OVERVIEW
PaddleVA: a Shopify store that fits paddlers to the right boat, the way the shop has since 1977
Appomattox River Company in Farmville, Virginia is the largest canoe and kayak specialty store around. We rebuilt paddleva.com on Shopify around one idea: the right boat, the first time.
1977
Fitting paddlers since · now a boat finder
10
Authorized-dealer brands, Hobie to NRS
6
Ways to paddle as the store's navigation
PaddleVA
“They were responsive, hit every deadline, and treated PaddleVA like it was their own company.”
Jeff Smith
Web Manager, Appomattox River Company · Clutch, Sep 2026
01
About the project
Bob Taylor started Appomattox River Company with one boat and a river. Nearly fifty years on, the Farmville showroom is Virginia's paddlesports specialist, with a crew of guides, anglers and whitewater paddlers who fit every customer in person. The old website was a catalogue; the new one needed to do what the crew does — ask the right questions and recommend the right boat.
The result of our work was a storefront organised by how people paddle · a guided Boat Finder that matches body, water and budget · a build-your-kit flow that specs boat, paddle and PFD together · clear shipping-vs-pickup rules for oversize boats.
Client
PaddleVA
Industry
Paddlesports retail
Platform
Shopify
Services
Store build · Boat Finder · Kit builder · Collections · Content · Shipping logic
Timeline
2025 – 2026 (launched 2026)
02
The challenge
Boats are hard to sell online: wrong-boat regret is expensive and the advice lived only in the showroom.
A kayak is a considered, oversize purchase. Shoppers arrived at paddleva.com with a budget and a vague idea, bounced between fifty near-identical product pages, and called the shop anyway. Shipping a boat is complex, and the site hid that until checkout.
“Not sure where to start? Answer a few quick questions and we'll match you to the right boat — the way we would in the shop.”
PaddleVA · Boat Finder
Catalogue, not counsel
Fifty kayaks listed by name gave first-time buyers no way to choose; the crew's fitting knowledge was off-site.
Oversize shipping
Boats ship freight or pick up locally. The old store surfaced cost and options only at checkout.
Accessories sold apart
Paddles, PFDs and rod holders were buried in menus instead of sold alongside the boat.
Expertise invisible
Al's repairs, Travis's whitewater knowledge and the crew's picks appeared nowhere on the site.
03
How it started
It started with a day in the Farmville showroom listening to how the crew fits a customer: what water, what body, what budget. Those three questions became the spine of the new store.
We proposed a focused build: a Boat Finder that asks those questions, a kit builder that prices the full setup live, and collections organised by paddling style rather than manufacturer catalogue.
Haniel Singh · Creative Labs
Free store audit · PaddleVA
1. 70% of boat pages are entered from search with no category context. Add a guided finder.
2. Freight vs. local pickup is decided at checkout. State it on the product page.
3. Staff picks and crew bios are the store's edge. Put real people on the homepage.
Watch the 3-minute audit04
Finding the direction
Before touching templates we agreed on the voice: plain, confident, from people who actually paddle. No jargon, no wrong-boat regret.
We prototyped the Boat Finder and the 'shop by how you paddle' grid in the first two weeks and locked the orange-on-deep-green palette drawn from the river and the ARC logo.
05
What we built
Six moves, from a guided boat finder to a store that puts the crew front and centre.
BUILT ON SHOPIFY
A storefront organised by how you paddle
Rec & Family, Fishing, Whitewater, Touring & Sea, SUP and Canoes replace the brand-first catalogue as the primary navigation.
BOAT FINDER
Three questions, one recommendation
A guided quiz matches body, water and budget to a short list of boats — and hands the conversation to the crew when it's close.
BUILD YOUR KIT
Boat, paddle and PFD priced live
A kit builder specs the full setup with pictures and prices that update as options change, then continues to fitting and delivery.
SHIPPING THAT MAKES SENSE
Freight or free local pickup, stated up front
Oversize boats show their shipping and pickup options on the product page, with the 1-800 line for freight quotes.
THE CREW
Real people who paddle
Bob, Al, Travis and the team appear on the homepage with staff picks, so the showroom's trust carries online.
DEALER CREDIBILITY
Ten authorized brands
Jackson Kayak, Hobie, Old Town, Wilderness Systems, Native, Pyranha, Dagger, NRS, Werner and YakAttack are shown as the authorised-dealer line-up.
06
The result
PaddleVA now sells the way the shop does: a guided finder, a kit that prices itself, and freight rules customers understand before they add to cart.
Launch metrics will be reported after the first full paddling season. Facts above are from paddleva.com.
1977
Fitting paddlers since · now a boat finder
10
Authorized-dealer brands, Hobie to NRS
6
Ways to paddle as the store's navigation
KEEP READING
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You've reached the end, so now…
Tell us what you're selling.
Send us your store. Within one business day you get a short Loom from a senior: the three things we'd fix first, what it would cost, and whether we're the right team for it.
- No pitch deck, no discovery-call theatre
- You keep the audit whether or not you hire us
- Fixed-scope quotes, no hourly surprises
Prefer to talk? Book 20 minutes with Haniel or call +1 855-764-4977