Snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snow gear commerce hauls Utah to sales top
By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake TribuneSalt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:06/28/2007 09:58:34 AM MDT
A new set of statistics shows Utah's ski industry flourished during the 2005-2006 season - in part thanks to consumers who opened their wallets to purchase $83 million worth of snowboarding equipment, apparel and accessories.
SnowSports Industries of America (SIA) reported Tuesday that Utah was the sixth highest sales state in the country, behind Colorado and population centers California, New York, Texas and New Jersey. Utah ranked ahead of all of those states, except Colorado, in terms of sales totals per capita. At $32.65 per person, the Beehive State came in fourth nationally in that ranking by the SIA, a nonprofit industry trade group representing manufacturers and distributors of snow sports goods.
Vermont finished No. 1 in per capita sales. Purchases of snow-related gear reached $75.83 for each of that Northeastern state's 624,000 residents. Only Colorado ($52.54) and Idaho ($33.39) also finished ahead of Utah. "This is a good state to be in," observed Scott Cahoon, operations manager at Cole Sport in Park City, after being advised of the annual SIA numbers. "We've seen steady increases since the [2002] Olympics," he added. "We're riding the wave of the whole Park City area. We're having success, but the whole area is having success with all the second homeowners moving into the area. . . .
The people who are moving here and buying homes are bringing their money, too." Tourists are coming as well, many on return trips, and that also has boosted sales, Cahoon said. "The majority of our business is done with tourists. We target the higher end of what's available out there," he added. "Even with the lack of snow last winter, we rode the big snow seasons after the drought, and I'm sure that helped a lot. We're getting people into the area to try [skiing and snowboarding], and they're coming back." The SIA figures suggest the interest in skiing is much higher in Utah than snowboarding. More than $31 million worth of Alpine skiing equipment and apparel were sold in Utah last winter, compared to $12.3 million worth of snowboarding equipment. Utah also ranked sixth among all states in sales of Nordic skiing equipment, at $1.85 million. Minnesota was first with $6.9 million in Nordic sales, followed by Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
Retailers in the eight Rocky Mountain states sold $502 million worth of snow sports goods last winter, the second best regional total behind the five-state Pacific Region. California, with its 36 million people, alone accounted for $410 million of that region's $542 million total. Sales in New England, which suffered from a lack of snow until late in the season, were down about 20 percent to $225 million. Most of those losses were offset by the healthy sales totals in the West, resulting in national sales totals that were down about 1.8 percent, the SIA said. Kelly Davis, SIA's research manager, looked at the totals and noted: "Don't tell Texans there isn't enough snow in their state to hit the mountains. Texans outspent 46 other states with more than $106 million in retail sales."
mikeg@sltrib.com
Snow gear commerce hauls Utah to sales top
By Mike Gorrell The Salt Lake TribuneSalt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:06/28/2007 09:58:34 AM MDT
A new set of statistics shows Utah's ski industry flourished during the 2005-2006 season - in part thanks to consumers who opened their wallets to purchase $83 million worth of snowboarding equipment, apparel and accessories.
SnowSports Industries of America (SIA) reported Tuesday that Utah was the sixth highest sales state in the country, behind Colorado and population centers California, New York, Texas and New Jersey. Utah ranked ahead of all of those states, except Colorado, in terms of sales totals per capita. At $32.65 per person, the Beehive State came in fourth nationally in that ranking by the SIA, a nonprofit industry trade group representing manufacturers and distributors of snow sports goods.
Vermont finished No. 1 in per capita sales. Purchases of snow-related gear reached $75.83 for each of that Northeastern state's 624,000 residents. Only Colorado ($52.54) and Idaho ($33.39) also finished ahead of Utah. "This is a good state to be in," observed Scott Cahoon, operations manager at Cole Sport in Park City, after being advised of the annual SIA numbers. "We've seen steady increases since the [2002] Olympics," he added. "We're riding the wave of the whole Park City area. We're having success, but the whole area is having success with all the second homeowners moving into the area. . . .
The people who are moving here and buying homes are bringing their money, too." Tourists are coming as well, many on return trips, and that also has boosted sales, Cahoon said. "The majority of our business is done with tourists. We target the higher end of what's available out there," he added. "Even with the lack of snow last winter, we rode the big snow seasons after the drought, and I'm sure that helped a lot. We're getting people into the area to try [skiing and snowboarding], and they're coming back." The SIA figures suggest the interest in skiing is much higher in Utah than snowboarding. More than $31 million worth of Alpine skiing equipment and apparel were sold in Utah last winter, compared to $12.3 million worth of snowboarding equipment. Utah also ranked sixth among all states in sales of Nordic skiing equipment, at $1.85 million. Minnesota was first with $6.9 million in Nordic sales, followed by Colorado, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
Retailers in the eight Rocky Mountain states sold $502 million worth of snow sports goods last winter, the second best regional total behind the five-state Pacific Region. California, with its 36 million people, alone accounted for $410 million of that region's $542 million total. Sales in New England, which suffered from a lack of snow until late in the season, were down about 20 percent to $225 million. Most of those losses were offset by the healthy sales totals in the West, resulting in national sales totals that were down about 1.8 percent, the SIA said. Kelly Davis, SIA's research manager, looked at the totals and noted: "Don't tell Texans there isn't enough snow in their state to hit the mountains. Texans outspent 46 other states with more than $106 million in retail sales."
mikeg@sltrib.com
posted by Robee Dobee at
3:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home