Locations – Page 8 – Alpine Shop Blog

October 26, 2011

Ski Like a Girl! – Jeannie Thoren Visits Alpine Shop

NOTE: Friday Night’s Reception has been canceled due to the Cardinals’ miraculous comeback that has forced Game 7 of the World Series. Refund information will be updated Friday morning. Custom fits during the weekend are all still on schedule.

Ladies, does this sound like you?
Do your skis wander or cross? Do your heels lift up in your boots? Do your feet move in your boots? Do you lean back on your skis? Do you fatigue easily? Do your feet get cold or tired? Do you ski “Knock-kneed?”

Guess what? It’s not you. It’s your equipment!

Jeannie Thoren's Ski Like a Girl Weekend at Alpine Shop — Known throughout the skiing world, Jeannie Thoren is one of the world's foremost experts when it comes to women's ski equipment.

Women’s ski expert Jeannie Thoren will be on hand for Alpine Shop’s Ski Like a Girl Weekend beginning with our reception and program Friday night October 28 at 6:30 pm to help you find answers to your skiing questions.

Thoren is a living legend of the women’s ski movement. A competitive skier herself back in the late 1960s and 70s, Thoren was one of the first to notice that the physical differences between men and women required completely different ski equipment. Over 40 years of work in the field have finally seen Thoren’s expertise adopted by the ski world; but it still requires experts in the field that understand the principles of the Thoren Theory to make sure your equipment works perfectly for you. On Friday, Oct. 28, she’ll explain exactly what you need to make sure you’re ready for the ski season ahead of you.

Letter from happy customer. — Letter from a satisfied customer from one of Jeannie's previous visits.

Thoren is no stranger to Alpine Shop, either. She has made the trip to St. Louis to work with our customers numerous times. And she has helped hundreds of them go on to be more confident and more comfortable skiers.

Find out more about the Ski Like a Girl Weekend at Alpine Shop here!

October 21, 2011

2010 Winter Swap Friday – 12 Hours in 80 seconds Video

Tonight, we open the tent for Alpine Shop’s 18th Annual Winter Swap at 7 pm. One of the best parts of this day is watching the line of excited people grow around the side of the building. Here’s some time-lapse footage from last year’s Winter Swap to give you an idea of what we’re talking about.

Enjoy! (And we’ll see you tonight. What time are you getting here?)

October 19, 2011

Swap Tent Preview: Wednesday Edition

Most of the time during Swap week, we can’t give you any sort of real peek at the secret holdings of the Swap Tent until Thursday or so. That’s because we haven’t started accepting used gear from our customers until Wednesday morning. This year, however, two things have really changed all of that for us and for you: First of all, we opened up the check-in process on Monday, and secondly, we’re accepting both our traditional winter gear AND our traditional spring gear for the first time ever at the same Swap.

And that means, that this Tent Preview: Wednesday Edition actually can give you a pretty good idea of just how big the 2011 Winter Swap will be.

Just a reminder, you need to check-in your used gear (if you’re interested in selling) by 4 pm on Friday, Oct. 21! Don’t miss out.

Friday night, the tent opens at 7 pm. Find more information here, including admission costs.

October 18, 2011

Cold World Series Games = Warm Red Jackets

Now that St Louis is officially in the grips of World Series madness, you have to get ready to cheer on the Cardinals in some pretty chilly weather conditions. Never fear—Alpine Shop has red jackets in stock just for this purpose! (OK, maybe not just for this purpose, but it works anyways.)

So, take your pick from some of these awesome Cardinal color cover-ups so you can stay warm and cozy while you’re waving your rally squirrel towels in downtown St Louis or wherever you cheer the Cardinals from.

And most importantly, bring home a win!

October 17, 2011

Tent Goes Up. Get Your Used Gear In. Swap Starts Friday!

For 17 years, Alpine Shop has always had two distinct Swap Celebrations: a Spring Swap dedicated to bikes, boats, camping gear and all warm-weather pursuits, and the Winter Swap devoted to all things done outside in the cold including skiing, snowboarding and playing in the snow. So for the 18th year, of course, we threw all of that out the window.

Welcome to the 18th Annual Winter Swap.

Bring all of that stuff in this time. If the gear meets our standards, we’ll sell it out of the Swap tent and put some cash or store credit in your pocket. (Or if you’re at our Columbia location Swap, we’ll do the same thing without the tent!)

As of Monday, October 17 at 10 am, Alpine Shop Kirkwood and Columbia are ready to accept your used items into the Swap. Bring them in early to avoid the line. If you prefer to leave things until the last minute, please note that ALL used gear registration needs to be finished by 5 pm on Friday, Oct. 21. More than likely, this means you need to be in line at 4 pm at the latest to check-in your gear. As we continue to improve the Swap to make sure our lines don’t stretch back for hours on Friday night, that same technology has forced us to make some changes in how we do some things. Check-in is one of those things.

We’ll still open the tent at 7 pm on Friday night. We’ll still have people tailgating for the tent opening hours before then. You’ll still find the tent filled with great prices on used and clearance items. (Or, you’ll still see the money coming in from the items you’re selling!)

You will find a few changes inside our stores, however. All of our new-gear sales will begin when we open our doors first thing in the morning in Kirkwood, Chesterfield and Columbia (or on-line at alpineshop.com). If you’re just interested in new gear deals, you no longer have to wait until the 7 pm starting time anymore. Also, we’ll have Early Bird and Night Owl deals on new gear on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22-23 and Sat. and Sun., Oct. 29-30. You can find those limited time specials on page 3 of our on-line new-gear sale catalog here.

Used gear sales are open in Kirkwood and Columbia on Friday, Oct. 21 from 7 pm–11 pm; Sat., Oct. 22 from 9 am—9 pm and Sun., Oct. 23 from 11 am—6 pm.

See you soon!

August 4, 2011

Outdoor Nation – an Alpine Shop Employee Experience

Outdoor Nation was a unique and exciting experience. The 2011 summit I attended took place in St. Paul, Minn. at the University of Minnesota – St. Paul and included about 95 young people ages 16 – 28 from all across the Midwest. While the majority of participants were from the Twin Cities-area there was also a large group of high school students from Chicago and representatives from as far away as Texas!

Issues and Concerns

We began the summit discussing obstacles that prevent youth from spending time outside. The issues brought up ranged from safety concerns in inner cities, to lack of outdoor education in school curriculum, to the rising dependence on technology. We discussed our concerns in broad terms, and through a series of 6 person discussions, followed by large-group votes, narrowed down our broad topics to specific issues we, as a whole, wanted to address. From these specific issues we broke into several small groups to come up with program ideas that we could then implement, and the top four ideas received seed money provided from Outdoor Nation to put their plans into action!

Decisions and Developments

It was neat to be involved in the decision process that lead to implementable, outdoor, youth programs. The four ideas chosen were all excellent and spanned a broad range of topics including: helping start community gardens, mentoring elementary and high school aged youth and trying to influence political leaders. The majority of the participants were from Minneapolis area, so all the programs developed were for that area, although each has the potential to expand to include other regions in the Midwest.

In addition to seeing the existing programs grow, I hope the summits move to new cities each year so they will continue to get a diverse group of participants and expand the reach of their programs throughout the country. I am very glad to have had the chance to participate in this program and to be involved in the initiatives that resulted from the summit, I am excited to see it grow in years to come!

-Liza Babbington
Outfitter – Alpine Shop Columbia