Blizzard is Welcome News to Ski Shop

While local supermarkets were packed Thursday with customers gearing up for the blizzard, Ski Barn owner Duncan Sorli prepared for the storm’s aftermath. 

“We’ll be fully staffed on Sunday and Monday and throughout this coming week,” he said Thursday at the shop, on Route 9 in Westborough.

A blizzard is “good in a lot of respects,” Sorli said.

“Not only does it spur people to purchase products – they see the snow, the reaction is to think ‘skiing,’ and when they think ‘skiing,’ they look to see if their equipment is outdated or obsolete, so, they look to come in and buy something - but it also validates the purchases that were made this year or even last year. It renews their faith in Mother Nature, and the ski industry in general,” he said.

Business this winter has been slower than normal due to a below normal snowfall heading into this storm, although “it’s not as slow as it was last year,” Sorli said. 

“We’ve actually been fairly steady with the anticipation of February break. People have been coming and getting geared up for that. Prior to that, the Martin Luther King weekend was fairly large, too,” he said.

Sorli noted that “we’ve got our mid-winter sale going on right now, and it’s kind of our last push before February break.”

“After February break is over, people start thinking about golf, sailing,” he said.

The Ski Barn draws a lot of business on weekends, he said. The blizzard is expected to end on Saturday, which could mean “a bit of a downturn” this weekend at first, “but I’m sure we’ll make it up and then some afterwards,” he said.

“We haven’t yet seen the traffic from this storm. I think people right now are buying the canned goods and bottled water, all of their emergency supplies,” Sorli said.

“But usually, once it hits, a day or so afterwards, that’s when it starts. Sunday, maybe. Definitely Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.”