Snow sports' 'smallest big store': former mom-and-pop Christy Sports going strong at 56.

• Author: Tilton, Morgan
• Position: FAMILY-OWNED

CHRISTY SPORTS' product line is just one linchpin in the Lakewood-based company's steady expansion that now spans more than five decades. During that time the snow-sports retailer has weathered recessions, industry consolidation, the emergence of e-commerce, and competition from big-box stores and multi-sport giants such as REI and Sports Authority.

Amid all that, Christy Sports has flourished, adding 14 stores over the last 12 years and nearly doubling annual revenue under CEO Patrick O'Winter, a former competitive skier.

"The ski industry is difficult to get into unless you have a passion for it--it's not the path of least resistance," O'Winter says. "The number of profitable ski retail businesses can be counted on one hand."

O'Winter was born in Lyon, France and raced in the Alps from age 15 to 25. After earning an MBA and a master's in science from the University of Paris, he moved to the U.S. in 1980.

In 1994, he met then-Christy Sports owner Keith Van Velkinburgh. At the time, O'Winter was an investor in SportsStalker, a ski rental store founded in 1972 by Ben Hambleton outside of Steamboat Springs. Velkinburgh and O'Winter merged the two companies in 1995, retaining the name Christy Sports.

"I always loved to ski, and the opportunity to invest in the ski industry came up," O'Winter | says. "It's called a mid-life crisis. It was a completely irrational decision. I would have never thought I would still be here 24 years later."

When Velkinburgh began hinting at retirement in 2000, O'Winter was already a significant shareholder, so it seemed logical for him to become majority owner. Velkinburgh and COO Keith Leifer remain part owners today.

Christy Sports, which began as a mom-and-pop shop in Lakewood in 1958, had grown to 30 stores by the time O'Winter became CEO in 2002. It now boasts 45 stores in Colorado and Utah and ranks No. 7 on this year's Top 50 Family-Owned Companies list.

FAMILY ROOTS

Patrick O'Winter's eldest son, Thomas, is vice president of merchandising and has worked with the company for more than a decade. O'Winter's daughter, Amandine, is the soft-goods buyer; O'Winter's other son, Hugh, is the director of real estate. Outside the office, the O'Winter family is close. Besides skiing regularly, they take at least one annual vacation and celebrate the holidays together.

"I've seen family-owned businesses function extremely well and function extremely poorly," says Patrick O'Winter. "As the CEO, the major challenge is to not appoint your kids to keep their positions because of their blood lineage, but because they are the best for that job.

"Blending and maintaining family members is the hardest part," he continues. "It's a more dynamic environment, and there's an added element of complexity. Decisions can be made very quickly. If one of our employees disagrees with me, he may be more respectful; if it's one of my kids, he might be more vocal."

O'Winter attributes the family's success, both professionally and personally, to his wife, Carole. And her influence hasn't gone unnoticed to Christy Sports employees.

"As a mother and wife, Carole instilled the importance of family, the importance of education, and moral and behavioral values into the kids," says Randy England, Christy Sports' director of marketing. "She is the heart of the family and was key...