Specialty Sports Venture, a joint operation between Denver’s Gart family and Vail Resorts, in recent months has opened seven retail stores, occupying 30,000 square feet in and adjacent to the mixed-use Arrabelle project in Vail.
The $250 million Arrabelle includes condos, a hotel and retail space. The project at the base of Lionshead is credited as being a catalyst for the $2 billion burst of development now underway in the Vail Valley.
The retail centerpiece at Arrabelle is a 5,000-square-foot Burton store, which offers the world’s largest selection of Burton products and demo snowboards, according to Specialty Sports Venture president Ken Gart, below.
Other Specialty Sports Venture stores in the project include Patagonia, Quicksilver, the North Face, One Track Mind snowboard shop, a rental and kids shop, and eyewear store Shade.
Gart said response to the new stores has been positive and that the stores are collectively meeting their forecasts.
“People — particularly mountain people — are a little skeptical of new development, and a lot of people were concerned about this dramatic, wild new building going up,” Gart said. “But people are just blown away.”
Photos by Brian Brainerd
