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OUR STORY
Michigan grown from the beginning.
Sun & Snow opened in January 1971 in Belleville, Michigan. What started as one local ski shop grew through a few addresses, a second generation, Nordic events, water sports, windsurfing, skateboarding, an inline hockey arena, a skate park and a tuning operation nobody in 1971 could have imagined.
1971
It started in Belleville.
Sun & Snow opened in January 1971 on Belleville Lake with a simple philosophy: treat people like family and help them find equipment that lets them enjoy being outside.
Those early years were not limited to alpine skiing. Sun & Snow was already part of Michigan's Nordic ski scene, outdoor events and the growing community of people looking for new ways to play outside.
In 1980, the shop moved to Stadium Boulevard in Ann Arbor. Winter meant skis. Summer brought water skis, windsurfers, towables, skateboards, swimwear and more. Sun & Snow had become a year-round outdoor shop long before anyone used the phrase "lifestyle retailer."
THE 1990s
Then things got a little weird.
In a good way.
In a good way.
By the early 1990s, founders Bob and Bill Parent saw inline skating taking off and jumped in. Sun & Snow organized skating competitions and races around Ann Arbor and launched an outdoor inline hockey league at Buhr Park.
In 1995, Sun & Snow built a new home on Jackson Road. But only about one-third of the building was the ski shop.
The other two-thirds became J.D. Jeffrey Arena.
The arena was named in honor of Bob and Bill's late mother, Jean Doris Jeffrey. The arena and Sun & Snow were separate spaces connected under one roof.
The facility featured a full inline hockey rink with SportCourt flooring, dasher boards, tempered glass, team benches, an electronic scoreboard and equipment rental. Beside it was The Badlands, a huge wooden skate bowl and skate park that became a destination of its own.
J.D. JEFFREY ARENA
A lot more than open skate.
Junior Jeffrey brought younger kids in on Saturday mornings. Fun Day Sunday added family activities in the afternoon.
Youth roller hockey grew quickly. At one point, 84 kids ages 7 to 16 were participating in the Great Lakes Inline League, and Sun & Snow had seven youth teams.
Two of those teams even headed to Las Vegas for a national championship tournament.
THE BADLANDS
A different kind of playground.
The Badlands was a huge wooden bowl and skate park built for inline skaters and skateboarders.
Open sessions, portable ramps, birthday parties and all-night skates made J.D. Jeffrey Arena its own little sports world.
SUMMER AT J.D. JEFFREY
Camp Jeffrey.
Summer brought Camp Jeffrey. Kids spent their mornings playing roller hockey, skating The Badlands and skate park, or working through their daily allotment of arcade tokens.
After lunch, the group headed out for a different field trip or adventure. Water parks, bowling, Zap Zone, miniature golf, movies, parks and whatever else sounded fun that week.
It was part hockey camp, part skate camp, part arcade and part old-school summer adventure camp.
2003-2010
New addresses. New generation.
In 2003, the Jackson Road property was sold to Sesi Lincoln and the Ann Arbor shop moved to Westgate Mall.
Then, in 2010, Sun & Snow opened in Downtown Plymouth beside Kellogg Park and quickly became part of the events and traditions happening around it.
That same year, Bob Parent transitioned the business to the second generation, his son Rob Parent and Rob's wife Heidi. The names running the place changed. The expectation did not: know your stuff, tell people the truth and take care of them.
A FEW STOPS ALONG THE WAY
55 years in eight dates.
1971
Belleville Lake Sun & Snow opens in January and begins building a community around skiing and outdoor sports.
1980
Stadium Boulevard, Ann Arbor The shop moves east and expands into a year-round outdoor store.
1995
Jackson Road + J.D. Jeffrey Arena A new building opens with Sun & Snow occupying roughly one-third and the connected J.D. Jeffrey Arena taking up the other two-thirds.
2003
Westgate Mall The Jackson Road property is sold and the Ann Arbor store moves to Westgate.
2010
Downtown Plymouth + second generation The Plymouth store opens beside Kellogg Park and Rob and Heidi Parent take over the family business.
2015
Back to Jackson Road Sun & Snow returns to Jackson Road in Ann Arbor.
2024
Jackson Plaza Service Center Sun & Snow opens a dedicated tuning and service operation featuring the WINTERSTEIGER Jupiter and advanced ski finishing technology.
2026
Everything comes together at Jackson Plaza The Ann Arbor store joins the Service Center in one expanded location built around expert bootfitting, advanced tuning, rentals, race service and serious ski knowledge.
55 YEARS LATER
Same family. Better tools.
The technology is better. The equipment is better. We know a lot more about how a ski boot should fit than we did in 1971. But the basic job is exactly the same: help people get equipment that fits, works properly and makes their time on snow better.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
A few photos survived.
WERE YOU THERE?
Help us fill in the history.
If you remember the original store on Belleville Lake, Nordic events in the '70s, Stadium Boulevard in the '80s, summer days of skateboards, towables and windsurfers, water ski and windsurf competitions, mogul contests at Mt. Brighton, J.D. Jeffrey Arena in the '90s or the rail jams of the 2000s, we'd love to hear your story.
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