tomPietrowskiThis is quite interesting. So who is selling boots? Its not like a boot fitter costs a shop any more then a normal staff member. Good boot fitters train themselves and learn what they need so I dont really understand the cost issue. Having somone who can offer footbeds for boots and shoes ect will be a big benifit to most shops.
Is thois common for smaller shops not to have a boot fitter even if they are selling ski boots?
In my city I have 2 shops.
1) a skate/snowboard shop. Really cool guys. Sell a few ski things. Can do base work etc, but they know nothing about ski equipment.
2) local ski shop that knows what he is talking about. But works the entire shop basically himself. I have seen maybe 2 other people there in ~3 years. But he can do basics like measure your last, moldings, etc. This shop is rather expensive though.
I imagine for both these shops, it just doesn't seem worth it to go out of their way to go get a trained worker to stay on the clock all the time for boot fittings. They just don't sell enough boots. Boots usually have a pretty long life, and when combined with the low skier population in the Midwest, it is just not really practical. For most places at least.