In both parts of the world, spending time outdoors is more than a pastime. Both regions share a tradition of craftsmanship, performance, and quality—from Nike to Columbia Sportswear, the PNW has given the world numerous big-name brands, many tied to the outdoors and sports spaces—which favors creating stylish things made to last. You can't ignore the PNW's long history of Japanese immigration and a strong Asian diaspora either.

The roots of Snow Peak’s Pacific Northwest presence go back to the 1990s, when Tohru Yamai, Snow Peak chairman, CEO, and son of founder Yukio Yamai, moved to Portland to expand into the US market in 1999.

“He’s an avid fly fisherman and Oregon has some really great fly fishing. [He] opened up over here and just fell in love with the naturescape,” said Reis. “The scenery, the fly-fishing. Temperate zones, climate-wise, it’s very similar to Japan. So I think a lot of those components make Oregon kind of a natural, original landing spot for us.”

Inside Snow Peak's Portland flagship store | Courtesy Snow Peak

Snow Peak continued to expand in the US (and abroad) through the early 2000s and 2010s, including opening its first American store in Portland in 2013. But it was with the 2020 launch of the official US headquarters and flagship store in Portland’s Nob Hill neighborhood that the company frimly planted stakes in the States. The Brooklyn-based store debuted in 2022, and Campfield Long Beach opened its doors (or rather, tent flaps) in 2024. Now, with Seattle, Snow Peak has hit the PNW trifecta: the region’s two major metropolises, home to massive communities of outdoor enthusiasts and design lovers, and the beloved Pacific coast.

“It was only natural that we completed the triangle and connected the dots,” said Reis, adding that the Campfield location was selected partially for its proximity to both cities. “We had a view of connecting Portland, Seattle, and having that experience hub. We always wanted to have it ideally placed between those two, accessible from both locations.”

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Snow Peak's new Seattle store | Courtesy Snow Peak

From Campfield—whose jyubako cabins, tent suites, and bring-your-own-setup field sites enable guests to experience Snow Peak’s elevated style of comfort camping as well as Japanese customs like onsen—to the stores themselves, which host interactive displays, Snow Peak aims to immerse customers in the brand’s values.

A great example is Snow Peak’s relationship to the campfire or bonfire—takibi in Japanese. “The heartbeat of any campsite is the gathering around the fire,” said Reis.

In Japan, quality time by the campfire—cooking good food, sharing stories, enjoying leisure time in nature—is a central part of the camping experience. Here, that “takibi time” concept is shared not just through products, like the Takibi Fire & Grill, but also experiences. The Portland location’s attached Takibi restaurant (which opened in 2021) offers hearth-fired dishes like black cod to provide a taste of campfire cooking in the middle of town. Centering the campfire was also a key part of choosing where to place Long Beach Campfield, as there are fewer fire bans along the coast during peak camping months.

“We can actually enjoy our style of camping year-round to its fullest,” Reis explained.

Reis added the Pacific Northwest feels like a natural fit thanks to the people, who live with one foot in civilization and one in nature, and also for what Snow Peak can bring to the local culture.

Courtesy Snow Peak

“I think the PNW is a place where a lot of innovation happens,” he said, calling out the region’s reputation as a hub for major tech companies like Amazon. “We’re connecting faster, we’re connecting with more people. But on the flip side . . . we’re belonging less. Our sense of well-being, our sense of being grounded, our sense of place in the world. All those things are getting eroded by a move toward productivity or efficiency. I think we’re trying to counteract and be a counterbalance to that . . . having a way to get you into nature to find that sense of belonging.”

Hence why Snow Peak focuses more on camping than activity-specific offerings. “[The US is] an activity-focused marketplace. Kayaking, downhill mountain biking, whatever the activity is. That’s the focus, whereas camping is the way to extend your stay. But in our way of going out camping, camping is the main event. Where you gather around the fire, have drinks with friends, cook a good meal, let your kids run around but always come home to a really, really good basecamp.”

Reis is mum on upcoming expansion plans, but with more and more people discovering the brand over the past few years, it’s clear Snow Peak wants to keep growing its presence in North America. “We’ve had a lot of people come visit us from all over, so we’ll see where our customers take us."

If you're a fan of Snow Peak, here are some other Japanese outdoor brands you should have on your radar.