I don’t follow Sport Chalet closely. But they said something in their 10Q for the December 29th quarter that related to some other ideas I’d seen on how the retail market is changing. I thought they might be worth talking about together. Sport Chalet’s Dilemma Sport Chalet operates 52 stores, 34 of which are in Southern […]
Sport Chalet and Ideas on the Retail Environment Read More »
Billabong reported their financial results for the six months ended December 31, 2013 last Thursday. I’ve been diving into a hoard of details they posted. After all of that, I think I’m going to end up spending a lot less time than usual on some of those details. That’s because I largely agree with a couple of
Billabong’s Half Yearly Report: Starting Over Read More »
Billabong’s announcement last week that it was, among other things, conducting a strategic review of SurfStitch and Swell caused me to focus on the similarities of its situation to Quiksilver’s. It also made me realize that most of what has been discussed publically by both companies is what I’ll call mechanical issues. I want to remind you
Billabong and Quiksilver; Two Peas in a Pod Read More »
So I confess. I’m from Seattle and there was no way in hell I was going to be on a plane Sunday while the Super Bowl was on. I left Saturday. But in my two days wandering the show, I had some thoughts I wanted to share with you. There was a bit more of a somber attitude
Thoughts from the SIA Show Read More »
As many of you know, Intrawest, the owner of Steamboat, Winter Park, Tremblant, Stratton, Snowshoe, Mammoth, and half of Blue Mountain, started trading as a public company on January 31. The initial offering price for the stock was supposed to be $15 to $17, but it ended up going public at $12 in a soft stock
Intrawest Officially Trading as a Public Company. What’s the Impact? Read More »
We sell a lot of apparel. It’s where we, as an industry, make somewhere between a lot to most of our money. We’ve benefited over many years from apparel prices that have risen slowly if at all, and certainly more slowly than inflation. This article demonstrates that. It further tells us that apparel prices have started to rise and
What Happens If (When?) Apparel Prices Rise? Read More »
I have written before about the value of Zumiez’s hiring, training, and promotion process. They take kids with a passion for the activities and brands their stores sell, train them, support them, make them compete with their peers, and promote the ones who succeed. The average age of store managers is something like 23 and pretty much
A Sustainable Competitive Advantage: The Zumiez 100K Read More »
Tilly’s quarter ended November 2, though the 10Q didn’t come out until later. I’m late writing this, but I thought there were a few things in it you might want to think about, especially given the holiday results and warnings from industry retailers. Just to be clear, I believe the country was over retailed even before
Tilly’s Quarter and the Retail Environment Read More »
Yesterday morning, I was in warm, humid, sea level Orlando for Surf Expo. After 14 hours of travel, I found myself at the cold, dry, and 10,000 feet high Keystone resort for the Zumiez 100K event. Whew. One beer was my limit with dinner last night, and then I went to sleep early. Agenda and Surf Expo are
Surf Expo from the 10,000 Foot Level- Literally Read More »
I’m somewhere in the middle of the country between the Agenda and Surf Expo trade shows at 30,000 feet. Before I talk about the sea change in skateboarding I saw at Agenda, I have a request. Will the powers that be at both shows please figure out how to not have the shows overlap? Please, no explanations
Agenda Show: The New Skate Business Model Read More »