Are Our Favorite UPMI Businesses Teetering On The Edge Of Failure?

[whitedust]

I was rding in the Western UPMI yesterday stopped & shot the breeze with a local business owner & he said this winter season was very slow for him & others. He said he was ok but exspected many others to shut down this year if they even make thru this winter. I was SHOCKED & thought with all the LES in the traditional UPMI snow belts most were doing very well that catered to snomo biz. He said no the general UPMI economy is bad & bad economy extends to the cities & fewer people were coming to UPMI to snowmobile so little to no recovery for the area. Sled traffic has been very light in UPMI this week but I didn't think this was the pattern for the winter season so far. What are you hearing are our favorite UPMI businesses having a bad winter season & teetering on the edge of failure??

 

[polarisrider1]

I was rding in the Western UPMI yesterday stopped & shot the breeze with a local business owner & he said this winter season was very slow for him & others. He said he was ok but exspected many others to shut down this year if they even make thru this winter. I was SHOCKED & thought with all the LES in the traditional UPMI snow belts most were doing very well that catered to snomo biz. He said no the general UPMI economy is bad & bad economy extends to the cities & fewer people were coming to UPMI to snowmobile so little to no recovery for the area. Sled traffic has been very light in UPMI this week but I didn't think this was the pattern for the winter season so far. What are you hearing are our favorite UPMI businesses having a bad winter season & teetering on the edge of failure??

The whole state of Michigan is beyond teetering on failure. Steelcase is closing the last of its plants in GR MI 600 tossed in the streets and plant went to mexico. The continuing saga.

 

[harski]

I was up a few weeks ago and had an owner telling me the same thing (wonder if we were at the same place?). After seeing the chatter online about the snow up there and folks discussing there awesome rides etc... I'm kind of shocked too. The wife and I are doing our best to schedule another trip up to help support the economy. Hope they all make it as its a great place to visit!

Harski

 

[snowhawg]

The Economy

There's no doubt that the state of the economy is affecting the amount of sledders making trips to the Western UP and all other areas. Even though the Keweenaw and west UP has the most snow by far, there is just less traffic overall.

Snowmobiling, particularly when you have to trailer hundreds of miles to get to good riding, has probably never been more expensive. The price of gas raises the cost. The price of the newer machines is keeping many out of the sport.

Like every other aspect of the economy, more people need jobs to improve the economics of snowmobiling.

I sometimes worry about the future of the sport. It costs a lot of money and a lot of effort on the clubs' part to keep the trails systems at the high level we want.

It just makes it more imperative to spend your discretionary sledding dollars with businesses that support the sport, so that these businesses can survive.

 

[legend02]

The whole state of Michigan is beyond teetering on failure. Steelcase is closing the last of its plants in GR MI 600 tossed in the streets and plant went to mexico. The continuing saga.

The US Government needs to start TAX company's double that move their plants out of the country, as for spending money in the UP, Im close to 2,000 in Sledding costs already this year and going for the week on the 31 to spend more.

 

[snoughnut]

There's no doubt that the state of the economy is affecting the amount of sledders making trips to the Western UP and all other areas. Even though the Keweenaw and west UP has the most snow by far, there is just less traffic overall.

Snowmobiling, particularly when you have to trailer hundreds of miles to get to good riding, has probably never been more expensive. The price of gas raises the cost. The price of the newer machines is keeping many out of the sport.

Like every other aspect of the economy, more people need jobs to improve the economics of snowmobiling.

I sometimes worry about the future of the sport. It costs a lot of money and a lot of effort on the clubs' part to keep the trails systems at the high level we want.

It just makes it more imperative to spend your discretionary sledding dollars with businesses that support the sport, so that these businesses can survive.

Exactly, I find it funny that people are shocked by this, alot of business's are hurting in northern wi and the u.p. People don't have the money, snowmobiling is an expensive past time when the economy is good. I certainly don't worry about the sport of snowmobiling, in the grand scheme of things, it's just a toy. I'd be much more concerned about the direction this country is headed and the lack of leadership in this country.

 

[dwz]

Sold my trailer back in 2006 and store in u-lock in Greenland,MI. where we do all our riding since we have no ridable in northwest IN. also bought 4-stroke sleds so we are not buying new every other year and have 5 year warranty's to boot.

 

[ezra]

if you are a trail rider there is no reason to drive 3 to 5 hr to ride this yr.snow is covering and sticking all over the northern states.so even if you have a few extra bucks to spend on gas hotel trail stickers do you really want to drive 1/2 a day to do it? I will but not for the trails I can do that from my garage. we bailed on our first trip up this yr because we had better snow around the house than in Da UP we just trailered to some state parks close to home and played in the woods and hills 30 min from home.and 1 of the guys prob would not have come up if we did go north he knows he is getting laid off this winter.but hay from what I understand from the state of the union we are over the hump in this recession and it is all good LOL LMFAO

 

[Skidooski]

As a previous NW Wisconsin business owner (Country C-Store) I can say that the rising cost of gas/diesel fuel slammed us real hard. Venders will increase their wholesale costs and apply fuel surcharges on deliveries to offset their fuel costs. Kinda like double dipping (raise the price and tack on a surcharge). In turn, the business owner has to raise his retail cost to consumers to off-set "some", and I mean "some", of increases, yet the bottomline continues to dwindle. Those higher costs then trickle to the consumer and they start bringing more from home and buying less at the local businesses because it is more cost effective, understandable. Some of the venders actually stop supplying goods to smaller businesses that are in more remote areas because it costs too much to drive there and not enough volume of sales for them.


