Le Travel Store, based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, was a retail store that sells travel gear. Founded in 1976, Le Travel Store claims to be the first business to call itself a "travel store," and, the first retail store to cater to backpackers and other independent travelers, selling luggage, travel accessories, guidebooks, maps, and backpacks in a single retail location.

History

Joan and Bill Keller opened the first Le Travel Store in Pacific Beach in November 1976 after noticing that independent travelers going to Europe, Asia, and Latin America were often using outdoor gear such as backpacks rather than more traditional luggage, but that no retail businesses were specifically geared towards these independent backpackers. The founding of Le Travel Store coincided with an increase in the popularity and feasibility of independent travel, which was also gave rise to numerous other companies, such as

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...

, Eagle Creek, and

STA Travel STA Travel was a Travel Supplier supplying travel products and service to the general public through their 200 retail travel agency stores located globally. It was owned by Diethelm Keller Holding (DKH), with headquarters in Zurich and London. ...

, that sought to cater to these travelers. Le Travel Store was one of the original tenants when Horton Plaza opened in 1985, and then in 1994, it was one of the first retail businesses to move into San Diego's

Gaslamp Quarter The Gaslamp Quarter is a 16½-block neighborhood in the downtown area of San Diego, California. It extends from Broadway to Harbor Drive, and from 4th to 6th Avenue. Listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places as ...

during that neighborhood's

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

. Since its early days, Le Travel Store has done mail order business, at first with a print catalog, and then, from 1996 on, at its

ecommerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managemen ...

website. Le Travel Store closed its doors in 2013 when the owners retired.

Awards & Citations

*2002 Outdoor Industry Association Leadership Award *2001 Gaslamp Quarter Association Trailblazer of the Year *1998 Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation Pioneer Award *1995 Downtown San Diego Partnership Alonzo Award

External links

Le Travel Store website

References

Retail companies established in 1976 Companies based in San Diego 1976 establishments in California {{US-retail-company-stub