This holiday season, we want to remind you of the benefits of shopping at independent, brick-and-mortar stores. In addition to supporting a small, local business and keeping in-store retail shops alive and well in your community, there are so many wins for you, too. You get your item the day you want it, without any bulky packaging, high-impact transportation, or shipping delays.
You can try on sizes to make sure you get the right fit, and if you’re needing advice or expertise, you cannot beat the knowledgeable, experienced staff at local outdoor gear shops. We’re spotlighting a couple of our favorite local outdoor shops, but you can find your closest Flylow retailer using our Dealer Locator.
Brothers Jack and Bud Potter opened a small sporting goods store called Potter Brothers in Kingston, New York, in 1945. At the time, they sold hunting, camping, and fishing gear from their corner shop. By the late 1960s, the brothers began to focus on ski gear, and that’s what they became known for in the area. They added additional locations in Poughkeepsie and Glenham, New York.
“We’re surrounded by so many ski areas, and there were even more back then,” says Kyle Potter, whose grandfather was Bud Potter. “Skiing was really what our customers were passionate about.” Belleayre Mountain and Hunter Mountain are close by, as was a now abandoned but once beloved ski area called Highmount.
The second-generation of Potters, cousins Dan and John, carried the family business through the ’80s and ‘90s, adding a location at the base of Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock, Massachusetts. Kyle—who’s the son of Dan Potter—remembers being a kid and running around the shop and delivering gear during big sales.
“My father always said, ‘Go get a job in another field first. Then decide if this is something you want to get into,’” Kyle says. So, he got degree in accounting and worked as a financial analyst at a bank after college, moonlighting at his family’s ski shop on the weekends, but after a few years, he realized he didn’t love sitting in a cubicle all week long and he wanted to join the family business full-time.
These days, Kyle and his cousin Jake run the family’s ski shops. They have four locations, including Kingston and Fishkill, New York, and at the base of Bromley ski area in Vermont and Jiminy Peak in eastern Massachusetts. In the winter, they’re known for exceptional ski service, high-performance outerwear and hardgoods, and seasonal and daily rentals. In the summers, they specialize in outdoor patio furniture.
Potter Brothers' four locations are known for their exceptional ski tuning and rental service.
Kyle’s dad, Dan, passed away last year, at the age of 78. “This was his place; he built this place. It’s his legacy that we carry on,” Kyle says. “He taught me everything I know about the business: how to treat your staff, your customers, how to build relationships with your vendors.”
Around 2005, they added an online shop—to keep up with modern times. “We were trying to play in that space, but we quickly realized that our specialty was our people,” Kyle says. “When you walk into our stores, you’ll see the same familiar faces year after year. Some of our staff has worked here 20 or 25 years. You can’t find that level of expertise online.”
Potter Brothers started carrying Flylow in 2016, and Kyle says he’s worn a full Flylow kit every year since then. (This winter, he's wearing the Lab 3L Gore-Tex Jacket, which you can pick up at a Potter Brothers location.)
This year, Potter Brothers is celebrating its 80th year in business. “Times have changed but our core principles and values haven’t,” Kyle says. “Policies in our shop have carried on through generations. When the store closes at the end of the day, nobody is rushing to get out of here. We hang around and talk shop. It’s not unusual for us to close the shop and say, we’re all going riding.”
“When you walk into our stores, you’ll see the same familiar faces year after year. Some of our staff has worked here 20 or 25 years. You can’t find that level of expertise online.” —Kyle Potter
Making sure the business treats its employees well is a top priority. “My father treated the employees like they were family,” Kyle says. “The way they cared about the business made it seem like their name was on the building, too.” Case in point: For three years now, Kyle has closed the shop for a week in March to take nine of his top employees on a ski trip to Alaska. “We had an epic season, and we all needed a break,” he says.
When you get off the New York State thruway at exit 19 at the base of the Catskills, en route to Belleayre or other mountains, the Potter Brothers’ Kingston shop is right there, one mile west of the thruway. “A lot of people stop for rentals, but they also stop for advice. They ask, ‘Where should we go skiing? Where can I avoid the crowds?’” Kyle says. “We can give them that, because our staff literally goes out and skis and rides every day.”