As nature usually shakes off the summer heat and enters the winter slumber, few uniquely different challenges and opportunities have introduced themselves to the businesses making a Living Vision for Success! From seasonal products to services that cater to cold-weather needs, whichever way you’re thinking of doing some business in winter, myriad avenues are open for winter entrepreneurs to make the seasonal sale.
With consumer trends shifting year on year towards sustainability, convenience, and wellness, we have winter of 2025 as the perfect season for start-ups to build.
In this step-by-step guide, I will walk you through the top winter business ideas of 2025 including business ideas based on services, product-based businesses ideal for winter, and the businesses that can operate online as per the changed consumer behaviour in winters.
1. Winter Clothing and Accessories Store
Selling warm winter wear and accessories is one of the most traditional and profitable seasonal business ideas during winter. When the winter season occurs, companies buy jackets, scarves, gloves, and thermal wear in bulk. It can be profitable if you offer various winter essentials in a physical store or online.
How to start:
- Target market: catered to fashion-forward consumers searching for trendy winter coat styles, but also the outdoor lover seeking functional winter apparel
- Product Range: Emphasis on providing choice of winter textile essentials like:
- Down, synthetic, or wool insulated jackets
- Woolen scarves and gloves
- Thermal underwear and socks
- Waterproof boots
- Good for the planet, sustainable materials (like – wool, and/or organic cotton)
- Sales Channels: Either you can open a physical store in a cold place or you can sell online via eCommerce at Shopify or sometimes you can go to Etsy. For online sales, make a good website with trusted payment options.
- Personalization: You might provide distinctive accessories, like scarves embroidered with names, mittens with a specific design, etc.
2. Hot Beverage and Soup Stall
With the cold place of the winter months away, it is known to everyone that everyone needs warmth and comfort, so a hot beverage and soup stall would be a great business idea of 2025. Arrange a mobile kiosk/caravan with different types of hot beverages like espresso, tea, coco, and heated evaporated cider. These beverages complement soups, broths and stews for a complete menu.
How to Start:
- Variety of Menu Items: Provide a selection of hot beverages: coffee, tea, hot chocolate, cider, and seasonal specials (peppermint lattes, pumpkin spice drinks, etc. Enjoy with spiced chicken noodle, tomato bisque, and vegetable stew.
- Mobility: Work from a food truck or a pop-up stand in high foot-traffic areas. If you are in a big tourist area, put yourself around winter markets, and skating rinks, or march along the popular hikes.
- Supply to source: Collaborate with local farms or organic suppliers to supply fresh high quality ingredients. This is attractive to customers that are health minded and like fresh, local.
- Customer Experience Offer comfortable seating (if permissible) or repeat customer programs to boost sales.
3. Snow Removal and Winter Maintenance Services
Heavy snowfalls and freezing weather during winter can create risks for homes and businesses. If you live in an area with extreme cold during the winter season, then a snow removal and winter maintenance service can be among the most profitable businesses you can run.
How to Start:
- Good Equipment: Buy quality equipment for snow removal like snow plows, snow blowers, shovels, and de-icing materials. For bigger contracts, think about renting or buying specialist automobiles for bigger properties.
- The same goes with providing other services like roof snow removal, gutter cleaning, salting of driveways, and de-icing sidewalks along with snow removal from the driveways and sidewalks. Perhaps also provide services for homes to winterize (pipe insulation, window sealing, etc.
- Target Market: Focus on residential and commercial clients. Commercial contracts (office, mall, school) are usually big and constant income.
- Service Plans: Provide seasonal contracts that encompass the whole winter, giving customers the option to pay a set amount for uninterrupted service during the cold months. That, in turn, guarantees repeat business.
4. Winter Holiday Decorating Services
The winter holidays can get pretty busy, and a lot of homeowners and businesses pull out all the stops when it comes to hanging the decorations for Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year. This can be a fun and seasonal business, especially for people with a creative mind who can do basic decorating but do not have time or skills to decorate their own homes or office.
How to Start:
- Holiday Decorating Packages: Include holiday decorating packages such as Christmas trees and lights to basic themed packages which include Christmas, Halloween, and Fall.
- Set up and take down: These are two parts of the process many people hate about putting up holiday decorations. Or provide packages for installing, maintaining (fixing lights, etc.), and taking things down after the holidays.
- Niche Services: You can provide custom made decorations or collaborate with local artisans to provide handmade decorations like ornaments, wreaths, and special decor items.
- Event services: Decorate holiday parties, corporate events, and retail window displays in addition to homes.
5. Winter Sports Equipment Rental
In many regions, the colder months are the time of year when skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and other winter sports – some would argue, pastimes – are on the agenda. A winter sports equipment rental business can be lucrative, and perhaps one of the easiest to launch if you live near a ski resort or in an area with heavy snowfall.
How to Start:
- Type of Equipment: Animate all sort of winter sports such as skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, sled riding, and ice skates. They can also be rented and helmets, goggles and protective gear.
- Maintenance & Repair: Offering winter sport maintenance services, such as ski tuning or ice skate sharpening, could bring back repeat customers and increase profit.
- Pop Ups: Add pop-up rental locations close to resorts, ice rinks, or winter hiking trails. It also means that you can tap into tourists and outdoor enthusiasts without gear.
- Partnerships: Collaborate with local hotels, resorts, and tourism offices to promote your services to tourists and visitors.
6. Winter Wellness Coaching
Maintaining health during the winter can be challenging, even to the most fanatical amongst us, and it is a time when many of us can fall into the dreaded winter blues aka seasonal affective disorder (SAD). You see, some people need support on how to stay fit and healthy during the colder months and, thus, a winter wellness coaching business.
How to Start:
- Target Audience: Those who want to get in shape during winter, deal with mental health issues, or stay on track with their diets over winter. It might be 1:1 coaching, or other group wellness programs.
- What You Could Offer: Offer winter-specific fitness routines, nutrition coaching for immune-supportive nutrition, and mindfulness or mental health service. Home workout routines, online training sessions, and wellness workshops can also be a part of it also.
- Products: Market additional products to your customers, such as herbal teas, vitamins, and supplements, as well as home workout gear.
- Collaborate with gyms, yoga studios, or nutritionists to expand your service offerings and client base.
7. Firewood Delivery and Heating Solutions
Having heating solutions is the basic need of colder regions and using firewood is a well-known and traditional way to heat your space. This allows homeowners to have a constant supply of fuel to heat their homes through winter with a firewood delivery business.
How to Start:
- Varieties of Products: Provide both types of firewood, hardwood (oak, maple) for longer heating and softwood (pine) for faster burning. Then sell fire starter kits & kindling.
- Seasonal delivery plans: Offer seasonal delivery subscriptions so that customers can have firewood delivered periodically during winter. This secures a steady stream of income.
- Value-added Services: Provide the option to stack services for customers who would rather avoid doing the heavy lifting. You can even sell portable heaters, wood stoves, or heating pellets for more or less a separate income.
Conclusion
Once deemed the busiest season for entrepreneurs, winter 2025 now allows businesses to capitalize on the season as well as a growing demand from consumers.
From snow plowing to selling winter sports gear to a cozy pop-up shop, here are some ideas for playing your cards right with winter to win more business.
So, if you recognize what consumers search for during winter and implement strategies on how to target consumers during this time, you can convert the cold winter months into a warm summer for your business.