8 DECEMBER 18-24, 2025 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | group got its house in order just before the rise of a new recreational industry that would transform Colorado: skiing. Some of Colorado’s ski areas opened in the 1930s, including Winter Park, which was founded by the City of Denver. But the end of World War II brought a boom in skiing as soldiers who’d trained to fi ght on Europe’s snowy slopes as part of the 10th Mountain Division came back to Colorado to jump-start ski areas in old mining towns like Aspen and Breckenridge and brand-new towns like Vail. Gart Bros. met the demand for ski equipment and apparel by expanding the original store, adding 100 feet to the front. In 1954, Gart Bros. held its fi rst-ever sale of discounted ski equipment: SNIAGRAB. According to the Colorado Busi- ness Hall of Fame, Nathan’s son, Jerry Gart, wrote “bargains” on a napkin and fl ipped it over, revealing “sniagrab” -- capturing the idea of a Labor Day, pre-season sale of last year’s leftover ski inventory to attract customers who can’t afford the latest gear and apparel. Through the 1960s, Gart Bros. continued to expand and opened four new outlets. By 1971, the family business felt like it needed a new headquarters, too. That’s when Gart Bros. bought the Cullen-Thompson Motor Company building and renamed it the Sports Castle. At the time, the company was shifting leadership into the hands of Jerry Gart, who is credited with opening “the sport of skiing to count- less people” by the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame. The Sports Castle became the headquarters and fl agship store of Gart Bros., with an indoor ski ramp leading up from the fi rst fl oor and basketball and tennis courts on its roof. Gart Bros. opened its fi rst store outside of the Denver area in 1976, in Fort Collins. By the time Nathan Gart died in 1981, Jerry had expanded the company to a dozen stores. By 1986, Gart Bros. had grown to sixteen stores and about $30 million in annual revenue, and Jerry was looking for cash to fuel a national expansion. The Los Angeles-based Pacifi c Lighting Corporation bought Gart Bros. for about $20 million and kept Jerry in position to run the business. The deal allowed him to take the company out of Colorado for the fi rst time in 1987, when it opened a 65,000-square-foot superstore in Salt Lake City and fi ve other smaller outlets throughout Utah. Under Jerry’s leadership, Gart Bros. bought the Hagan sports stores in Denver in 1987 and then Dave Cook Sporting Goods Co. (a longtime Gart rival) and the St. Louis- based Casey’s Sports Stores in 1988. Annual sales revenue had ballooned to $140 million by the time the Pacifi c Lighting Corp. sold Gart Bros. to Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles private equity fi rm, in 1992. At that point, six Gart family members (Jerry not included) decided to try and buy back the company; after failing, they resigned and entered the real estate business as Gart Properties. By the time Jerry Gart died in 1996, Gart Bros. owned about 150 stores nationwide, all overseen from the Sports Castle. Sports Authority Once the dust settled, Gart Bros. owned stores exclusively in mountain states like Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Mon- tana. (In 1991, it sold the Missouri stores it had bought from Casey’s in 1988). According to the Los Angeles Times, Leonard Green & Partners took Jerry Gart’s expansion up a notch and in 1997 merged the company with the national chain Sportsmart and then Oshman’s in 2001, bringing the portfolio up to 180 stores nationwide. By now, Gart Bros. was one of the two largest independent sports retailers in the country, but it was still struggling to compete with giant retailers like Walmart. Its main rival, Sports Authority, controlled more than 200 stores nationwide, mostly in metro areas. So in 2003, Gart Bros. merged with Sports Authority, creating an outdoor retail Goliath with 385 stores in 45 states and an annual sales revenue of $2.5 billion. Since Gart Properties was now getting busy with its own very public projects, like the Denver Pavilions it opened in 1998, the merged sporting-good companies decided to keep the Sports Authority name and ditch the Gart banner altogether. Sports Authority was now the national outdoor retail king, and its castle was in Denver. Sports Authority kept the Sports Castle as its fl agship store and as the home of SNIAGRAB, which was still going strong after fi fty years. But in February 2016, Sports Authority announced that it would close the Sports Castle along with 140 stores nationwide; it fi led for Chapter 11 bankruptcy that March. In 2021, a new owner took over the build- ing through a partnership led by Hyder Construction, which paid $6.5 million for the place. While the plan was to build com- mercial space in the parking structure and vacant property around the Sports Castle, the new owners said they would put the property on the National Register of Historic Places. Four years later, the property is still not on the national register. Nor has it been declared an offi cial Denver landmark. “That doesn’t mean it’s not hugely important,” notes Historic Denver head John Deffenbaugh, adding that designation is a “policy tool” that also offers protection from demolition, unlike national designation. But Evo, which reported $200 mil- lion in sales in 2024, hopes to continue the Sports Castle legacy. Phillips says Evo, which came to Denver the same year Sports Authority went bankrupt and opened a store just a block away from the Denver fl agship, plans to “lean into the historic feel” of the Sports Castle and “bring a mix of vibrant uses, meant to engage all types and ages.” The company aims to revive the Sports Castle as a “regional hub” for outdoor retail, bringing in “comple- mentary retail tenants” and putting in a new outdoor entrance ramp and roof. It’s already fi led preliminary plans with the city. Evo’s renovation will include cleaning and restoration, with new lighting and the installation of a bar, an equipment service shop and a “grab-and-go” food option, according to the concept plan submitted to Denver. A “limited” remodel of the exterior would include repairs, resealing and repainting. The new owner also plans to host events at the building inviting all to experience the Sports Castle. “Events are central to Evo,” says Phillips. “We always look to celebrate the history, character and soul of the building while breathing new life into it, creating spaces for the community to come together.” Email the author at [email protected]. News continued from page 6 During early December, the Sports Castle hosted a pop-up Christmas market with a tunnel of lights. BENNITO L. KELT Y
