MINNEAPOLIS — River Valley Power & Sport has had two record years of sales. The Red Wing-based company sells personal watercraft like pontoons and jet boats as well as ATVs, snowmobiles and scooters.
"We still can't keep up," Samantha Marx, marketing manager, said. "Everything closed down, so everyone said, 'What can I do with my family? We can’t go to sports games, we can’t go to the movie theater...' So buy a boat; go out on the water."
However, Marx says the recent spike in the price of gas has her team members concerned. Though she says it hasn't yet slowed sales, "I’m waiting for it. I’m a little bit nervous — the whole industry is. So, we’ll see what happens."
River Valley Power & Sport was one of the vendors on the show floor at the Northwest Sportshow at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The show, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, bills itself as "The Midwest's largest outdoors show."
Similar to other vendors, the sales team at St. Boni Motor Sports said they also have had a great several years of sales. And as of yet, they haven't had many conversations with potential customers who are concerned about gas.
"A lot of this stuff, you probably don’t get into it thinking about fuel economy at the end of the day," Jake Hayes, assistant sales manager, said. "Not to say that those conversations probably won’t happen…I’m sure we’ll see a ripple effect from it later, but nothing right now."
Some business owners, however, see the price hike as a business opportunity. Bruce Wahlstrom owns WTR Sports, and his products run entirely on lithium batteries.
"We’ve had two record years in a row, and I think we’re going for another one," Wahlstrom said.
Thursday, on the first day of the show, Wahlstrom printed fliers with a new tagline: "Fuel-Free Fun."
"It was just yesterday we added that as our new tagline," he said. "Up to that point, it was just about fun on the water. So now, I think we’ve got an opportunity to capitalize."
As for the other businesses?
"One day at a time," Marx said. "It's all you can do."