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Teton Gravity Research wants Park City pop-up shop to become community hub

Action sports film company expects space to evolve into brick-and-mortar store with theater, community meeting area.

(Devin Gillette, Teton Gravity Research) Teton Gravity Research is opening a pop-up shop in Park City on Saturday, May 27, 2023.

Teton Gravity Research, the company known for producing anxiety-inducing action sports films, is embarking on a new adventure in Park City. Rather than focusing on athletes hanging by a thread from a cliff face, it will be catering to customers who want to wear threads bearing its mountain-crested logo.

On Saturday, TGR plans to open a pop-up retail shop at 613 Main Street in Park City, in the former Mary Janes boutique space across the street from the Patagonia store. The pop-up will remain until the fall, when it is expected to be replaced by a brick-and-mortar store at the same location. This will be TGR’s sixth retail location, joining others in mountain towns like Bozeman, Mont., and Breckenridge, Colo. It opened its first store in Jackson Hole, Wyo., six years ago, co-founder Steve Jones said, though he noted that TGR has had its own apparel since before it made its first film 28 years ago.

“Right after the cameras arrived, before we even shot our first frame,” Jones said. “We were selling them that winter.”

The TGR pop-up will sell company-branded beanies, sweatshirts and other attire as well as its own line of ski goggles and sunglasses. Once the full store opens, it will feature a roughly 1,000-square-foot theater. The theater’s main purpose, according to TGR Director of Retail Devin Gillette, will be as a community space that can be rented out for meetings, film showings and birthday parties. When none of that is happening, it will be used to show TGR films which are known for showcasing athletes pushing physical and social boundaries in the realms of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, climbing, biking and beyond.

Gillette said she expects athletes from those films to filter in and out of the store.

“We want our store to be a place where kids can come in and they can meet athletes,” Gillette said. “Or come in and have meet-and-greets or come in and learn about skiing and come in and have it as a resource for not just skiing but [all] the action sports.”

TGR cofounder Steve Jones said the brick-and-mortar store will anchor the company’s philanthropic efforts in Park City, which mostly center around youth athletics and snow sports. Gillette said that among others, the company has partnered with the local nonprofit Live Like Sam, which focuses on youth mental health, and also sponsored the recent Running With Ed race that benefits the Park City Education Foundation.

“Having the actual store there we feel gives us a physical presence in the community,” Jones said. “It allows us to integrate in a much more meaningful way.”