More snow means more dough for winter gear stores

More white on the slopes means more green in the cash register for many ski shops around the area, with sales on the rise.

Powder House Ski and Snowboard shop manager Chris Costigan said business is keeping up with the weather.

“Well it seems like everybody’s taking a long weekend these days, so Friday through Monday it’s pretty busy, starting right when we open the door at 8,” Costigan said. “And then it’s kind of an unusual year, we usually have down time mid-day. But I feel like we’re always doing rentals all the way up until close.”

With temperatures in the 50s this week, thoughts of spring have already sprung.

“Spring break is hit or miss, but once people can start biking again and fishing, climbing and all that good Central Oregon stuff. it slowly kind of peters away,” said Costigan.

So while the slopes have gotten a lot of snow, the ski shops have just one more mountain to climb.

“Just finish strong,” Costigan said. “we started very strong. It’s been busy since, pretty much mid-October. We leased more here than we’ve leased before. You know, we do the season rentals here so that part of the business is incredibly strong. Employees’ morale is up. Everyone’s happy, the bosses are happy, so it’s nice.”