Aspen Sports in Cooper Ave. mall not among sweeping closures locally

Fifty-seven employees between Aspen and Snowmass Village are among those who won’t be working at sports and ski stores run by a division of Vail Resorts, but the Aspen Sports location in the Cooper Avenue mall will stay open.

Notices of store closures received March 2 by the Colorado Department of Labor included seven locations under the Aspen Sports banner and a North Face and Patagonia store, both of which are in Snowmass Village.

Vail Resorts’ retail division SSI Ventures Inc.’s notices had nearly identical wording about the reasoning for the closures. 

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“The entire Store will be closed, the closure of the Store is expected to be permanent, and all employees employed at the Store will be affected,” said the notice for the Aspen Sports location at the Hyatt in downtown Aspen. “As our leases in the Aspen area came up for renewal at the end of the 2022/2023 winter season, we needed to make a long-term decision regarding the future strategy of our retail operations in the Aspen market. At that time, we decided to close down our retail operations in this market in order to focus company resources on severing our core retail markets. The Company announced this closure to employees in November, 2022, and has been pro-actively working with each employee to support them through this transition. Employees will have the opportunity to apply for other positions within the Company. Current storefronts are being transitioned to other retailers where possible and current employees have the option to engage with those employers about future employment opportunities.”

The notice said the Hyatt store will begin winding down May 1, gradually “making separations” with four employees until July 1. 

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Similar scenarios are playing out at nine SSI Ventures-operated stores in the upper Roaring Fork Valley: 

• The biggest exodus will happen Aspen Sports, located at 105 Village Mall in Snowmass, which will lose 13 employees.  
• Aspen Sports at the St. Regis Aspen Resort will lose nine employees when it closes in November 2023. 
• The July closure of Aspen Sports’ Viewline retail location will see the loss of four jobs.
• The Aspen Sports demo location in Snowmass will lose five jobs, with closure in July. 
• The Aspen Sports tune station will lose six employees; closure is scheduled in November 2023. 
• The Aspen Sports valet in Snowmass will cut three jobs when it closes in July. 
• The Patagonia store in Snowmass will lose seven jobs with its July shutdown.
• Six employees will lose their jobs at North Face in Snowmass when it closes in July.

SSI Venture Inc. also notified the state that it is closing 10 stores in Telluride.