Microsoft introduces Windows 2.0, a band called Wang Chung was telling everyone to Have Fun Tonight and two guys with a hand written business plan opened McCoo’s Excessive Accessories in Whistler Village.

They say timing is everything and although Jeff Coombs and George McConkey got off to a rough start, having to sleep in their new store to guard their product because their doors hadn’t been installed yet, their timing couldn’t have been better – Whistler was about to boom.

A few years earlier Blackcomb Mountain, intentionally or otherwise, opened its operation and picked a fight with the well-established and ground breaking Whistler Mountain that some would argue still exists today (reference any – Dusty’s Whistler vs. Blackcomb Blackhawks men’s rec league hockey game). The rivalry initiated a rapid development and expansion of terrain and facilities on both mountains. It opened up access to three glaciers and at least a dozen alpine bowls. Big-mountain skiing was no longer exclusive to the European Alps and Whistler was about to become the mecca for it.

McCoo’s was center stage when in 1991, Whistler Resort became the first mountain resort outside of the USA to be named No. 1 by a major American ski magazine. Five years later, in 1996, it became the only resort in history to be simultaneously named No. 1 by Snow Country, SKI and Skiing Magazines (and went on to be named No. 1 by Skiing Magazine for 13 years in a row).

Throughout this time McCoo’s established it’s reputation and culture as a true locals shop with a focus on service, selection and local relationships. The store also became known for helping innovate the market place with many upstart brands getting their first major exposure in McCoo’s.

Anticipating the four season growth McCoo’s Too was opened in 1995 in the heart of the village on the village stroll. This shop while still focusing on accessories took on more of clothing presence and partnered with a number of different companies with store-in-store and branded concepts over the years.

In 2004, Whistler Mountain added 1,100 acres of ‘inbounds backcountry’ terrain with the addition of Flute Bowl, bringing the total acreage across both mountains to 8,171 acres. And in 2006, a new high-speed quad chairlift was added in Symphony Bowl, creating the Symphony Amphitheatre and bringing lift access closer to the top of Flute Bowl.

A few years later, in Dec 2008, the world record-breaking PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola opened and redefined the winter and summer experience in Whistler. The engineering marvel breaks three world records:

• Longest unsupported span of 3.024 kilometers
• Highest lift of its kind at 436 meters above the valley floor
• Completes the longest continuous lift system on the globe

Just in time for the 2010 Olympics a third venture, this time a partnership with Rip Curl was opened. For more than a decade, McCoo’s had been an avid supporter of the Rip Curl brand and the goal of this new location was to provide more exposure to this amazing brand that is continually recognized across the globe for providing exceptional summer and winter products.

The most recent chapter in the McCoo’s Whistler story is new ownership. After 26 years of ownership McCoo’s changed hands in 2013 but as if by master plan, into the hands of another local Whistler family. Presently the stores are undergoing updates and improvements but the core culture, service and product selection philosophy remains the same as it was back in good old 1987.