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PARK CITIES -Since bringing the mountains to Dallas in 1978, St. Bernard Sports has been well-supported by its ski-oriented customers.
But its emphasis on ski merchandise left little room for growth outside the cold-weather months. And by the late 1990s, ski resort capitals like Vale and Aspen in Colorado reported fewer people on the slopes, causing retail sectors to buzz with speculation about the "death of the specialty ski shop," said Anne Goyer, co-owner and winter fashion buyer for St. Bernard.
"It became obvious that growing the ski business was an uphill battle as the industry was shrinking," said Wes Goyer, coowner of St. Bernard and president of its holding company, SBS Sports Inc. "Nobody buys parkas in the summer. Sales of skirelated merchandise stagnated, and as hard as we tried, we could not see an overall increase."
About the same time as the winter ski...