Her customers often dodge hazards along their running or bicycling routes or navigate challenging waters in their kayaks. Nat’s Outdoor Sports owner Lisa Love Martens can honestly say she is doing the same – and with good results.

Martens, who took over ownership of the store on Bowling Green’s Wilkinson Trace Avenue after her father and Nat’s founder Nat Love died in 2011, has since guided the store through some of the most difficult times of its long history.

“The business has drastically changed in the last eight to 10 years,” Martens said last week as she prepared for the store’s 45th anniversary sale. “Online competition has changed retail, and the advertising aspect has changed as well. You have to use social media now to reach the younger audience.

“We have a big span in our customer base, from high school age to 65 or older, so we can’t pick just one (advertising medium). But we’ve been fortunate. We have a lot of loyal customers who believe in buying local, and we do all we can to give back to the community.”

It’s not hard to find those loyal customers. Nat Love cultivated them from the store’s beginning in 1973, when he started selling outdoor sports merchandise next to his L&M Bookstore near the Western Kentucky University campus.

He expanded into selling and repairing bicycles and moved to larger quarters on 12th Street in 1975 and then to the Thoroughbred Square near Rafferty’s restaurant in 1987. A final move – to the Wilkinson Trace location – came in 1993 and gave Nat’s the space it needed to display the equipment, clothing and gear it carries.

Today, the 10,000-square-foot store is packed tighter than a thru-hiker’s backpack on the Appalachian Trail. Gear for those who paddle, hike, run, pedal or fling discs can be found, along with clothing for just about every type of outdoor activity.

It’s that cornucopia of outdoors-related products that leads longtime customers like Franklin’s Lora Patton to eschew the Amazons of the world and shop with Martens and her crew of 25 employees.

“I’ve been a customer of Nat’s for a very long time,” said Patton, who has bought everything from snow skis to shoes, socks and bicycles over the years. “I’m a huge fan of independent small businesses. I can order on the internet, but I don’t.

“If you need immediate help, it’s great to have a place like Nat’s. I have always been impressed with the quality of the people they hire. They’re knowledgeable, and several of them have been there a long time. It’s my go-to place.”

Those employees that Patton mentions often do more than hype merchandise. Many, like 33-year employee Christine Platt, bring an evangelist’s zeal to the job of selling sporting goods.

“Nat (Love) hired me out of a restaurant job,” Platt recalled. “He thought I had a good personality, and I was a runner.”

Platt, who says she bought her first pair of running shoes at Nat’s, has geared down to part-time work at the store these days. But she still considers her job at Nat’s “a mission.”

“I like trying to project a good fitness lifestyle message,” she said last week as she placed orders for the fall 2019 season. “I run, bike and do yoga. I try to stay fit. I have loved this job. I enjoy interacting with somebody who is trying to get started with a fitness program.”

Like Platt, Nat’s bicycle department manager Wilie Marble brings an expertise to his job that can’t be found online. A former competitive bicycle racer, Marble has been with Nat’s since 1993, tuning bikes and advising customers on the best equipment to purchase.

“I try to treat people the way I would want to be treated,” Marble said. “I did a lot of off-road bicycle racing, so I bring that experience to this job. I grew up working on car engines, and that translated to bicycles. It has changed a lot over the years. Bikes have electronic shifting now. You have to program it. It has come a long way.”

The personal touch that employees like Platt and Marble provide contributes to Nat’s longevity and customer loyalty, Martens said.

“I count on my employees,” she said. “They may not be experts in everything, but they usually have a little niche. We’re personal, and we’re involved in the community.”

That community involvement is perhaps most prominent in the Nat’s Bikes for Kids program that Nat Love started in 1994. The store takes donations of slightly used bikes, makes any needed repairs and distributes them to children in need during the Christmas season. Nat’s has partnered with the Jaycees civic group, the Boys & Girls Club and local school family resource centers to distribute more than 4,500 bikes over the years.

Nat’s is also known for its sponsorship of local events and donations to fundraisers.

“I probably get 10 donation requests per week,” Martens said. “We can’t do them all. We try to focus on those that relate to us. We sponsor a lot of local races and events that go along with the outdoors.”

Martens believes that community involvement has helped Nat’s survive its first 45 years, and she sees it continuing for many more years.

“We’re not growing by leaps and bounds, and we’re not making millions, but it’s more about giving back to the community,” she said. “We’re just looking to continue as we have been and try to keep up with what’s going on in outdoor sports.”