Sport Chalet

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE COMPANY

In June 1998, the founder of Sport Chalet, Norbert Olberz gave nearly 300,000 of his own Sport Chalet shares to all employees who had been with the company for more than 10 years and managers with more than one year of company loyalty in celebration of its most profitable year in sales and gross profits.

Sport Chalet was one of the pioneers of today's Ski Rental industry. Being a skiing enthusiast, when Olberz opened his first store in La Canada, he provided his customers with a wide range of ski equipment. Very soon after he opened the store, a group of people came to him asking to borrow skis for the day so they could make some "fresh tracks" in the nearby mountain resorts. Not taking any form of ID or deposit, Olberz gave the skiers ski equipment, his well wishes, and they were on their way. All the equipment was returned at the end of the next day along with many more customers wanting to borrow Olberz' ski equipment. Of course things have changed since then, but Olberz and his employees still rent state-of-the art skis, only now he does require proper ID!