Vail Resorts shuttering 19 retail and rental shops in three mountain towns

This story first appeared on BusinessDen.com, a BizWest news partner.

A subsidiary of Broomfield-based Vail Resorts is closing 19 of its sporting goods and apparel stores in three Colorado mountain towns. 

The company is shuttering six Telluride Sports, seven Aspen Sports, one Burton, one Neve Sports, two Patagonia and two The North Face stores, and laying off a total of 145 employees, according to letters the company sent to the state last week. 

The stores are in Aspen, Telluride and Snowmass Village. Layoffs are set to begin in May this year and continue through July and November for some locations. 

In the letters, Glen Stahlman, Vail vice president and chief operating officer, said the stores’ leases were up for renewal at the end of this winter season.

“At that time, we decided to close down our retail operations in this market in order to focus company resources on serving our core retail markets,” Stahlman wrote. 

Vail didn’t respond to a request for additional comment on Friday.

The stores are owned by Vail subsidiary SSI Venture Inc. That company was previously owned in part by Ken and Tom Gart, the Denver family behind the Gart Bros. Sporting Goods chain, which merged with now-defunct Sports Authority in 2003. Vail Resorts took full control of the company with a $31 million deal in 2010. 

According to its website, SSI operates over 250 retail stores with brands such as Columbia, Patagonia, North Face and Legacy Sports. Most stores are located in or around Vail’s ski areas. 

It’s not the only big change recently in Vail’s retail division. A year ago, the company merged its Bicycle Village brand into its Epic Mountain Gear stores.

The company notified the state of the layoffs in an effort to comply with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires large employers to provide advanced notice of plant closings and significant layoffs.  

Other companies that have informed the state of layoffs this year include British sports apparel firm Gymshark, a California-based Specialized Bicycles, lighting manufacturer Pinnacle Architectural Lighting and auto seat cover maker GT Covers. 

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