By Shannon Lukens.

 

Backdoor Sports in Steamboat Springs has new owners.

Chris and Dominique Welch, and Chris’s brother, Mike, have purchased the longtime Steamboat Springs business from Gretchen Van De Carr.

Her husband, Pete, ran the popular shop on Yampa Street, which has been in business since 1986. Pete died in a skiing accident in February.

Chris Welch said they had submitted their offer to purchase Backdoor Sports the morning Pete died.

“One thing that’s important to us and one of the reasons why we really love this business, that when you look at it, this is one of the last businesses in town that, we feel, really has a soul to it. There’s still a lot of great businesses in town. Don’t get me wrong. But the old building, the place that it’s at. This is where it has been. It’s not fancy or flashing and that’s not what this was. It’s not really what Pete was. And we’re not going to try to be Pete. No one will ever be Pete. But the ideas that he had where everybody was welcome in here. It was a happy place to be. He was happy to have you. He was happy to try to get you out and enjoy whatever it is that you were going to do. We’re going to build that same thing. That’s what we’re going to try to carry on. We’re not going to try to be Pete. But the way he approached business and the way he approached the outdoors, that we are confident we can keep going, and we’re going to try to keep moving on.”

 

 

Chris Welch will stay on with his job as a captain with Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue, where he has worked since 2008, after a long-time job with Steamboat Ski Patrol.

His brother, Mike Welch, moved to Steamboat Springs from Utah, to manage the store with his brother’s family.

 “We’re going to keep with the theme that Pete had. We’ll probably be open this Saturday. We’re going to turn the store over and focus on summer rafting, river gear type stuff in the summer time. Get through that. Then this winter, turn it over to a ski shop, and accentuate what Pete did. He had a really good thing going here. There will be a few tweaks that we do here and there and add a couple things but for the most part it’s going to be just doing what Pete had in here and just adding our touch to it a little bit and making it a ski shop in the winter and a rafting shop and gear shop in the summertime. And, of course, continue with the tubing.”

 

 

Dominique Welch will also work in the new family business. She is also a nurse at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, a flight attendant, and is a ski patroller in the winter. She also spoke about the impact Pete Van de Carr had on the community.

“He is an incredible piece of this community and means so much to so many and I think that he will definitely live on.”

The Welch family has been working hard to get the store filled and the shelves stocked. They are open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. They say to please stop in and say hello.