The Telluride/Mountain Village specialty ski store Bootdoctors has been awarded a gold medal by Ski Magazine in its "Best of the Rockies" special section.

Based on a readers' poll, the award is given to a store that has consistently given the best of services and products over the past year.

The Bootdoctors has received five individual Gold Medals in the past from readers.

The Bootdoctors was started 20 years ago in Taos, N.M., by Bob Gleason and his partner, Bob Remiger. It continued to evolve as a family-owned and operated store when Linda Mogetz, Gleason's former wife, and Kyle Remiger joined the team.

After 11 years, Gleason moved to Telluride, where he opened a second shop. Within a few years the Telluride business eclipsed the original Taos store's in sales, while maintaining the same standards of quality and hands-on service.

Gleason's wife Penelope joined the team eight years ago as marketing director and soft-goods manager.

"We're a mom and pop and stepmom organization," says Penelope Gleason. "Truly we are a team. The Telluride store could not be this successful without the hard work of Linda, Kyle and Bob Remiger in Taos. Their 20 years of experience is essential."

Today's Bootdoctors has grown from a small boot-fitting establishment to a full-service, year-round operation, with everything from high quality skis and snowboards to a wide selection of clothing. This year, the Telluride location opened two new shops – B Tuned and Dr. B's.

B Tuned offers high quality tunes for skis and snowboards, featuring a new Montana Crystal Glide stone-grinder with self-calibrating stone and Wintersteiger edger. Gleason explains that the business must always keep its edge. "We spent over $30,000 upgrading our tuning facility," he says. "We never stand still. This way all aspects of our business reflect the same level of high quality."

Last year, the Bootdoctors' team opened a whole new specialty shop, for boarders. "The increase in snowboarders, and our customers' desire to have a separate snowboard shop led us to open Dr. B's," says Gleason, who has developed specialty snowboard boot-fitting techniques. "It makes sense to give special attention to the growing population of snowboarders. So many of our customers are families with a mixture of skiers and snowboarders. Snowboarders like having a truly separate and different atmosphere. We listened to them and made a new concept shop with a separate door, look and music!

"The concept, from the beginning has been based on customer service," he emphasizes. "We know that people have a lot of choices these days, and we cannot compete through discounting like many of the big boxes. We just stay focused on the customer. From the feet up, we're a full-service store."

Gleason has long been a leader in bootfitting techniques, and as curriculum director for Master Fit University, has taught thousands of bootfitters in the U.S. and abroad the art of bootfitting.

In recent years, Gleason has added the title of " stance alignment instructor" for the Rocky Mountain Professional Ski Instructors' Association to his long list of credits.

"It has been such an honor to join such a loyal team. It's unusual to find a shop where so many key employees come back to work season after season," says new employee Troy Leedy, who works as tech and rental manager. "Professionals go out of their way to try to work at a store with this level of reputation in the industry." And at Bootdoctors, that staunch professionalism combines with a "very strong…sense of family," he adds, with the owners working in the store every day."

Gleason believes the key to success in the ski industry is to attract and then retain returning and new customers.

"The industry has undergone a huge amount of consolidation," he says, "with large corporations buying out the little guys. Our kind of specialty shop provides the personal experience that people want when they are on vacation. We're going to give our customers, whether locals or visitors what they want."