Shop Profiles

Ski Pro, Inc. Profile

Give us a quick run-down of your shop and its history.

Founded in 1980, Ski Pro, Inc. is a locally owned and operated winter sports specialty shop. While our focus is on ski and snowboard hard goods, apparel, and accessories, we also deal in water skis and wakeboards, skateboards, inline skates, and have a full service repair shop.

What is it about your shop that sets it apart?

Our shops offer a level of winter sports knowledge and a variety of gear that is unparalleled in the Southwest and most of the country. We’re knuckle draggers, two plankers, shred heads, tech junkies, snow snobs, storm chasers, and snow aficionados of all types. It may seem strange, even out of place, to find such snow driven desire in the desert, but we believe that everyone should have an opportunity to enjoy the snow, regardless of where we live.

Crazy customers make for good stories, got any really good ones from the past season?

Roger Sterling Cox is my favorite customer by far. A former jarhead, he has no inside voice; his volume is ALWAYS set to 11 and his choice of words is less than desirable. He tends to stutter when belting out obscenities making his outbursts even more hilarious for us. Regardless of his candor, Roger is the most genuine customer we have. He cares about us almost as much as his snowboard and I’m fairly certain he sleeps with it next to him. The guy will talk for hours and listen for days. He trusts our opinions and our repairs. Love that guy!

Any up and coming shop riders to keep an eye on?

I’m sorry to say we just lost one of our best riders to date, Chris Fuchs. A German foreign exchange student from Munich, Chris was amazing to ride with – powerful, smooth, and aggressive. Miss ya bud! Otherwise, Mot Rennat is the one to look out for; he’s the best in AZ . . .

Do you remember buying your first kit? How do your early snowboard purchasing experiences affect how you sell snowboards?

My first setup was a Sims All Mountain 155 with Sims Freestyle Lowback bindings that I bought from Above The Belt in the Silverdale Mall in 1994. I remember exactly how I felt hiking in the woods outside our home in Port Angeles, WA and that is precisely the feeling I want to pass on to the noobs in our shop. Snowboarding is fun. DO IT!!!

What’s the hardest part of working in the shop?

One thing has been more frustrating for us in the shop this year than ever before – spending an hour fitting someone for boots only to hear that now they have the info they are going to shop online! I’m happy to educate our customers about product, but now I also have to educate them about the importance of supporting local retailers. The more you shop online, the more stores like ours go out of business! But on a more personal level, we all struggle not to spend our entire paychecks on new gear.

What’s the piece of Rome gear you guys get asked about most often?

Most people ask us about the 390 Limited bindings with Ziggy Stardust on the highback. I’m mean really, who doesn’t like the movie Labyrinth?

What’s the closest shred spot to the shop? What’s your local shred scene like?

Our closest mountain is Snowbowl, or Snowblow as we like to call it, in Flagstaff, AZ. It’s 150 miles from town. Otherwise, we have Sunrise just outside Pinetop, AZ about 3-4 hours drive. Our local scene is centered on travel. Those of us motivated enough to get 30+ days in a year spend much time and money traveling to southern Colorado, Utah, and California. We’ve been known to leave the shop at 10pm, drive for 8 solid hours, ride all day, and drive 8 hours back so we can work the next day. Now that’s dedication!

What’s the best story of a customer trying to return something or ask for their money back?

Many years back we had a gentleman try to return a wool sweater he had already washed and dried on high. The tag labeled the garment as a men’s large, but it was so small you couldn’t fit it on a toddler. Honestly, it was like a textbook with sleeves and about an inch thick all the way around. We kept it as a souvenir for quite some time.

Is there a particular event or occasion that really kicks the season off in your area?

Every October our Pro Rider Sale lets everyone in town know that it’s time to get serious about snow once again. After that the countdown really begins to tick away . . .

What’s on the music playlist in the shop lately? Who usually gets controls over the music and why?

Lately we’ve been rocking Pandora over the internet so a better question would be what’s not playing. Classic rock seems to be the accepted standard, although later in the night we tend to sneak in some Handsome Boy Modeling School or Shaun Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra.

Any celebrity or pseudo-celebrity sightings ever happen in the shop?

Over the years we’ve had pro after pro after pro come in for our events, but as for those with celebrity status I can name only a few; Ice-T and his wife Coco stopped by our old Mesa location one afternoon, some of the Phoenix Suns shop at our Phoenix store, Tex Earnhardt, a legend in car sales, stops in with his family occasionally.

Visit them online at: www.skipro.com