Christy Sports in Dillon Now Open!

Almost one year after the Christy Sports Ski and Patio in Dillon tore down its building to create a “signature store” in its place, the business is back with a spacious new structure that’s hard to overlook.

Christy Sports has more than 55 locations across four states, making it one of the largest specialty retailers of winter sports gear in the U.S. However, the company has only four signature stores, including ones in Avon, Boulder and Park Meadows.

The newest signature store is more than 17,000 square feet and occupies a prominent location at West Anemone Trail and Highway 6 in Dillon, just off one of Summit County’s most traveled thoroughfares.

“We’re loving it,” said Andy Turner, a sales associate with five years of experience at Christy Sports. “It’s an amazing store to work in, and we have a ton of space to work with; that’s what I like the most.”

The additional space wasn’t lost on a man and woman who live Keystone and were leaving the store Tuesday after securing some demo gear for late-season skiing. Having known the old store, its wonky layout and limited space, they both appreciated the new building.

“I think it’s beautiful and the service is really friendly,” the woman said. “We’ve been going to Christy’s for many years and it’s good. My only complaint is (the new building) blocks the view when you come down the hill.”

The friendly, helpful customer experience is exactly what Christy Sports in Dillon hopes to reproduce again and again, both with its new building and its staff, explained Brian Sullivan, Christy Sports’ director of operations in Summit County and Winter Park.

With the new building, Christy Sports is also planning a grand-opening celebration sometime next fall, just ahead of the 2019-20 ski season. However, right now the workers are just happy to be settling into the new space, as they reopened the business inside the new building on Saturday.

Construction is all but done, yet some landscaping work remains. Still, anyone who’s driven through Dillon this winter has likely noticed the massive building that’s punctuated by large windows.

“This is the newest signature store for Christy Sports,” said general manager Adam Gillespie, as he led the newspaper on a tour of the new building and its three floors on Tuesday.

A wide-open sales floor with vaulted ceilings welcomes customers inside. With racks of socks, helmets and everything in between, Christy Sports has all of the necessary winter gear, from warm base layers to protective ski shells and pants, that someone might need for a day on the slopes.

Up a flight of stairs underneath large white letters that read “We Love Snow,” customers will find Christy Sports’ new skis, ski boots and its rental equipment, including packages for skiers and snowboarders with different styles and experience.

With 100-plus models on the ski wall, Gillespie said, Christy Sports carries all of the biggest brands. However, the highlight of the second floor is probably the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows, which take up the northwest corner of the floor to reveal spectacular views of Buffalo Mountain and Silverthorne below.

“It really brings the outside in,” Gillespie said. “Honestly, I think it’s one of the coolest buildings in the county.”

Employees boast the new store will also have the “biggest rental fleet” in Summit County, and downstairs from the main floor resides the ski shop and some office space on the garden level. Altogether, it’s a building that’s been custom-made to Christy Sports’ liking.

This comes after Christy Sports’ old store was carved out of a building that once housed multiple businesses. Eventually, Christy Sports took over the whole building and — with a few remodeling projects — made it work for as long as the business could.

“But it just wasn’t enough for the community and for what we were trying to do,” Gillespie said, adding that they had simply outgrown the old building.

And so the decision was made to knock it down and rebuild on the site. Gillespie said the entire project was more than five years in the making, and during the year that Christy Sports was locked in construction work, the business was grateful to find a temporary home inside the Outlets at Silverthorne.

During the demolition, he added, many of the materials were recycled, as Gillespie said that Christy Sports did its best to prevent them from going into the landfill.

“To pull this size of a project off … we just feel really, really excited and happy how well we all came together as a team,” he said.

In mid-May, the Dillon store will retool its inventory and bring in a wide variety of outdoor patio furniture. Gillespie said he doesn’t think anyone will beat their selection, while Sullivan added that it all means people won’t have to drive down to Denver to get what they want.

Christy Sports was founded in 1958. The company’s headquarters are in Lakewood and now has over 55 locations in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Washington.

Additionally, the Christy Sports in Dillon will again offer its Powder Daze Sale for Labor Day weekend, which has become a hugely popular event, especially among locals looking for bargains.

 

Post a Comment