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Many businesses are cutting jobs because of the weak economy right now. But here in Utah, there are quite a few businesses that are excited about the next few weeks and months. For the reason why, all you have to do is look at the snow-covered mountains.
Walk into Lift House Sports, located at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, and you'll find workers ready and eager for winter.
"It's kind of bigger than Christmas for us," said Luke Larsen, manager of Lift House Sports. "For us, it's the most exciting time of the year. It's when everything really gets rolling."
Larsen says this year, especially with the economy, snow means everything. "As long as white stuff is falling from the sky, people are still going to go skiing, and we'll still get customers in the store," he said.
So far, so good: Snowbird had its second-earliest opening ever last week, Brighton had its first runs today, Solitude is set to open this Friday, and Alta plans to open Saturday.
Larsen says having ski hills open means his ski-season-only business stays open. "Business has gone from one or two customers a day to having people in here all day long since the snow came. So the snow is definitely what drives our business," he said.
It's the same story for Milosport, located near 3100 East and 3300 South. Even though they're open year round, manager Jeff Perry says the snow is what pays the bills.
"Snowboarding is still the biggest chunk of our business by far," Perry said. He says sales aren't down from a year ago, but they're also not up.
Perry knows a bad snow year would hurt business, especially this year, which is why he doesn't even want to think about it.
"Hopefully the snow keeps coming, like every five or six days," he said. "We have to look at it that way."
We spoke to other ski shops who are also saying this needs to be a big ski year. Of course, we hear that every year. But with the economy the way it is this year, it could make or break a few of those businesses.
List of resorts and opening dates:- Alta -- Nov 15
- Beaver Mtn -- TBA
- Brian Head -- Nov 26
- Brighton -- Open
- The Canyons -- Nov 27
- Deer Valley -- Dec 6
- Park City Mtn -- Nov 22
- Powder Mtn -- Nov 22
- Snowbasin -- Nov 27
- Snowbird -- Open
- Solitude -- Nov 14
- Sundance -- Dec 5
- Wolf Creek UT -- Nov 22
E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com
