Last week the sporting goods store Sports Authority - which carries a variety of snow sports gear and apparel - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It will close more than 100 stores.
The case marks the latest casualty in a growing downturn in the snow sports industry. The surf and snow apparel brand Quicksilver also declared bankruptcy last fall. Last season, Nike killed its ski and snowboard sponsor deals.
"The original challenge is the weather dependency," said John Lacey, president of Burton Snowboards. "To not have snow across the East Coast for this current winter really has an impact on getting people's mind-set on getting up to the mountain."
"When it comes to retail sales, you have so many factors working for and against you," said Nick Sargent, president of SnowSports Industries. "That's going to have a huge effect on our business."
According to SnowSports' market information, snowboarding reached its height in popularity during the 2010-11 season. It declined following the next three.
While a growing interest among the demographic of people under 17 and women over 18 helped the sport grow to include 7.7 million riders last year, it's down by half a million since 2011.
Iouri Podladtchikov, who won silver at the Oslo X Games last month, doesn't have a board sponsor. "It's gotten really challenging," said Circe Wallace, Podladtchikov's agent. "We've got one-percenters in snowboarding, and then everyone else fighting for amateur dollars."
Lower sales in ski and snowboard apparel mean fewer ski shops. Powder Magazine's Hans Ludwig laments this decline in an op-ed titled "Why Skiing Needs the Ski Shop."
Ski shops "acted as little evangelical missions for the sport when it was obscure, and created a social center for skiers outside the resort," Ludwig writes. "... While e-retailers offer convenience and attractive pricing, they lack two things every skier needs: a bootfitter and a veteran ski tech. The internet isn't going to grind your shells; Backcountry.com won't fix your blown sidewall tonight so you can get back on the hill tomorrow."
