More Bad News For Some Sectors Of the Ski Biz
March 27th, 2009Posted in Skiing Everywhere
The Rossignol Group (Rossignol, Dynastar Look and Lange) announce plans to layoff 30% of its workforce (mostly in Europe) citing declining sales and excess inventory. They hope to return to profitability in two years. Their Dynastar brand alone, has 290,000 pairs of unsold skis! (Which they scrapped most of ????- What a waste!) Ski retailers must also be suffering if these main lines are not selling well.
Something else not selling well these days are luxury second homes. I’ve read where Aspen’s market has really tanked. This is not good news for ski resorts where the sale of their real estate is a major factor in their business plan. Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal tells of a report by Realtor Knight-Frank and Citi Private Bank that says while more than half of high-net worth individuals surveyed plan on expanding their residential real estate holdings in the next year, they are not planning to buy much for themselves, in fact about 25% plan on downsizing their second home inventories. Mr. Frank, whose beat is following the finances of the wealthy comments that perhaps the wealthy now “realize that you can only live in so many homes at once.” I’m wondering what will they give up first, a home by the slopes, a home on the links, or a home on the beach?
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