Offsetting the Off Season
Art: Robert Neubecker
When Lori Harris sets off to work, her commute could take five minutes … or five hours. Harris is the founder and owner of Mary Jane’s boutique on Park City’s Main Street. It takes her five minutes to walk from her Old Town home to the shop. The five hours come into play when Harris sets off to her other store — the one in St. Louis, Missouri. “I always wanted to open a second store, and when I looked into it, the downtown area of St. Louis was really coming alive,” Harris explains. (This fashionista would know, after growing up in the city most known for its famous arch).
Harris’ business strategy was also sparked by dramatic fluctuations of sales in Park City. The resort town is packed during the height of the winter season and throughout much of the summer, but the slow “shoulder months” can take the wind out of a retailer’s sails and sales. “Opening up this second store that has a steadier, traditional retail cycle has helped immensely in managing cash flow and inventory across the board,” Harris says.
Harris can also take “big city” retail and marketing ideas and bring them to the mountains of Utah. “We put together a boutique warehouse sale in St. Louis last year that was hugely successful,” she explains. “Now, I’m going to take that model, and plan a similar sale with dozens of Utah boutiques this summer to help move extra merchandise for sale prices.” This system also improves customer service for those shopping at Mary Jane’s. If one store doesn’t have a certain size or color, most likely another does, and merchandise can be quickly transferred.
This trend of opening additional businesses to balance out Park City’s fickle flow of tourists is catching on. Iverson Brownell started his company, Iverson Catering, in 2003. By 2006, he was ready to offset the Park City branch with another resort location with opposing busy seasons. “I’m originally from the Charleston, North Carolina, area, so it made sense to me on many levels,” says Iverson in his trademark Southern accent.
Charleston happens to be the number two destination wedding location in the U.S., with its busiest months being May and October. During those same months, Park City looks more like a ghost town than a bustling mountain community. Once Iverson had the Charleston operation up and running, additional benefits became obvious to him. “If I was traveling back from Charleston to Park City, I could bring fresh seafood right off the dock, and six hours later could be serving it at an event in Utah.”
Iverson points out that in addition to different busy seasons, each town has its own style of events. In Charleston, for instance, they are swamped with galas for 600 or more people. It’s a very Southern tradition, and makes up much of Brownell’s business in this beachside resort community. Weddings are also big business in Charleston, while Park City’s affairs in the summer tend to be smaller in size and volume. “The beauty is that when one location is booming, I can pull employees who want to travel and have them join us in another location. If they are flexible, we can be, too, and keep offering them as much work as they need,” explains Iverson.
For some Park City business owners, even two locations aren’t enough to make a booming business. Balloon pilot and owner of Wasatch Ballooning Keith Lundskog now caters to customers in Park City, Logan and St. George. If the weather isn’t right in one town, another is often serving up the ideal conditions for taking guests for a unique aerial tour. “By branching out, we’ve dramatically increased our number of flyable days that would not have been possible if we were just in Park City,” says Lundskog. In the summer, it is not uncommon for Lundskog and his crew to fly a balloon in Park City as the sun rises, and then drive to Logan for a late afternoon flight. Lundskog has been flying balloons in Logan for six years, and added St. George as a location about three years back. The combination is working well, but he says he has no plans to add additional cities.
Diversifying local businesses doesn’t come without sacrifice. Iverson and Harris are experts in air travel, often making several trips back and forth within a month. Both have leased apartments in their respective second hometowns, and are managing two sets of employees, payrolls and retail sales. “If there’s an emergency at one store, it can take longer for me to get there to deal with it in person,” Harris says.
All of these Park City business owners say the good outweighs the difficult when adding an additional location, however. For some, making this move has only whet their appetites for more businesses in more locations. “We have already started doing events in other cities like Las Vegas and Vancouver,” says Iverson. “We are building our brand and our reputation.”
These motivated individuals also point out that living a double business life is never boring, and provides variety and balance for those willing to hustle. “After a long winter, I can get back to Charleston, take a walk on the beach, see the ocean, and get recharged,” Iverson says. Harris echoes this comment, explaining that when it’s early spring in Park City and still chilly, business is picking up in St. Louis, with people sitting outside at cafés and wandering the sidewalks ready to shop.
These savvy entrepreneurs have proved that they’re perfectly “seasoned” for business all year long.
A frequent contributor to Park City Magazine, Katie Eldridge is owner of Panic Button Media, a full-service public relations and video production firm.
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