Meet Carol Hester, Owner/Operator of Tahoe City’s Geared For Games, Squaw Valley’s Mind Play & Tahoe City Local.
A competitive high school “hurdler”, Carol was born & raised (& has spent 56 family Christmases) in the East Bay community of Pleasant Hill, California.
Carol attended college at UC Davis and, during the summer of her junior year, she worked at Sunnyside Restaurant and Lodge, alongside a cute bartender named Brad Hester. After finishing her business degree, Carol returned to Tahoe City the following summer…and eventually married Brad in 1986.
Over the years, Carol worked in Sales & Marketing at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows and was the Executive Director of the Lake Tahoe Transit (TNT/TMA), where she began North Lake Tahoe’s “Nightrider” bus service. Looking for a new challenge while raising a family, Carol bought Tahoe City’s Geared for Games in 1997 and Mind Play in 2013.
Carol loves life at Geared for Games because of her team (including 20 year store manager Deed Verutti, her first employee Tommy Doyle and past employee Lee Frost, aka Mrs. Claus). Plus, she has provided job opportunities to over 50 local high school students.
Passionate about Tahoe City, Carol is thrilled to see growing investment & redevelopment in downtown with NEW lodging properties: Basecamp Tahoe City & the Tahoe City Lodge.
When not working, you can find Carol traveling, enjoying fabulous food at River Grill, Jake’s Lake Tahoe, Za’s North Lake Tahoe or the West Shore Market, volunteering for town (founding member & past president of the Tahoe City Downtown Association & Tahoe City’s #1 cheerleader) or spending time with her husband Brad and daughters Kelly Hester Foster and Jessie Hester.
Unfortunately Geared for Games, and a few other Boatworks Mall businesses, suffered significant flood damage during a January 2017 storm. However, as the renovations and repairs continue, Geared for Games is opening a “POP-UP” store inside the mall every Saturday (starting TOMORROW!) from 11am-3pm, until the store re-opens this spring.
Come on out to support Carol, your friend and neighbor, by shopping locally at Geared for Games & the Boatworks Mall. Now is the time to give back!