Dealer Network · Colorado · Gunnison County
Become an AJ Shades Dealer in Gunnison County
Gunnison County: about 17,439 residents split between a university town and a world-class ski resort, with famously cold winters and some of the most intense summer sun in Colorado.
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Prefer to talk it through? Text (909) 325-3110 (TEXT-only) or call Richard Gutierrez, Project Manager, at (949) 378-6642 (Se habla espanol).
Gunnison County lives two lives, and both of them buy shade. About 17,439 people share a county split between Gunnison -- a Western Colorado University town with a working-town economy -- and Crested Butte, a ski resort whose second homes and condos hold some of the highest-value patios in the state. One market buys on durability and rentability; the other buys on design and lifestyle. A dealer who speaks both languages gets two territories in one.
Crested Butte is the premium lane. Mount Crested Butte’s slopeside condos and the town’s historic streets are lined with second homes whose owners arrive for ski season and stay through summer -- and summer at 9,000 feet is a patio season of rare intensity. Retractable awnings over resort decks and screens on condo patios sell on the view-plus-comfort pitch: the mountains are the amenity, the shade is what lets you enjoy them at noon.
Gunnison is the volume lane. The university, the hospital, and the service economy that supports the resort fill the town with workforce housing and rental properties, and landlords are a repeat-buyer class of their own. Motorized screens on rental porches cut maintenance calls, survive tenants, and differentiate a listing -- and one landlord with a dozen doors is a standing order, not a single sale.
The climate is the engineering story. Gunnison is famous for cold -- some of the coldest readings in the Lower 48 -- and that reputation hides the summer truth: short, brilliant, high-altitude summers with punishing UV and fast afternoon storms. Retractable systems are the honest answer to both seasons: extend for the intense summer, retract and seal for the long winter. Fixed shade cannot make that promise here.
Remodel contractors are the referral engine. Crested Butte’s housing stock is older, design-conscious, and constantly being renovated, and the contractors doing that work specify everything the homeowner buys. The dealer who becomes the contractors’ shade line gets specified at plan stage -- the fastest close in the business, on the county’s highest tickets.
The product line
What Gunnison County dealers sell
Resort second homes, college-town rentals, and seasonal engineering.
Motorized Power Screens
Motorized zip-track screens for resort decks, condo patios, and rental porches -- shade, bug control, and privacy by remote. In Gunnison the screen is the landlord’s favorite product: guest-proof, low-maintenance, and it photographs beautifully for listings.
See power screens for dealersFull-Cassette Retractable Awnings
Full-cassette retractable awnings for a county famous for its winters: retract for the season and the sealed housing protects everything until the snow melts. The fifteen-year factory warranty gives second-home owners confidence the investment survives the off-season.
Dealer details: cassette awningsOpen-Roll Retractable Awnings
Open-roll retractable awnings for Gunnison: motorized, sensor-ready, backed by the fifteen-year factory warranty. The value lane for college-town rentals and workforce housing that still demands real engineering.
Browse the dealer catalogDealers offer retractable awnings in cassette and open-roll profiles, motorized power screens, and awning recover for existing frames. Every retractable awning and motorized power screen in the lineup carries the 15-year factory warranty. Coverage varies by product and component. Patio covers are not part of the dealer lineup.
Territory opportunity
The resort and the college town
Crested Butte second homes, Gunnison rentals, and the corridors between.
Start in Crested Butte. The historic town’s second homes and the resort base’s condos hold the county’s premium tickets -- design-aware buyers, remodel budgets, and patios with million-dollar views. A visible install on a main-street commercial building becomes the portfolio that sells the residential lane.
Work Mount Crested Butte’s condo base. Slopeside units with summer patios, HOA-governed buildings, and owners who buy amenities by the package. Standardize one screen or awning solution per building and the HOA board becomes your salesforce.
Cover Gunnison’s rental and workforce market. University-adjacent rentals, hospital-corridor housing, and the service workforce that keeps the resort running. Landlords buy screens for durability and differentiation; workforce families buy the warranty story on value.
Hold the corridors: Ohio Creek, Taylor Canyon, and the highway cabins. Second homes and vacation rentals along the drainages buy premium plus professional installation from absentee owners who want the property handled. The altitude pitch -- UV, storms, winter sealing -- writes itself up here.
Why partner with AJ Shades
The two-market edge
Resort money plus college-town volume, in one county.
1. Wholesale terms, real margin. Factory-direct wholesale pricing with no distributor stack -- the margin between your cost and the resort ticket stays in your business. Dealers sell AJ Shades products nationwide as product-only wholesale, with installation fulfilled by trusted local contractors. AJ Shades’ own crews install only in Southern California -- San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties -- never in Colorado.
2. Resort buyers purchase the view, usable. A Crested Butte deck with a mountain view is the amenity; shade at noon is what makes it livable. Sell the usable view to design-aware second-home owners and the ticket reflects the property values around it.
3. Landlords buy in portfolios. Gunnison’s rental market runs on repeat buyers. Screens that survive tenants and cut maintenance calls sell themselves to a landlord with a dozen doors -- and every install is a reference for the next property.
4. Put 15 years in the quote. The 15-year factory warranty on every retractable awning and motorized power screen answers the second-home owner’s off-season worry in writing: the investment is protected while they are away. Coverage varies by product and component.
5. Your capital stays yours. Built-to-order manufacturing means samples and a catalog, not a warehouse. Cash stays in the business -- marketing two markets, not storing inventory for them.
Leading with an install crew in the Gunnison Valley? The contractor program is built for contractor-led businesses, and plenty of Colorado partners hold the dealer and contractor programs together.
Request Dealer InfoGunnison County dealer FAQ
Questions Gunnison County businesses ask us
Is the AJ Shades dealer program a franchise?
What territory would I get as an AJ Shades dealer in Gunnison County, Colorado?
How do the systems handle Gunnison’s famous winters?
What marketing tools does the program include?
Who handles installation in Gunnison County?
Is the college-town rental market worth pursuing?
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Gunnison County’s dealer seat is open.
Wholesale shade systems for Gunnison County dealers: American-made retractable awnings and motorized power screens, veteran-owned factory, training, and a 15-year warranty on every sale.
Text AJ Shades
(909) 325-3110
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Owned
Made
on awnings & screens
five-star reviews
CSLB #951583