If you are heading up the mountain for the first time, or you have been skiing Schweitzer for years, there is a good chance your day starts with a stop at Alpine Shop. The family of shops in downtown Sandpoint and in Schweitzer Village has been helping visitors and locals get outside in every season, with honest advice, a fitting room instead of a shipping label, and staff who would rather listen first and sell second.
Alpine Shop dates to 1966, when it began as a small ski rental shop serving the newly opened Schweitzer Ski Resort. It has grown steadily since then into a year-round outfitter, and its own history page now describes it as one of the largest snow sports and watersports outfitters in the Inland Northwest. Through all that growth, the shop points to two things that have not changed: a highly knowledgeable staff and an absolute commitment to the customer.
The downtown Sandpoint store, at 213 Church Street in the heart of town, is much more than a ski shop. Inside you will find a full-service ski and bike shop with expert bootfitting, a wide apparel selection the staff will help you try and compare in person, and watersports gear for summer days on Lake Pend Oreille. The shop also carries a full line of bikes and e-bikes for all levels and styles, plus expert service to keep them rolling, and invites riders to swing by for a test ride.
Up the mountain, the Schweitzer Village location at 166 Village Lane is built for convenience. It specializes in getting you geared up for your time on the mountain as quickly as possible, with what the shop calls the best selection of ski demos and rentals on the mountain and a retail selection of gear and clothing for winter days. Together, the two stores cover the full circle of a Schweitzer trip, from a boot that needs attention in town to a fresh demo ski at the village.
That year-round range is why Alpine Shop works for so many kinds of trips. In winter it is skis, snowboards, boots and warm layers. In warmer months it is wakeboards, wake surf boards, water skis and tubes for the lake, plus bikes for trails and town. For visitors staying at Schweitzer, it is a friendly, local place to ask what is working right now, and for locals, it is a long-trusted neighbor. Find the downtown shop at 213 Church Street in Sandpoint, listed hours Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or stop into the village store at 166 Village Lane when you are on the mountain.