For Some in West Des Moines, It's Slow and Sometimes No Business Without Snow Business

The snowmobile repair technicians at Mid-States Powersports are as lonely as the iconic Maytag repairman.

There’s nothing for them to do. 

Nada. After a couple of brutal winters — do the Twitter hash tags #snowmageddon, #snowpocalypse and #snowzilla ring any sleigh bells for you? — few people are complaining, even folks whose businesses boom in a 10-inch powder pack.

“We’re not in too bad a shape,” says Mid-States Powersports owner Terry Powell, who moved his business to 2340 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines from Grimes last spring. Mid-States Powersports sells snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and other "extreme" big-kid toys.

“What seems to be slow right now is the repair and service work," Powell says. "People are not riding, so their snowmobiles aren’t breaking down. They’re just not being used right now.”

Ready for a blizzard? Or is this shirt-sleeve January weather more your thing? Tell us in the comments section below.

Powell says his business is weathering the mild winter. He’s not stuck with a huge inventory because snowmobiles flew from the showroom floor in anticipation of a winter that the venerable Farmers' Almanac, which has a reputation for being more reliable than not, predicted would be a crime-and-punishment kind of season.

For this week, for example, the Bible of long-range forecasting called for heavy snow in Northern and Central Plains (that’s us) through Wednesday; and bitterly cold temperatures through the 15th. From the 20th to the 23rd — and it’s Iowa, so don’t count this out — expect “stormy: blizzard-like conditions spread east across Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri."

For now, though, Iowa is still basking in near beach-like weather.

“Oh, it’ll happen,” promises Doug Cappel, who owns and operates the Ace Hardware store on 50th Street in West Des Moines. “I’m very positive that we will not go through the winter without having a successful selling event.

“We’re ready for the next, big storm,” he says pointing to a stockpile of ice-melting agent that his father, a hardware store veteran of 40 years, warned him against under-stocking.

That’s not going to be a problem this year. But Cappel isn’t ready to start slashing prices just yet.

“The best winter months are January and February,” he says.

Let's not forget that dire head’s up from the Farmers' Almanac.

Jason Steward, who contracts with businesses, apartment complexes and homeowners for snow removal, is itching for the forecast to materialize into something he can push around with a blade.

If he thought a “snow dance” would help, he’d be out doing a jig on his well-manicured lawn (what less than perfect turf would you expect from the owner of Designer Lawns, Steward’s West Des Moines home-based business?).

He’s had plenty of time this fall — oops, make that winter — to make his and other metro area lawns look perfect.

“I’ve been able to do fall cleanup later in the year,” Steward says. “I worked until New Year’s doing leaf removal.”

Now that fall chores — usually interrupted until spring by some #Snowpocalypse or another — are complete, Steward and his two part-time employees are tuning up mowers and other lawn-care equipment so they’re ready to roll when the grass starts growing again.

He’s also out lining up new clients for spring to help make up for the loss of snow-removal business

The bottom line: “You’ve got to have snow to survive the winter,” he says. “So, yeah, I’d love to see it snow.”

So would those buddies of Powell’s, the guys who are driving their new snowmobiles, albeit on trailers, all over creation in search of perfect conditions.

“Snowmobiling is a sport people take seriously. Right now, they’re looking for snow in northern Wisconsin and out West,” Powell say. “It’s just not as easy to find it around this area, like it has been in the last few years.”