The weather outside is getting frightful. And that is making life delightful for businesses that cater to the ski industry.
“It?s amazing what snow does,” said Paul Davis, vice president of Columbia-based Princeton Sports.
Battling through the unusually warm winter season, businesses that deal in winter clothes, ski and ski accessories, lodging and winter outfitting have felt the repercussions. On Sunday afternoon, however, Jack Frost brought the customers back.
“We are seeing a lot of gloves and hats,” Davis said. “People didn?t see a need for a new jacket, but now the old sweatshirt doesn?t work anymore.”
A specialty sporting goods store, Princeton Sports is just one example of how the unusually warm winter weather has turned local retailers? world upside down. Davis said even though his ski-related business was down 10 percent to 12 percent, its biking department has seen an unseasonable 20-percent boost in sales, and its tennis sales have been hot, up 25 percent.
While mid-Atlantic ski resorts haven?t seen record crowds this season, local ski enthusiasts haven?t been left out in the cold.
“We are pretty lucky because our clientele goes out West and have had snow with blizzard after blizzard after blizzard,” Davis said. “But they go there prepared.”
According to the National Ski Areas Association, the trade association of the ski resort industry, the 478 resorts in America make about $5 billion annually on lift tickets, food, beverage, lodging, lessons, rental and retail in-house.
Despite being unable to give a dollar figure on the impact of the ski resort industry in Maryland, the NSAA said the four resorts in the Maryland-Virginia area ranked 19th nationally in attendance last year, totaling 704,076 visitors.
So what?s the forecast?
“Climatalogically, on average, [January is] the coldest month of the year,” said Calvin Meadows, a hydrometeorological technician with the Baltimore Washington Forecast Office of the National Weather Service. “So, temperatures should be on the rise in February.”
