Late snowfall stalls local snowmobile sales

AREA — The absence of snow this winter is putting a damper on the number of snowmobiles that are being sold, said local dealers.

"It's a difficult thing," said Ken Gammon, owner of Ken's Yamaha in Norway. "Sales are down for sure. Definitely some of it is because of the weather."

Compared to last year, said Gammon, the sales at his store have gone down by 25 percent.

"We had a very good month of December last year," he said. "December [this year] started out pretty good, but because it warmed up ... and we weren't having any snow, sales were definitely down."

Gammon said that for three years now, the local economy has been poor, and he estimates that businesses won't see much improvement this winter, either.

"I talk with some other businesspeople in the area, and they are starting to see some improvements," he said. "While we were the first to go into a recession, we are also the last to come out of recession."

According to Gammon, the number of customers coming into the store just looking to buy a snowmobile has decreased significantly. He said that sales of winter clothing and accessories have also gone down. 

"[Last year], people were getting their sleds ready to go because there was snow on the ground, and they were all thinking about going sledding," said Gammon. "And this year, with the warm weather, the month started out okay, but it just kind of tapered off. With the bare ground, a lot of people aren't thinking about snowmobiling."

Gammon said that in order for people to think about snowmobiling, there needs to at least be a couple feet of snow on the ground.

Claude Cotonir, owner of Claude's MaineLy Snowmobiles in Oxford said that business for him has been half of what he expected. He said that sales have literally declined by 50 percent.

"The economy doesn't help either. A lot of people would like to get some of these [snowmobiles]. They look ... but they don't have the money, or the banks aren't financing for some people. It's part of it, but the snow would help for sure," he said. 

Cotonir said that over the course of the winter he sells anywhere between 30 and 50 snowmobiles. With the lack of snow, however, he doesn't believe that as many will sell this year.

Business at Colby's, Inc., in Paris, has also been slow because of the late snowfall, said owner William McLaughlin. 

"This time of year it's usually busy if there is snow on the ground," he said.

According to McLaughlin, despite slow business, snowmobiling season has just begun. He said it would still be nice if he was selling more snowmobiles.

But McLaughlin said it's not just snowmobile dealers that are hurting this winter.

"It has everything to do with what the state of Maine is all about," he said, "be it from the guys snowplowing to people selling snowmobiles. It's a huge trickle-down effect for everyone when we don't get snow."

McLaughlin said while he would have liked to have snow by now, it's too early to push the panic button.

"It's not that late," said McLaughlin. "Not all is lost yet."