Western ski resorts uphold quaint images

updated 6:57 p.m. ET Jan. 3, 2007

DENVER - In the ski town of Breckenridge, the holiday rush is for the slopes, not the shops. Residents can buy a Christmas tree, upscale clothing, boots or trendy cookware but will be hard-pressed to find an iPod along Main Street. Thing is, residents in the quaint Victorian-style resort about 100 miles west of Denver like it that way.

"It's nice being in a place where there are no chains (stores)," said Elisabeth Gallup, 28, who opened her Cookin' Cowgirl shop on Breckenridge's Main Street about three years ago.

It's a familiar refrain in resort communities around the West, which love to cash in on visitors but don't want to surrender the small-town feel they believe contributes to their bottom lines. Big box retailers have passed on many resort towns because of local opposition or because land is too scarce or expensive. Some towns have considered local measures to keep them out, fearing they would detract from the character.

"I don't feel like we're really on the outskirts or super isolated," says store owner Trinidad Carreon of Whitefish, Mont., a ski resort town near Glacier National Park. "We can pretty much meet our needs."

Resort retailers cater to tourists during the busy ski season, which starts around Thanksgiving for Colorado resorts and ends in late March — and during the summer, when visitors enjoy hiking, fishing, golfing and outdoor activities.

The stores also serve year-round residents and, in a growing number of cases, are finding new customers among second-home owners.

"The thing that changes for us being in a resort is that the day after Christmas in the city you've peaked and it's all sort of going downhill," said John Balma, 57, who opened a clothing store called Goods in Breckenridge in 1974.

"In January, it's just like you could bowl through the stores whereas for us, it just kind of keeps going solid all the way through Easter," said Balma, whose store originally sold work clothes and jeans to year-round residents but has shifted to upscale, fashionable apparel.

Although he describes Breckenridge as a great boutique town, Balma admits he is tempted to travel to Denver to shop for electronics bargains.

"If you're a consumer trying to buy a new faucet for your house or something then you kind of miss The Home Depot," he said. "People are kind of torn between the convenience of some of those kind of stores or just not really wanting to be like that."

Breckenridge is tucked in a 9,600-foot valley about 15 miles from a major interstate along a highway that winds through thick stands of forest. Founded in 1859 during the gold rush, the town of about 3,000 year-round residents today stretches seven miles long and two miles wide.

It has an average of 180 shops and a small retail district along Main Street just below Breckenridge Ski Resort, one of the largest in North America.

There are no nationwide chain retail stores, though Wal-Mart is about nine miles down the road in Frisco and Target is a bit farther away in Silverthorne, a 20-minute drive on a clear-weather day.

There are a couple of restaurant chains — including the requisite Starbucks — and a chain grocery store. For the most part, thought, Breckenridge is marked by individually owned boutiques specializing in clothing, ski equipment and apparel, T-shirts, gifts and galleries, including some that pay homage to the city's western history.

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