Staple Snowmass store to close as owner retires

Since the 1970s, Sherry Flack and her retail businesses have been a recognizable part of Aspen and Snowmass. Now, after half a century, Flack has made the decision to retire.

She started in the fashion industry in college, working her way through school and realizing how much she enjoyed it.

“They all said I had a knack for it,” she said of her former employers. 

With a pep in her step, she moved to Denver after college and went in on a silkscreen T-shirt franchise called Shirt Off My Back with two others. They decided to open in Aspen in the A-frames across from Aspen Mountain.

“It did really well,” Flack said. “We had celebrities and people waiting out in the snow to get in. We were so busy, it was crazy.”

She ultimately ended up buying out both partners, expanding her footprint in town to a number of different stores at one time. After seeing even more success, she expanded to Snowmass in 1977, where she got married to her boyfriend, Michael, in 1979. Between Aspen and Snowmass, she confirmed that, at one point, she had about six stores at once. 

She even opened a shop at Copper Mountain, which she had one of her youngest sisters, Jill Ridenhour, move out to Summit County with her husband and son to help run before they eventually took over ownership.

“I’ve always been very grateful to her,” Ridenhour said. “She taught us about the business end; she taught us about merchandising. She’s such a great mentor for us. She was just ridiculously smart. Look how many shops have come and gone. She never backed down. She’s self-made and so determined. She knew what it took to run a business.”

Flack gave large credit to all the folks who helped her across the decades. 

“And we’ve had so many amazing employees over the years,” she said. “I really owe my success to all my faithful employees and customers. I’ve been very lucky in that respect.”

Donna Collins, one of her five sisters who helped her with her stores for a number of years early on, confirmed that Flack knew how to keep good people around her in the stores.

“She was always very dedicated to her employees, even over the years when it was hard for them to find housing,” Collins said. “She has dedicated everything to those shops and made such success out of it.”

Flack’s cousin, Toni Bialek, worked for Flack starting in 1979 until about 1985 and then again on and off after that. Bialek agreed that Flack uniquely prioritized and valued her employees in a way that paired seamlessly with her passion for fashion.

“Sherry had a heart of gold in the sense that she loved her employees,” Bialek said. “She really worked with her employees’ schedules to make it work for everybody. She also really had a love for her customers. People would come in and say how much they loved Sherry’s shop.”

Flack emphasized that her son and his wife, Jeff and Summer Flack, were a huge help in running the businesses, along with managers and “key” employees Julie Bohan, Thea Bent, Debbie Hamby, Jo Reinhardt, Chris Hartman, Amanda Baldridge, Liz Post, and Karen Lutz. Her sisters Jill and Fawn Ridenhour and Collins, as well as cousins Jorja Rosenberg and Bialek, also contributed heavily to Flack’s successes. 

Hamby is Flack’s longest-running employee to date, working a total of 30 cumulative years with some breaks in between from the time Flack started in the 1970s. According to Hamby, she and Flack met when Hamby was working in a different store on Main Street in Aspen, and Flack immediately tried to hire her away. 

“I was fresh out of college,” Hamby said. “I did a lot of learning. Sherry just knew what she wanted and made things happen. She’s an excellent buyer, and she always had a vision. And she got the best workers ever. She could keep good people around her, and that’s a key to her success and her longevity.”

She said that Flack’s ability to put trust and responsibility in her employees was a huge part of that retention. For Hamby, getting free reign to assist with designing the windows for all the stores Sherry had open at once and being included on buying trips always incentivized her to stay. 

“These are good memories for me,” Hamby said. “I’m really proud of her. It’s amazing what she’s done. She’s outlasted everybody.”

For the past 15 years, Flack has been running Local Rebels at Snowmass Mall as her last stronghold. While she was hoping and planning to sell the store, tariffs and the stock market have made several potential buyers recently back out. 

Her lease ends April, but she’s hoping to stick around through May with the aim of selling excess merchandise she had purchased for the buyers who would keep the store intact. Next, her focus will turn to babysitting her two grandchildren and traveling more. 

“I think it’s about time,” said Katherine Ridenhour, one of Flack’s sisters. “She’s taking care of her grandkids. She’s a wonderful big sister, and I want her to have more time for us, too. We’re lucky to have her.”

“It’s just time,” Flack said. “But it’s the end of an era.”