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| SkullandBonesSkateboards.com Forum Index » BUSINESS, SHOPS & RETAILERS » Getting cock-blocked by the big boys. |
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| DomitianX |
 Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:18 pm |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
Posts: 2473
Location: Faribault, MN
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No worries from me. My only problem is there is no local shops in my area to support, so I set something up.
The thing you need to think about is that some of the online stores, like mine, are the only local shop. I cant afford retail space. There isnt enough of a market to keep me open. I sell gear out of my car, out of my basement and most of the guys order from the store, pay with PayPal or something and then I just deliver it to the park or something for them.
So if someone wants to support the local core store, its my online shop. |
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| BonesBrigade |
| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:07 pm |
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Joined: 09 Apr 2005
Posts: 56
Location: Kentucky
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Gusto out of all the people on here you should understand where i am coming from. Everyday somebody starts some crappy company to make a buck off of skateboarding. They use words like extreme and sport and i think that all those crappy companies take away from the true skate industry. I sell lots of wood from all the major companies. I only carry 2 small companies in my shop. Both of which are skater owned companies and have real good wood.
Hell yes i sell more softgoods than anything just like every other shop.
65% shoes
10% clothes
25% hardgoods
I would rather not tell you the name of my shop because i don't want negative publicity.
But this guy says he is going to sell top quality extreme wood and also bmx, snowboards and some motorcross??????????????
And you are defending him!!!!!!!!!!!
What gives???????? |
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| Gusto |
| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:22 pm |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 20 Jun 2002
Posts: 9275
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BonesBrigade wrote:
I would rather not tell you the name of my shop because i don't want negative publicity.
But this guy says he is going to sell top quality extreme wood and also bmx, snowboards and some motorcross??????????????
And you are defending him!!!!!!!!!!!
What gives????????
why would you get neg publicity? are you embarassed of how you went off? on the internet its easy to be taken the wrong way and its easy to come off WAY too strong. hopefully thats all it was.
trust me, if you have a shop, everyone here is going to support you unless you personally screw one of us. 
i try to give everyone a chance. this guy may not have used the right words, but fuck...that doesnt mean we shouldnt at least see what he has to offer.
if he produces crap, he'll get called on it, and thats that. ill also be the first to say so along w/ everyone else.
but at least be willing to take a look...
personally...trying to dip your finger in all those markets is one hell of a task. its one hell of a wall to scale and i dont really see it being possible without some DEEP pocket backers.
i have no clue of the background of said person, he could be an old skater like all of us...or some new jack trying to cash in. i have a feeling which of those is the answer, but that is no reason to not at least see what he brings to the table. for all we know his son could be a skater and hes some middle aged old man trying to make something of quality. who knows. i surely dont.
he could have assumed we were the type to bite on keywords liek extreme...only to be shown thats not the case quickly  marketing tactics or some shit.
not to mention, theres so much knowledge here...maybe he can learn the do's and donts and start off on the right foot instead of ending up selling kmart boards. espescially when in reality, starting a business can make or break someone. i dont like seeing the latter happen to what seems to be good intentioned people.
you want to see people quit flooding the market with crap? HELP THEM so they wont produce crap! a place like this will show them what NOT to do, thats for damn sure.
that is all.
no harm, no foul. |
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| Area 51 |
| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:22 pm |
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Joined: 11 Mar 2005
Posts: 840
Location: Incredibly distant star
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The online vs. bricks-n-mortar is definitely an interesting debate. I guess I straddle the line as an aleady established storefront that has gotten into the online side recently.
I've seen both sides. The internet makes it seem like there's this thriving market in slalom/downhill/old school/vert/collectors etc. And there is, to an extent, but then you can order that stuff in and just watch it sit there while the same street decks fly out the door. Local shops simply are not going to sell a lot of that stuff offline, the customer base is too spread out except in perhaps the largest cities. So I understand why a lot of people buy online and why a lot of shops don't bother stocking it at all.
The one area where bricks-n-mortar stores can do better is special ordering. They don't put it out there that they have access to a lot of the gear so customers don't have to shop online and stores don't have to risk stocking product that doesn't move. But special ordering has it's own set of problems too, so there's no perfect system. |
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| lonegijoe |
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 6:18 pm |
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Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 76
Location: usa
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You are right. I saw a lot of wisdom/experience in this thread and was hoping to gain some of that knowledge from you all.
When I first read this thread I realized that for once I had run into some hard working and honest people who had a good idea how hard it is to start a business whether it be retailing as a store owner, skateboard company ,etc. I figured that if there was any place to get/give advice or pretty much rant and rave to people who would understand more than anyone, this would be the place. It kind of caught me off guard when the first response to my post pretty much told me to get lost.
I guess I came off wrong to a few people reading this thread , specifically Bones Brigade.