We ended up selling our business and took a gigantic hit to get out. We still try to spend money there but the costs to maintain inventory is driving this store down. There just is no selection anymore. It's sad because this store has been around since the early 1930s. There are many factors and challenges involved when owning a business, I've only described one.

I know it's really tough on everyone the way the economy is, but if you want to keep these establishments alive, spend money there!

 

[fredster]

We were riding last weekend in the lower peninsula, Baldwin-Cadillac area, and it was one of the lightest traffic weekends I can ever remember, despite an excellent base, and several inches of new snow that fell Saturday morning. I don't think it's just the UP, a lot of the 'seasonal' businesses around Baldwin have closed too. Just not enough people riding anymore.

Been riding MI since 2001 (11 years) and the traffic has dropped off every year. Pretty much concides with the loss of manufacturing jobs in MI and the midwest......how much farther will it drop....nobody knows.....

 

[arctiva]

For every bussiness that goes under the more others should increase bussiness. And this will happen untill it balances it self out to sustain the needs. And right now there is more avable lodgeing up north than there is people needing lodgeing.

Anyone can own a bussiness but not everyone can make a profit. Ive contributed to not going up north. I havent been up north in 3 years the money hasnt been there. Spend 500$ for a weekend of playing or pay the house payment and bills. Im just glad i still have a snowmobile and havent had to sell it yet to make the bills.

 

[snowhawg]

I'd be much more concerned about the direction this country is headed and the lack of leadership in this country.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I was just addressing the recreation we enjoy.

 

[indy_500]

I was up in Minocqua last weekend, seemed crazy busy to me (this is wis) but, the hotel manager was saying business has been sorta slow this winter and he was hoping for more snow for snowmobilers, but man the trails were awesome already! Trails around my house haven't been good once, so I would be thinking people in southern and central wis would be going up north, but then again maybe they want to beat up their sleds and ride thru dirt and bumps. I might be going north again this weekend, just lots more fun and enjoyable. As long as you don't have to rent sleds (we did because my mom and sister went along) it's not much more expensive. You can find cheap motels for $50 a night. Spend $50 on gas to get up there, it's really worth it. And, if you're in more populated towns, you don't have to spend $10-15 per person at a restaurant if they have other places to go like a culvers, perkins, etc. like we did in minocqua. But, those places don't support snowmobilers like some bars do.

 

[ubee]

Recreational Snowmobiling is not a cheap sport. Can't blame people for cutting back and riding at home while they can !! I notice the trails are in great shape because of the reduced traffic.Feburary will be here soon and people are thinking about sand crabs and coronas !

 

[brad460]

We rode from Minocqua to Copper Harbor and back the weekend of Jan 15-16 and was surprised by the lack of snowmobile traffic. Granted low traffic was nice, but that is concerning!

All I know is I spent plenty of cash in the UP, so I did my part!

 

[yamadooed]

I tried to book a room in Watersmeet, Lando and Eagle River for the Feb 18th weekend lotsa No vacancies south...

 

[Marty P]

"Are Our Favorite UPMI Businesses Teetering On The Edge Of Failure?"

Yes...

 

[footinforever]

snowmobile traffic

I agree about the supply and demand, seems to me, however, that as soon as one business closes you always have some hero come and start another one, or buy and think he's going to be the guy to turn it around, so then you still have the same competition that waters down the profit for everyone and then the cycle continues. That said the New Years Even debacle in Northern Wisconsin (rain event) shut everything down. All the out of state homeowners are up, and the trails got destroyed, then took till last week to become decent again. It puts doubt in their mind that there will be good trails for their next trip and they plan to do other things, or not pull the kids out of a sports tournament every weekend. The pace of life gets faster and faster, while sleds are getting out of control pricey, and if gas goes to $4.00 + this summer, then the summer economy is screwed as well.

We won't be recovered from this recession for at least 10 years. But the real question is what type of Anarchy will we have when the 40 million peeps on unemployment for the past several years finally run out of elegibility and then we still don't have jobs them.. THe paper mill mill near Stevens Point left cutting 300 jobs, you are seeing the jobs dissappear in MI, but the problem is you have all of the generally unskilled or highly skilled in one task people who can't adjust to the jobs that are available. Plus you have tons and tons of kids coming back to live with mom and dad, cuz they can't get jobs with their degrees.

Basically peeps have to go to www.daveramsey.com and get out of debt, save 6months emergency fund, and live with in their means. Going to the factory and running a drill press for $25 an hour is long gone.

Very Scary Stuff!!!

FF

 

[xcr440]

This is nothing new.

There is not much "industry" in the northing part of the states, (MN, WI, MI) and those that depend on us snowmobilers are at the mercy of the weather. Good snow up there doesn't always mean good times if there is snow everywhere.

The only "businesses" up there that survive are the ones with dedicated and loyal LOCAL customers. If you depend on the tourism, times are always going to be tough. Seen it happen over and over again, as the last post says.

 

[snowlover]

Our group is not going to the UP this year do to several factors...
- I own my own business and plow snow. I acquired serveral large accounts that I can not have anyone else take care of.
- 2 guys in our group now work for Cities and need to be on call 24/7
- Why drive 6 hours when we can stay in MN and drive less than 3 to great snow and trails?
- Why buy a $35 trail permit when we already bought ours when we license our sleds in MN?
- Free lodging

It is all about money and time for us. There are 8 of us in our group and we spent at least $400 each per year in the last 10 years in the UP, not a lot but ads up.

With the rising cost of gas it is killing me and my family to go out and enjoy some family time. It costs over $100 everytime our family pulls up to a pump and put gas in our 4 sleds. That is ridiculous. It is going to slowly kill it as a family sport.