OFF TO THE TORONTO SKI SHOW ....

[QikTrnz]

Hi ...

We're off to the Toronto ski show for a day, so will report back on how the season is shaping up from the retail side ....

With the economy in the state it's in, it should be interesting to see how the market is reacting in the way of incentives to help bring people to the hill.

I'll be focusing on just how you can get the best bang for the buck as I cruise the show....

I should have something up here by Sunday eve. ... see ya then...

[QikTrnz]

Well, that was quite a trip ....

Firstly, it should be called the "Toronto Snow Board With a Few Skis Show".

Far and away, most of the retail goods were board oriented.

That being said .... both myself and the other person I attended with found excellent deals on the skis we were looking for.

For example, the slalom ski I was in the market for has a retail of $1200.00. Found one lonely pair, exact spec's I needed, buried in a bargain rack for $149.00. They were '06's and still in the plastic shrink wrap ..... I picked my jaw up off the ground, grabbed them and headed for the till.

The nice lady that scanned them to complete my purchase just about flipped when they came up on her screen as $1200.00 retail, but she put them through at the sale ticket price anyway with the comment ... "I think you got a pretty good deal there" .... no kidding .....

It would certainly seem as though that was a complete co-incidence though as the ski selection was very thin on both the new side and the swap side as well.

As a matter of fact, I do not think I can ever recall such a small selection of swap skis .....ever, and the bulk of stuff that was there was brand new, entry level, rental shop generic equipment that would probably not interest our readers here.

Bottom Line .... even though things might not be the way you would like them on the surface, if you dig around, the possibility exists that you could find what you need.

On the flip side, there were bargains galore on clothing.

Unless you are a real slave to having only todays latest fashion, I do not think I would shop anywhere else.

We got there Saturday at mid aft. and there was still tons of good selection, so I imagine that if you had been an "Early Bird" and gotten there on the Thurs. opening, you could have had your pick of a very decent inventory.

Pricing on clothing seemed to be between 60 to 75% off retail labels .... some more .... good deals.

One booth had good looking Columbia Titanium System jackets with retail of $549.00 on the tag for $99.00.

The best and maybe only factory booth was HEAD, and congrats to them .... almost every other manufacturer has abandoned the show, probably due to cost, but I miss being able to see the full product line displays that used to be standard. They were typically the best place to get straight answers on new technologies and gear.

Tremblant had a nice booth with lots of staff, so we had a nice chat there, but I must say that there did not appear to be many travel shoppers at ANY of the destination booths.

The shows timing with the stock market crash of last week and the general economic picture gave it the feel of a "window shopping" environment.

It will be interesting to see how the season develops with all these financial pressures, but my guess, based on the mood of folks I spoke with at this show, is that we could have a season where people may be cutting back.

In summary, we were lucky to find what we needed, but generally, the show is not the same as it used to be and I for one, would be happy to see a more balanced product availability on the ski side, with better manufacturing representation.





P.S. do not try to drive and park in downtown Toronto if the are 2 sold out MADONNA concerts going on at the same time you are there for anything else.