Bones,
I respect you for making the business work. I realize it takes a lot of effort and dedication. I really am excited about this business and want it to succeed more than anything so I can be involved in something I love. I appreciate your advice. I�ve learned to not use certain words that is for sure. Thanks.
I never thought this would be a quick road to riches and never wanted that. Selling decks to Wal-Mart never crossed my mind. I know like a lot of you know from experience that things take time. I also know that you have to have back up plans or sell other things to make it. IE: hard goods, soft goods, etc. I also know that I love to snowboard also. Right now my main focus is mostly on skateboards and a small line of apparel for the time being and it will probably stay this way for a while. When I talk about dreams I dream big. So far to come as far as we have it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication.I just don�t want these dreams to die. I have to keep on dreaming, keep on hoping. This means Countless hours of talking with customers, skaters, partners and amongst ourselves to decide products, and designs. Planning and trying to come up with more efficient board designs that skate better, and last longer(less/more concave, different woods and grains/ Shirt and clothing quality ,etc) It might not be 5 years or it might not be ten when things start to work but I know that I love skateboarding, I love the thrill I get from doing it and I know that in the few years I stopped that I missed it and my body craved for it. And as long as we can stay in business doing something we enjoy doing providing good quality gear , instead of being stuck at a desk job with a micromanaging boss then I�d much rather be doing that. We want this company to be more than just a name. I wish skateboarding competitions and shows were more abundant like they use to be and we are trying to bring all of the old buzz and excitement back.We are trying to help local kids spend more time at the skateparks instead of vandalizing local property. Some ways of doing this is having local competitions/demos. We want to help skaters fight to put up parks in locations that do not have one but desperately need a place to spend their time.
I have a baby on the way and In 6-7 years when my son is old enough to skate I want to be able to share something greater with him than just desk job stories. I want to show him what it feels like to have the wind at your back , to do a manual for the first time, I want him to know what it feels like to fall but to get back up after brushing off the dirt and do the same trick again but this time land it. I want him to know what it means to work hard for something and to never give up.
Speaking of Old School Skaters. We did a demo/mini skate contest a couple of weeks ago for the New ZBoys movie. Lynn Cooper showed up and we�ve been talking with him and a few other pros about setting up some near future tourneys up here. He�s a good guy and real helpful. We�ll also be working with some Skateshops and several other businesses to make this an awesome competition for the Local skaters.
Thanks for the advice.
Joe |
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| DomitianX |
| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:51 pm |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 28 Sep 2003
Posts: 2473
Location: Faribault, MN
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I think that you will find most of us around here are pretty cool folk. A few of us have online shops, a few of us have our own board companies, a few of us compete for the same boards on eBay. We all help each other out. People will back off auctions, some of us will refer customers, some of us will share advice on getting going, its usually a big happy family.
You will see that people like to bitch a alot, complain alot, and get over worked about stuff, but in the end its really all in fun. No matter how heated an argument gets around here, everyone has a beer in the fridge if they stop by my place. |
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| BonesBrigade |
| Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:32 am |
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Joined: 09 Apr 2005
Posts: 56
Location: Kentucky
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| houston |
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 3:41 pm |
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Joined: 30 Jan 2004
Posts: 127
Location: Tejas
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dan dickau wrote: So...my shop has been open for @ 6 months now; just longer than the life of this post so far.
We are open with 2 shoe companies, and the other big-time companies said they would sell to us once someone broke the ice. Well, that all changed when a chain of mall stores claiming to be skate shops threatened to cancel all of their sales if any more shoe companies sold to us. All of these shoe companies are happily in the pocket of this goliath, and the people behind these companies seem to have no respect for skateboarding.
Even one of the shoe companies that already opened us is claiming that their are now "territorial issues" because we are too close (3-4 miles) from one of the mall stores. This shoe company "forgot" to send us a catalog in time to pre-book this past week, and they haven't returned the last 3 phone calls that I made.
We opened a shop because these mall stores have monopolized my area for 15-20 years and have pushed many skater owned shops out of business. We're not trying to compete for their Bam board, bikini, flip-flop, and concert tee buying customers, but they just won't quit. I thought that I was gaining momentum, but every week there is a new border-line-law-breaking scandal to make us question our future.
Owning/operating a shop hasn't been as much fun as I hoped it would be.
as Evidenced by the responses I wouldn't believe it is going out on a limb to say this scenario is far from the norm. I don't see any other shops posting about similar expierences.
mark that down. Dan.. I hope I didn't make things worse when I started this thread. |
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| old_timer |
| Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 11:37 am |
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Joined: 06 Jun 2002
Posts: 5262
Location: Alabama
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BonesBrigade wrote: www.skateboardhouseusa.com
Oh yeah, I know this place. They let any white trash redneck from Alabama work there!!
(inside joke) |
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| BonesBrigade |
| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:28 am |
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Joined: 09 Apr 2005
Posts: 56
Location: Kentucky
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