Celebrate Small Business Saturday with Us on 11/26

This November 26 is a big day for everyone at Alpine Shop. It’s the second annual Small Business Saturday, when people across the country come out and shop to support their favorite local businesses. We recently celebrated our 38th birthday here in the St Louis area and we look forward to serving your outdoor adventure needs for 38 more!

To celebrate this day, we will provide $50 in Alpine Shop Cash to the first 25 people to walk through the doors of any of our three stores. This Alpine Shop Cash will work pretty much like cash (with some exceptions) and will only be good on Small Business Saturday, 11/26, during normal store hours. You can also get a one-time $25 statement credit from American Express when you use your registered or linked American Express Card on Small Business Saturday to make a purchase of $25 or more at a small business.

Donít forget to “Like” and recommend us on Facebook at facebook.com/alpineshop.

We hope to see you in our stores on Saturday, Nov. 26!

Help Us Collect 2000 Coats in 21 Days Starting November 14

Alpine Shop's One Warm Coat Drive

UPDATE: As of Sunday, December 5, we are up to 800 coats collected. So, we are extending the deadline to this coming Sunday, Dec. 11. You have one more week to donate a gently used coat or sweater at any of our stores and receive a 15% Off coupon for one clothing item for each and every coat you donate. If we get the same sort of response this week that we did just this past weekend, we may get over our 2000 coat goal and pull names for four $100 Alpine Shop gift cards.

In November of 2010, Alpine Shop decided to put a call out to the St. Louis and Columbia communities with one goal in mind: collect 1000 coats in 30 days to donate to those in need during the winter months. We had gathered 373 jackets the year before and had been dismayed to discover just how many people were still left out in the cold.

The response last year was nothing short of amazing. Over 2000 coats, jackets and sweaters for all ages and genders were donated at our three stores. Here’s some footage from last year’s efforts:

The 2011 Drive Begins Monday, November 14

This year, once again, we’ve teamed up with the national organization One Warm Coat to help collect clean, gently used coats. And this year, we’ve raised the goal to 2000 coats. Except, we’re going to try to do it in less time than ever before. Last year, we were still trying to collect coats when one of the worst cold-snaps of the year hit us. We don’t want that to happen again. So this year, we’ll be collecting for 21 days—from Monday, Nov. 14 through Sunday, December 4 at all three Alpine Shop locations.

To help reach the goal, Alpine Shop is offering a free coupon for 15% off the purchase of a new jacket or clothing item in their stores for every jacket or sweater donated. If we hit our goal of 2000 donated coats, Alpine Shop will celebrate by giving away $100 gift certificates to four lucky coat donors.

Alpine Shop has made donating simple. Just bring your clean, gently used coats and jackets to any Alpine Shop location. Bring your coats inside the store and check them in with one of the store’s outfitters to make sure you receive your coupons and get entered into the drawing. Then, Alpine Shop and One Warm Coat take care of the rest. Donated coats will be split among organizations in St. Louis, including: Sunshine Ministries, St. Patrick Center, Coats for Kids and Edgewood Children’s Center.

“As much as we love being outside, we also know this time of year can be hard on families struggling to simply stay warm,” says Russell Hollenbeck, Alpine Shop owner. “We know our communities will do everything they can to help. We’re just trying to do our part.”

About One Warm Coat

One Warm Coat is a national non-profit organization that supports and encourages coat drives. It helps individuals, groups, companies and organizations across the country collect coats and deliver them to local agencies that distribute the coats free to people in need. More than one million coats have been provided to those in need at no cost since its inception in 1992.

Smith Variant Brim Helmet Sets Standard for Snowsport Helmet in 2011

Looking to protect your noggin while heading down the slopes this year? Alpine Shop‘s snowsport buyer, Jake White, wanted to give you a look at one of the best options out there for you in 2011.

I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about one of the best-fitting ski or snowboard helmets on the market this year, the Smith Variant Brim. When shopping for protective headwear designated for alpine conditions certain features give you peace of mind and this helmet has all of them. First and foremost, it needs to be extremely comfortable. If it’s not, you’ll take it off at every opportunity. The helmet also needs to have a great adjustment system to be able to custom-fit to your head, as it needs to fit as tight as it can without creating pressure points. Another important feature is venting. Helmets in most cases replace any type of hat you would use to keep your head warm and being able to let some air in without taking it off can be a beautiful thing.

The Variant has one of the best “out of the box” fits I’ve ever experienced. It uses Smith’s hybrid shell construction which has proven to be the best way to fuse the inner and outer materials of the helmet together. (It is not an easy thing for these companies to do without compromising the feel of the helmet.)

The company has also contracted Boa Cable Technologies for the sizing/adjustment system. This gives the fit system greater capabilities to adapt to your noggin by increasing the number of contact points the size-ring draws from, not to mention it’s hard to get more durable than a Boa Cable.

The air flow/venting system for this helmet is outstanding and one of a kind.  The vents are on the tops and sides of the helmet with a switch for each of the two regions that operate individually.  Each side has three positions:  open, half-way and closed. That equals a ton of cooling/warming options for you while you’re on the slopes.

By integrating these features, Smith has, in my opinion, mastered the equation involved in making a helmet. Whether its replacing that old one that doesn’t fit like you want it to, or buying your first helmet, Smith has made it an easy choice.

–Jake White

Our Big “Take 20% Off Almost Everything” Sale Starts This Thursday – 4 Days ONLY

Take 20% Off almost everything* in our stores – and on AlpineShop.com – four just four days starting Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011.

When you say “almost everything,” what exactly do you mean?

We mean exactly what we say. You can take 20% off nearly everything we have in our stores and that means skis,boatscamping gearclothingfootwear and more. If you don’t see something on-line that you’re interested in, please call us at 888-347-2879. We have a huge inventory of products, and many are not yet on-line.

There are fewer than 15 brands across our entire inventory that are excluded from this promotion and they include all clothing and/or gear from The North Face, Go Pro, Yakima, K2, Ride, Burton, Spyder, 686, Line, Smith Optics and ALL bike or stroller products.

How do I get my discount on alpineshop.com? You use the coupon code below!

If you’re shopping on-line, add your items to your cart and begin the check-out process. After you’ve entered all your shipping information, you will be given the opportunity to enter a discount code on the “Checking Out” page. Add discount code 20ALMOST and hit submit. You’ll get an updated total with all your discounts applied.

If you’re shopping in our stores, you don’t have to do a thing. Just bring your purchases to the cash register and our cashiers will take care of everything for you. (They’re sweet like that.)

*Exclusions:

Yeah, we know, we’re not a fan of exclusions either. And as much as we want to give you the very best possible deals, if we want to stay in business, we have to follow some guidelines. So here they are:

Offer good for four days only, 11/10 through 11/13/2011. Absolutely no exceptions.

Excludes all clothing and/or gear from The North Face, Go Pro, Yakima, K2, Ride, Burton, Spyder, 686, Line, Smith Optics and ALL bike or stroller products. Also, promotion excludes all previous purchases, gift cards, Alpine Shop clinics and any boat or ski package deals. Sale price limited to in-stock items only. 20% discount will NOT be added to previously discounted prices (.97 and .98 prices) and discount may not be combined with any other coupons or discounts.