Northland Mountain Boutique a homebase for adventurers and eco-friendly warriors
Shops in Park City and Patagonia
Summer 2023
Written By: Michael Heil | Images: Gillian Hunter
Before moving to Summit County, Carolina De Martino and her husband, Angelo Querciali, started a retail empire across Patagonia. Now, they manage all 15 stores from their homebase in Park City.
“Every three months, Angelo flies down to Argentina or Chile to spend a month at a time with our managers and 90-plus employees. He handles almost everything in South America, while I manage our store here in Park City. Angelo is an amazing leader; leadership is his superpower,” Carolina says. “Some of our managers have been with us over 35 years!”
The decision to leave South America and manage their businesses remotely was a difficult one, but the couple had fallen in love with Summit County. For 16 years, they traveled to Salt Lake City for the Outdoor Retailer expos and once they bought a home in Midway in 2016, they started visiting so much that their vacation home evolved into their permanent home.
When Carolina and Angelo announced that they were moving to the U.S., their friends at Northland Professional, an Austrian performance outerwear company that the couple had been doing business with for over 25 years, asked if they would consider opening a U.S. flagship store for Northland.
At first, Carolina and Angelo thought, “Who needs another clothing store? There are so many here!”
But after carefully assessing the local retail industry, they realized their decades of experience and relationships gave them access to a unique and curated selection of brands. In addition to gear from familiar companies like Black Diamond and Helly Hansen, their Park City shop sell brands that can’t be found anywhere else in North America — like Northland Professional’s outerwear — and socially conscious brands like Tentree, which plants 10 trees for every article of clothing purchased. They also sell clothing and gear from Vuori, On, 686, Pendleton, Birkenstock and more.
Northland has become a homebase for adventurers and eco-friendly warriors looking for high-quality, fashion-forward gear that will transition from mountain fun to après seamlessly.
“Whatever adventure I’m going on, I always wear the gear from our shop,” says Carolina. “Wherever I go for dinner, I wear it too. People who wear our gear look awesome,” she says with a beaming smile.
When I ask Carolina what she does to handle the stresses that come with running several stores, she smiles and says, “I try to take one hour to do something I love,” noting that often, that hour is spent high in the mountains surrounding Park City.
“I’m always overthinking things and always thinking about the business, but when I’m skiing or mountain biking, I have to be fully present,” she says. “It took me a long time to learn the balance — to learn how to be present, take care of my mental health and find peace amidst all the responsibilities. Taking an hour to do something I love and be fully present doesn’t just help me refuel, it makes me a better person.”
Meanwhile, Angelo’s passion is driving. “We have UTVs, ATVs — really, all the ‘TVs,’” Carolina laughs. “Angelo loves driving. He used to race rally cars and now he just rallys on the UTVs with the family.”
Carolina and Angelo make getting outside and playing a year-round priority, but Carolina admits that melting snow is a welcome sign.
“Summer in Park City is unbeatable,” she exclaims. “We have concerts, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, yoga, Pilates, boating, kayaking and so much more.”
To Carolina and Angelo, recreation is not a hobby, but a lifestyle.
