Last ski season’s misery could translate into deals as the annual Labor Day weekend sales events launch across the Denver area with an abundance of merchandise.
“We’ve had some crazy, crazy pricing,” said Brian Stein, senior vice president at Sports Authority, which hosts the venerable Sniagrab sale.
Prices on last year’s gear and ski wear have been cut 70 percent or more.
“Every year we do Sniagrab and we try to get the best products into this event,” Stein said. “Last year happened to leave us with a lot more of those products because of the season it was.”
Colorado Ski & Golf, one of nearly 190 Specialty Sports Venture stores across the country, is able to collect gear and apparel from each of those stores. A circus tent adjacent to the Aurora store is stocked with skis, snowboards, pallets of helmets and racks of neon-hued ski clothes in preparation for the annual Ski Rex sale.
“It’s like staging a Broadway show,” said Randy Bush, regional manager for Specialty Sports. “It doesn’t happen without the right product and the right people, and we’ve got both.”
On the heels of , ski retailers are looking for a rebound this winter. It will have to be a big bounce. With last season’s snow the weakest in decades, snow industry sales of hard goods, apparel and accessories fell 13 percent; resort visitation was down 16 percent; and, at the end of the season, ski shop shelves were far from barren.
shows ski industry retailers with 1.7 million units of equipment in leftover inventory worth $224 million. Still, sales for the 2011-12 ski season reached $3.5 billion, more than in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
What that means is retailers are pushing to clear shelves for new stuff arriving within weeks. That effort goes big this weekend — with Ski Rex, Sniagrab and Christy Sports’ Powder Daze.
“The biggest trend last year by far was brights,” said Mary Mancini, merchandise manager for Colorado Ski & Golf.
Those brights will be on display in the discount circus tent.
In fact, most all the gear offered at the Labor Day sales is last year’s, a twist on the annual sales that typically offer two-year or older gear. The 2010-11 ski season saw ski stores move a record $3.6 billion in product, leaving shelves bare for the 2011 fall season before new product arrived. This year, there’s a bounty of new stuff that needs selling.
Bush feels the pent-up demand from skiers who didn’t get their snow fix last season, combined with the newer, discounted gear at his sale this year, will fuel a big weekend. And that’s good for skiing.
“We have a vested interest in making sure people want to go out and ride and get on the mountain,” he said.
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasontblevins
Christy Sports Powder Daze:
Friday Aug. 24 – Tuesday, Sept. 4, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
9555 East County Line Rd, Englewood
Tip: Christy Sports extends the sale an extra day to the day after Labor Day. Beat the crowds and go late. Buy a Four Pass from Winter Park or Copper Mountain and get a fifth day free.
Colorado Ski & Golf Ski Rex
Saturday, Sept. 1, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday-Monday, Sept. 2-3, 10a.m. to 5 p.m.
2650 S. Havana St., Aurora
7715 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada
8100 W. Crestline Ave., Littleton
8691 Park Meadows Center Drive, Lone Tree
2525 Arapahoe Ave. (Boulder Ski Deals), Boulder
Tip: Sign up at for an invite to Thursday’s VIP sale and skip the masses. Check out the junior trade-in program tent offering used skis, boots and poles packages for $100 and $50 the next season or new packages for $200 and $100 the following seasons.
Sports Authority SNIAGRAB
Saturday, Sept. 1 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday, Sept, 2, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday Sept 3, 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
1000 Broadway, Denver
3320 28th St., Boulder
8055 West Bowles Ave, Ste 4, Bowles Crossing, Littleton
7848 E County Line Rd, Park Meadows, Lone Tree
Insider tip: Buy those skis for $900 off and tell everyone on every chair how little you paid.
