While our original roots can be traced all the way back to 1951 when Warren Porter started a clothing / general retail store in Tahoe City, our real start was January 1, 1960 just a month and a half before the Winter Olympics came to Squaw Valley.  Over the last 51 years Porters has always been a family-run business and only changed hands once – in 2002 – when my family bought the place.  

We would never have gotten to be as successful as we are without loyal, repeat customers. We genuinely want you to be a raving fan of ours and we’ll do whatever that takes – including gladly recommending other, competing businesses if we don’t have what you’re looking for. Ultimately we love the mountain lifestyle that Tahoe provides and are extremely passionate about the sports and activities that it offers. We want nothing more than to pass along a slice of our stoke through either something you buy from us, a service / rental / lease / repair that we can provide, a piece of advice that we can give, or yes – even a referral to another business that better suits your needs.

Call it karma, the golden rule, or whatever – but from our Tahoe point-of-view – we wouldn’t want it any other way.  And truly this isn’t some cliché or marketing slogan – it’s what all of our employees commit to from day one of getting hired:  to provide world-class customer service and have you be a raving fan of our community of passionate experts who live, breathe, and dream snow.

While yes we’re majority-owned by myself and my family, we do have several key upper management employees who have also literally bought in to the business.  This only further reinforces why we can commit to giving you the best shopping experience anywhere:  the “buy in” is real on multiple levels.  It manifests itself in our policies and actions.  We support a multitude of local community charities and events, we sponsor dozens of amateur and professional athletes, we spend literally hundreds of days every winter snowboarding and skiing and testing all kinds of products, we have thousands and thousands of items to choose from in one of our four shops in the North Lake Tahoe / Truckee area or online here at porterstahoe.com, we match any other website’s prices, we ship UPS ground for orders over 75 USD to the “lower 48”, and most importantly – we have a 90 day hassle free return policy….as well as a 90 day satisfaction guarantee even on used items that you just aren’t happy with the performance of.

And, last but not least, as the leader of our tight-knit family here at Porters, I pledge to take care of, resolve, and go above and beyond your expectations if at any time one of our employees fails to meet this high level of customer service. Simply email me, John Chapman, at chappy@porterstahoe.com and I’ll put myself in your shoes and do what’s right from your perspective – and not necessarily always right from my perspective. Like George Zimmer famously says:  I guarantee it.