Northlander, downtown DeKalb’s outdoor sporting goods store, is closing its doors at the end of the month.

The store at 209 E. Lincoln Highway opened five years ago, owner Tracy Pierce said.

“We will greatly miss Northlander,” said Jennifer Groce, executive director of Main Street/DeKalb.

In the first three years of the store’s existence, profits went up by 30 percent, Pierce said. Since then, they have been decreasing.

Another reason Pierce decided to close was because the city wasn’t interested in building a rock-climbing facility.

“I got zero support,” he said. “They didn’t seem interested in doing it.”

The city seemed more interested in building bars and drinking-type places in the downtown area, he said.

Pierce said he was attracted to the DeKalb area because it was a college town.

“I met a lot of good people here,” he said. “I would want to come back.”

If he does decide to open another business here, he would want to build a rock-climbing facility as well.

Pierce said he has received sad reactions from some of his loyal customers.

“I had a guy come in who was one of my first customers,” he said. “He said he was upset about the closing.”

Pierce owns another Northlander store in Rockford. That is also an outdoor sporting goods store, but it has a rock-climbing facility.

“We have customers from all over the Chicagoland area and some from Wisconsin,” he said.

The store had a prime location, and there will be a good opportunity for another store to be built there, Groce said.

“While we had some closings, we also have had new openings,” Groce said. “We have a great downtown.”