April 28, 2000

After a sporadic snow season in the Rockies, some retailers reported that sales were up, while others said they were down. Regardless, the optimism for growth was still positive. Most retailers had either just expanded their store or are planning to expand for the new season. Some major players such as Powdertools, now owned by Christy Sports, the Max Stores owned by Breeze, and Gart�s Big Daddy stores are multiplying like field mice. New locations include the Summit County area, Denver, Vail, Boulder, and Salt Lake City.

Aspen, a very happening town for snowboarding despite the fact that Aspen Mountain does not allow boarders yet (shame, shame), is also expanding. Last year�s SIA-awarded Snowboard Retailer of the Year Alternative Edge is shooting a specialty catalog through cyberspace, reaching out via the Internet to those culturally board-deprived folks everywhere; for more info call Chris Chuchill at 1-800-307-8272. D&E; Snowboards of Snowmass is opening a new Aspen location, and Aspen Velo is expanding into Snowmass and Basalt. Shred Shed out of Durango is opening a Farmington location, and Pedal the Peaks has a new board/bike store in Durango in addition to their Pagosa Springs shop. Vail alone has seen seven new board stores open within the last year. How much is too much? Distribution should be an interesting topic at the next Vegas show!

Unfortunately for Wyoming, the entire state was either on vacation, or busy and had no comment for this article at press time. Utah, on the other hand, was available. Check out Bike, Board & Blades� new shop in Salt Lake City when you get a chance�looks happening.

In other news, congrats go out to Dave Smith of BC Surf and Sport in Littleton, Colorado. His wife had a baby boy in April. Longtime manager Shane Brandberg of Colorado Snowboards in Denver has resigned, and former assistant manager Rob Good is now in charge.

For those of you who missed the end-of-the-season bang in Telluride, your loss. E. Dan Smith of Freewheelin� put on a boardercross to make your head spin. For the ultimate spectator sport (or if you have cojones grandes, you may want to participate), don�t forget to mark the weekend after the WWSRA show on your calendar and head out to Telluride next year.