From The Sheet News: Footloose Sports Sold
A crucial piece of our Footloose Sports history was the sale of the business a few years ago. We’re still family-owned and -operated but here’s the backstory thanks to The Sheet News. See the newspaper article (copied below).
Colasardos, Corty Lawrence step aside after 37 years
It started in the Village at Mammoth before there was a Village at Mammoth – a little mom-and-pop, 400-square foot ski shop. And it wasn’t even a ski shop, really. They were boot-fitters, with seating for three, and crock pots at the ready to heat up the shells.
At the time, there were more than 20 ski shops in Mammoth Lakes.
Thirty-seven years later, Andrea Colasardo, Tony Colasardo and Corty Lawrence have sold their business to a pair of former/current employees. Silver Chesak and Zach Yates are the new face of Footloose Sports.
Chesak and Yates bought the business only. The Colasardos and Lawrence remain owners of the 12,000-square foot building which sits at the entrance to town at Old Mammoth Road and Route 203.
About the new owners
Chesak grew up in Healdsburg, but has been living in Encinitas for the past several years. He worked at Footloose from 1998-2008, and during that time, he and Yates were part of the team that helped build out the new store.
Post-Footloose, he has worked as a sales rep for various companies within the retail industry.
He will serve as Footloose’s new President and CEO.
For his part, Yates has worked at Footloose since 1995, knows all aspects of operations and will serve as the company’s General Manager.
Both men are married. Chesak and wife Lisa have two children, and a third is on the way. Yates’s wife Lindsay owns the Catwalk Salon in Mammoth. They have a daughter named Dakota, age 5.
As Corty Lawrence said, “It’s time for young people with a more contemporary perspective to take the reins.” Besides, he said, he got tired of waiting on his fantasy. “We kept waiting for a guy to walk in and offer $9 million,” he said with that trademark twinkle in his eye. “It didn’t happen.”