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Vail’s American Ski Exchange now owned by a second generation of the Higgins family

Jackson Higgins takes over longtime Vail Village business

From left, Tom, Jackie and Jackson Higgins outside the American Ski Exchange on Wall Street in Vail Village. Jackson recently purchased the business from his parents, who bought the business in 1986.
Courtesy photo

Tom and Jackie Higgins bought the American Ski Exchange on Vail’s Wall Street in 1986. The store is now owned by son Jackson.

All four of the Higgins kids worked in the shop over the years, of course, but Jackson came back to the store a couple of years after finishing college and decided the Vail store was his future. He’d worked a couple of years for a California tech startup, with a keg in the kitchen fridge and a ping-pong table in the breakroom, the things you’d expect to find in a trendy tech firm in the  2010s.

But after about 18 months, the third of the Higgins kids decided a desk job wasn’t right for him.



“I wanted to be more active,” Higgins said. “I saw my dad’s lifestyle growing up,” and it seemed like a pretty good thing, he added.

Jackson Higgins, left, recently became the second generation of the Higgins family to own the American Ski Exchange in Vail Village. The family, from left, is, daughter Hillary, dad Tom, sister-in-law Kelcey, son Raymie (who’s married to Kelcey), mom Jackie, son Blake, grandson Tom, daughter-in-law Kate and granddaughter Callie. Tom and Jackie bought the shop on Wall Street in 1986.
Courtesy photo

So in 2013, Tom Higgins needed some help at the shop. Jackson had had enough of office life, and his three siblings were pursuing their careers, so he came home to learn the business in earnest.

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Back into the swing of things

Jackson was familiar with the job, of course, having worked at the shop since he was 10 or so. But he picked up management duties after returning and has since brought in touches like electronic inventory and sales systems. The store, like others, uses point-of-sale electronics, although the usual acronym, “POS” can often be confused with “piece of …,” especially when it doesn’t work.

Jackson jokes that his dad is kind of “e-illiterate,” having spent years writing orders on paper. But it all worked out, and the store’s systems have modernized.

Tom points with pride to his son’s tech acumen, noting that Jackson can handle issues anywhere, from in the store to the top of the mountain.

Jackson purchased pieces of the businesses over the past few years, and is now the sole owner, although his parents and sister, Hillary, still help out.


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Tom comes in, often on his way to the mountain — he said he’s on the hill five or six days a week. And Jackson said his dad is kind of the store’s “social director” these days.

Mom Jackie and Hillary, a local teacher, still help with purchasing.

“It’s a fun gig,” Jackson said of running the family shop.

He praised the store’s team, noting, “We work really hard, but the work-life balance is really good. You work hard in the morning and then ski in the afternoon.”

Having been involved in the day-to-day operations for more than a decade in the resort business, Jackson has seen a number of the ups and downs that come with the territory.

The year of the COVID-19 pandemic was the worst, he said, but the recovery has been good. “Everybody’s done pretty well for themselves (since then), especially after not knowing what was going to happen,” he said.

Tom and Jackie are happy that the business has stayed in the family for another generation, especially since the store’s customers now span two or three generations.

Jackie noted that she and Tom bought the business at the Aspen Alley location along with Joey Tonahill, when their oldest, Blake, now a dentist in the valley, was just nine months old.

Growth over the years

The family and the business both grew over the years and while all the kids spend time working in the shop — and being typical Vail Village kids during their youth — Jackson was the one who seemed the most likely to come back to the business, Tom said.

While the Higgins parents are obviously proud of all their kids, and their two grandchildren, they’re thrilled that the business is staying in the family for another generation.

“I feel super lucky to take over the family business,” Jackson said. “There’s  not a lot of ski shops like this.” And, he added, a lot of customers are happy to do business with a family-owned shop.

And, while Jackson wants to put his stamp on the business, there’s some of the old ways that linger.

“Growing up, Dad would come in after skiing and say, ‘I’ll be there in 10 minutes,'” he said. “Then he’d run into people he’d know and he’d be another hour. Now it’s happening to me. I see how it happened.”


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