Your Local Retail Shop: Alpenglow Sports

Our Local Retail Shop Series highlights local gear shops and tells their stories. We chat with shop owners to find out what makes their shop unique and how they serve their local communities. 

Shop Name: Alpenglow Sports

Location: Tahoe City, CA

Owner: Brendan Madigan

You can find Alpenglow Sports right on the main drag in Tahoe City, CA. Not only do they have a gear selection worthy of drooling over, they are also giving back to their local community in a big way. How, you may ask? The top contribution is through The Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series, an event where attendees have heard wise words from Jeremy Jones, Tommy Caldwell, Alex Honnold, and many more legendary outdoor athletes. We had the opportunity to sit down with Alpenglow Sports’s owner to get the full scoop!

What’s the story behind Alpenglow Sports?

Alpenglow Sports has been around since 1979. I’m the second owner of the shop and took over in 2011. Our shop focuses heavily on nordic and backcountry skiing in the winter and trail running, backpacking, and rock climbing in the summer. We’re essentially two shops under one roof. It’s always been a business that gives back to the local community doing a lot of events. We’re one of the longstanding speciality retail shops in the country.

What got you started in the outdoor industry?

I started working in a kayak and climbing shop in my college town back east. I quickly fell in love with specialty retail and helping people in the shop. I followed a longtime dream to ski bum for a winter out west and I never came home. At first I was working at Alpenglow Sports part time as a ski bum for gear discounts, started working more as a minor buyer, and eventually became a manager. In 2011, the timing aligned and I purchased the shop.

What sets your shop apart/makes you unique?

What sets Alpenglow apart is our community-centric business model and our local events. We host the Winter Speaker Series, Backcountry Demo Day, Tailgate Talks, and we were doing a podcast before the pandemic hit.

On top of that, everyone who works at the shop is here because it’s a lifestyle job. You’re not making the most money in the world, but you get to backcountry tour or trail run before work. You can’t put a dollar amount on that. The staff is very tenured. Most have been here longer than five years. We like to say we’re user-based experts because we’re out there living the outdoor lifestyle. And this goes back to our ability to help the customer get what they need, rather than just selling them something. We try to really connect with people on a human level when they first get into the shop. We generally want to be kind to people and believe what comes around goes around. 

Can you tell us about The Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series?

To support our community-centric business model, we like to give back to the people who have supported the shop for over 40 years. We believe this is the right thing to do and what specialty shops are all about at the core. Our biggest and best representation of that is the Alpenglow Sports Winter Speaker Series. 

The series started living room-style in a tiny bar in Tahoe City 17 years ago and gradually it has grown into a 600-800 person event five times a winter (in non-covid times). We think it has become the gold standard for adventure storytelling in the US. It’s always free for all attendees. We have a selection committee to select five nonprofits each season and assign one to each speaker. Between bar sales, giveaways, and our anonymous philanthropic group, The Donor Party, each show raises over $75k. 

Because of covid, last winter we made the switch to a virtual speaker series. Now we’re offering the show in-person and virtually which has raised the bar even more because people can tune in around the world. Between in-person and online viewers, we get over 2,000 registrants which has been really cool. 

Can you tell us more about the Donor Party?

The Donor Party was a cool concept that was born from the Winter Speaker Series. A gentleman approached me after one of the shows six years ago saying how much he loved the series and wanting to anonymously donate $2,500 to the featured nonprofit. The next year he recruited a buddy to help with this initiative and is ultimately what led to us being able to raise more money per show. We ended up pulling together 65 local families who make up the Donor Party and who all commit to donating money to each nonprofit for each event. It’s been a really cool concept to subsidize our own community, making people’s lives better.

A specialty shop shouldn’t just open their shop and sell things. I think we have an inherent responsibility to be ingrained in their community, whether social, environment, or recreational. 

What are some of your most popular brands?

DPS Skis, Salomon, and Hoka are our top contenders.

How can we (Outdoor Prolink + people of the outdoor industry) best support your gear shop?

The best way to support us is to watch the Winter Speaker Series! You can watch an amazing free show from the comfort of your home, win some cool prizes, and feel good about it because all of the money is going to our local nonprofits that are making a tangible difference in our community.

If a pro were to come into your shop, how would you prefer they shop? 

We would prefer pros be transparent when they come into our shop. Let us know they’re a pro, what they need help with, and we will make sure they get it. You put good into the world and you help people and all these things will come around in the end. 

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If you’re interested in Alpenglow’s Winter Speaker Series, you’re in luck! They have two shows left this winter, February 3rd with Hilaree Nelson and February 17th with Conrad Anker and Malik Martin! No matter where you are, these events are free and can be enjoyed virtually from the comfort of your couch!