Expanding from its well-known association with skiing and golf, Specialty Sports Venture is opening the first of its Colorado Ski & Sports shops in the Park Meadows complex.
Taking up a 28,000-square-foot space once occupied by CompUSA and a variety of other seasonal operations, the business is expected to employ 55 people, according to a company release Thursday.
The site is on the southwestern portion of the Park Meadows complex next to a PetSmart and across from the Container Store and, in terms of size, rivals the company’s main store in Aurora.
“It’s the same great gear and expert service that people expect from a Colorado Ski & Golf store but with so much more,” said Randy Bush, regional manager for the chain of stores that also includes Boulder Ski Deals. “Because of the huge amount of space we have in this location, we’re going to have Denver’s largest selection of ski and snowboard equipment, apparel and footwear in one place, plus we are introducing camping gear and equipment to our mix.”
The demographics in the Park Meadows area — southern Arapahoe and northern Douglas counties — lured SSV to want to “experiment with some businesses that we haven’t dealt with deeply in the past,” Bush said.
The store is scheduled to open Monday.
In addition to the Park Meadows location, SSV is opening stores next week in California and in Breckenridge and Telluride.
Specialty Sports was established in 1994 by the Gart family, best known for its Gart Brothers Sporting Goods business.
Vail Resorts acquired the remaining interests of SSV in early 2010.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com,
