Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard founded the brand after a mountaineering trip to its namesake region in South America. More than 50 years later, the iconic outdoor apparel brand will open its first retail shop in Bariloche, Argentina, adjacent to the lands that inspired the brand itself. But this location is more than just a Patagonia retail store – it’s also a museum located in the former home of iconic Argentinian mountaineer Emilio Frey, who played a foundational role in the forming of the country’s first national park. Adventurers can buy climbing gear at the store, for certain, but the property is dedicated to showcasing Frey’s life and work alongside the history of environmental activism and outdoor recreation in the region.
Photo courtesy Patagonia Argentina
Patagonia Opens Store and Museum in Bariloche, Argentina Highlighting Life of Local Mountaineer
“This land inspired me to create the company, and four years ago, we started looking for a place to open a store in Bariloche,” Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said in a press release. “I didn’t know Emilio Frey’s story, but when I learned that he was one of Argentina’s first skiers and mountaineers, with such a strong legacy in conservation and love for nature, there was no doubt.”
Restoring a historic property into the. newest Patagonia store and event hub
Photo courtesy Patagonia Argentina
Casa Frey, as the hub is called, is the first Patagonia shop in Argentinian Patagonia. The company leaned on local experts to restore the property, known also as Los Cipreses (The Cypresses), in a manner that honors Frey’s legacy. Patagonia spent two years restoring the six-acre property using original cypress and larch. The company elected to use period-appropriate restoration techniques to preserve the original facade and character of the building. The 1916 Alpine-style home was once owned by Frey, the Swiss-Argentine explorer who mapped large swaths of Patagonia, co-founded Club Andino Bariloche, and became the first superintendent of Nahuel Huapi National Park. Patagonia spent two years restoring the six-acre property with local craftsmen, using original cypress and larch and period-appropriate techniques to retain its character.
During the restoration, many of Frey’s own mountain tools were discovered, and are now on display in the museum. These include wooden skis, an ice axe, hand-drawn maps, letters, family photos, and a few trail markers from his early expeditions throughout Patagonia. A regional historian and the Museo de la Patagonia partnered with the brand Patagonia to showcase these and other objects and to preserve the property as a sentimental piece of regional history. Collectively, they built a dedicated gallery on the second floor that allows guests to view the collection and interact with Frey’s legacy.
Photo courtesy Patagonia Argentina
Patagonia plans to host community events and film screenings at the museum, much like it does at its stores around the globe. In the upstairs museum and event space, rotating events highlighting Patagonian conservation efforts will be displayed. The gardens of Frey’s wife, Rosa Schumacher, were revived to preserve the century-old rose beds and vegetable plots. They will serve as a venue for outdoor events facing Nahuel Huapi Lake. Recently, the location served as a donation center to help those affected by devastating wildfires that swept through the area over the most recent summer.
The first floor serves as the retail shop. A restored outbuilding (“El Puesto”) now houses Patagonia’s first repair center in Bariloche—customers can mend gear (or watch others who know what they’re doing mend their gear for them).
“When Patagonia revealed their plans for Los Cipreses, it was a relief to see how beautiful it was,” said Isabelle Bovey, Frey’s granddaughter, in the press release. “It perfectly matched our dream. They weren’t going to destroy anything; instead, they were going to restore the old house with top-quality materials. The abandoned garden was going to flourish again. So, like in a children’s story, you could say it all ended well.” 