50 Years Ago Today.........

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Written by Craig Levra on Wednesday, 01 April 2009 17:45

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50 years Ago Today..........

Norbert and Irene set up shop on Foothill Blvd.

Don't you wish you could go back for a moment in time and be a customer on day one?

Norbert getting the skis ready, checking bindings

Lunch -- grilled cheese on the Coleman stove

Irene looking for work -- eventually landing a job at Bank of America as a teller for $65/month to pay the gas bill

I wonder what the volume was on Day one? $10 $100 $500 ? I'm not sure anybody knows.

That night they slept on their two army cots and took a cold shower with the garden hose spraying through the screen door.

Over a year ago we had begun planning for a big celebration today--cakes in our stores, everyone wearing 50th Anniversary shirts and buttons.

A reception for Norbert and Irene in our office, and a big PR campaign celebrating the event -- press--customer prizes--the whole thing---after all-- in this day and age who really makes it to 50? I was really looking forward to this day.

But the economy threw us a curve ball--high and inside.

Our buyers have some great 50th Anniversary merchandise on the way to you that will be exclusive to Action Pass members, bikes and footwear to name a couple of examples. Our marketing department is using our 50th Anniversary logo on our ads and on our website.

And we get a chance to share stories with each other and our customers on what the early days of Sport Chalet were like.

So while we can't have that big cake or party today, what we can do is reflect on the wonderful company Norbert and Irene went "all in" on--

Just as they had a firm resolve to do what ever it took to succeed, so do all of us. Let's remember what Norbert taught us:

"Be the image of a sportsman"

"Do a thousand things a little bit better"

"See things through the eyes of the customer"

"Create ease of shopping"

"Not to be the biggest, but the best"

Congratulations---50 Years of Sport Chalet.

Craig

By ShoeGoddessJen posted on 2009-04-23 00:48:45

Yay for 50 years!

By Michael Townsend posted on 2009-09-23 00:41:58

OH my GOD....What a wonderful and motivating story, THEY REMIND ME OF MY
GRANDPARENTS WHOM I LOVE AND HAVE SUCH A GREAT DEAL OF APRECIATION FOR PROOF OF
TRUE LOVE AND DEDICATION. GOD BLESS MR AND MRS OLBERZ.

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