Mountaineer RV: Setting Itself Apart

With 1,500 campsites, 27 state parks and 12 million acres of forest land, West Virginia is a camper’s idea of heaven.

Thankfully for those who enjoy camping via RV, Mountaineer RV & Outdoor Center in Jane Lew, West Virginia, has a 15,000-square-foot facility and nine service bays, plus another 7,680-square-foot facility and two service bays in Mount Nebo, for those seeking outdoor adventures.

Mountaineer RV, founded by Joe and Gina Starett, is now seven years old. Emma, the dealership’s marketing administrator and the Staretts’ daughter, says it was a love of camping that kicked off her parents’ interest in opening a dealership.

In 2015, the Staretts sold their business in the oil and gas industry that they operated for 20 years and “retired” early. During their time with that business, Emma says their family was fond of camping. The family camped a total of eight weeks one year, traveling to different campsites and the beach to kayak, fish and hunt — activities her father had grown up doing.

“I went to the first day of kindergarten from a campground. I learned to ride a bike at a campground. My brother and I both did,” says Emma, referencing her brother Hunter, now 18. “I went to homecoming from the campground.”

At one point, Emma says when she was younger, her family ended up selling their fifth wheel when her grandmother became ill and they needed to care for her. Eventually as her grandmother’s health returned, the family began searching for a fun outdoor activity, and that’s when her father took up kayak fishing.

“That kind of brings in our whole outdoor center as he was competing in national tournaments for kayak fishing. Mom was staying home, running her own consulting business, but they [were] getting bored of being ‘retired,’” Emma says.

So, the Staretts decided to get back to their love for camping, prompting her parents to travel to three different states to find the camper they wanted.

“In addition to not being able to find the camper that they were wanting, they also couldn’t find the customer satisfaction and experience that they desired. They did not feel like they were treated right at certain places,” she says. “So, the story goes that as they were coming back with our new fifth wheel, my dad looked over at my mom and said, ‘I’m going to start an RV dealership.’ And my mom looked at him like he was crazy. And he said, ‘How hard can it be?’”

Growing From the Ground Up

The dealership was founded in 2018 in an existing 3,000-square-foot building with one bay in Weston, West Virginia. The family, with help from friends, did the renovations themselves, and when they opened, they had only two other employees — a finance person and a service technician. At the time, Emma was 15 and her brother was 12, and friends and family came to help wash units as they arrived on opening day. This day was long awaited, and the parking lot was packed.

From that startup period, Mountaineer RV did well — well enough that they outgrew their original location and moved into a new location in Jane Lew, where they are now. The deal for the property was completed in January 2021 — Joe met the former owner of the property window-to-window in their trucks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The move to the new location took place in October 2021.

The business is now headquartered in a 15,000-square-foot building and includes what Emma says is West Virginia’s largest parts department, service department, and the state’s only RV collision center. They can house over 250 RVs on the lot.

In 2023, her parents purchased their second location in Mount Nebo, which is near Summersville and known as “the playground of West Virginia,” Emma says.

“We’re able to partner with a lot of the campgrounds in the area, and that community has been really great at welcoming us. We had to learn totally different demographics, totally different marketing strategies [and a] totally different area, which is very neat.”

In 2023, Mountaineer RV became West Virginia’s No. 1 RV dealer by having the most sales, she says. The dealership now has about 46 employees and approximately 500-plus units are sold each year between the two locations.

A Family Affair

Like many RV dealerships, the Staretts’ is a true family operation, with several family members pitching in such as Gina’s mother, Linda, who everyone calls Janny. Emma says she comes in every day and helps run errands to the bank or the post office, or she covers for the receptionist on her days off.

Emma’s aunt Sue also helps out, and her other grandmother, also named Linda, helped keep the facility clean before she passed away.

“Her and my papaw were literally here every day for a very long time,” Emma says of her paternal grandparents.

“I think that’s what makes us different … that family-owned feeling. A lot of people flock to us and choose us because we still have that small ‘mom-and-pop’ [feeling] while being an East Coast player,” she says. “We’re able to offer that, and my parents are here every day. They come down and they’re meeting with these customers and have personal relationships. … We value our customers. Our customer experience is our No. 1 priority.”

Emma says their customer base ranges. They see a lot of families and first-time campers, from people who are traveling nearby to others who are venturing farther away. Mountaineer RV is also the official RV dealership for West Virginia University in Morgantown, located an hour north. So many of their customers are interested in units for tailgating.

“We also do have a little bit of that boondocking, hunting camp and fishing camp and off-roading,” she says. “We have a lot of great mountains and streams for people to fish on.”

Mountaineer RV offers a range of types of RVs, with travel trailers and fifth wheels being among the most popular.

“That’s what we found most success in … families coming in looking for something that’s going to allow them to have a home away from home and feel comfortable,” Emma says. “Our focus is that families can  get out in West Virginia, drive an hour or so south and comfortably sit by a campfire or go to our big lakes.”

Marketing Marvel

Before Emma had even graduated high school, she began working on marketing at Mountaineer RV. She learned from a marketing agency her parents brought on board for the dealership, later earning a degree in marketing in December 2023 and taking over marketing operations. While the business focused on the tristate area of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio initially, they branched out to other states that neighbor West Virginia.

“We would get excited about seeing customers that weren’t from West Virginia at that time,” Emma says.

The dealership uses Google Business ads, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, but has found most of their success with Facebook campaigns. Email marketing also works well for them. Marketing efforts promote specials for the parts department and give tours of the units available at their locations and run lead generation campaigns as well.

Mountaineer RV’s reels on Instagram have had over 1 million views, and on TikTok views have reached over 500,000, Emma says. In addition to showcasing units on these platforms, she says it’s great to show off employees, too.

Emma has recently been working with an intern, Maggie Jordan, to create all the dealership’s social content together, taking images and videos using their iPhones and updating the website frequently. They understand the weight of Mountaineer RV’s online platforms and see the value of filling it with up-to-date, appealing content.

Emma makes a point of paying attention to high-quality images. She said providing compelling content makes a big difference in attracting potential buyers.

“When I brought Maggie on, I [told her] this is our digital business card,” she says. “This is what sets us [apart] if someone’s shopping completely online. This is what determines if they want to come in and actually pursue an appointment and seeing this unit.”

Coming Up in February

Emma and Maggie will spend time promoting the dealership’s Exclusive West Virginia RV Show, Feb. 7-9 in Mylan Park in Morgantown. This is the second year for the show; last year approximately 3,500 people attended. In addition to 30 local vendors, Emma said they’ll have food trucks and more.

“We have people come from everywhere — lots of campgrounds are involved, local vendors get to showcase … handmade items and services. Our parts department goes mobile. It’s really cool.”