The “AHAA!” moment at the ASR show came early for me. I’d just flown in from the SIA winter sports show in Vegas and literally walked in the door at ASR when I heard that the ubiquitous ASR Board Trac seminar had already started. I was fifteen minutes late. When I walked in, they were questioning ten “typical” […]
We Win. Now What? Ruminations on the Future of Skateboarding Read More »
The box on this page contains, as most of you are no doubt painfully aware, this year’s trade show schedule. Pretty intimidating. But of course it doesn’t include any key account presentations suppliers might have to make. Or regional shows. Or shoe shows, or bike shows, or toy shows or whatever other shows some suppliers and retailers might need
Well, At Least It Can’t Be Any Worse Next Year; The Trade Show Schedule Read More »
Look, I’m sorry about this. I’d really rather write about upbeat, happy stuff. It’s not my fault we’re in a recession, or are going to be in one, or whatever. I’m not making up these lousy economic statistics we’re seeing, you now. I don’t just sit here and pull them out of my ass, damn it. Sure, sure, everybody just
Stuck In A Rut; Another Recession Article Read More »
It has been a while—ten years actually—since we endured the lastr ecession back in ’90/91. But business cycles are pretty much immutable. What goes up must come down. “Regression to the mean” they call it in statistics. Two things have me especially concerned about our current situation. First, the economic rubber band is stretched
Well, I Guess It’s a Recession; Perspective on an Economic Downturn. Read More »
I’m sure that everybody who was in the snowboard business during the 1990-91 recession liked that one better than we’re going to like this one. Assuming, of course, that you even noticed the one in 1990-91. Ah, those were the good old days- when suppliers and retailers could sell whatever decks they could manage to get their
What To Do in a Recession? Hint: “Nothing” is the Wrong Answer Read More »
We were looking at a recession before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the tragedy raised the possibility (certainty in the minds of many) that the recession would be longer, deeper or both then it would otherwise have been. Economic activity has already rebounded since its nadir in the
It’s old news, of course, that we’ve gotten to the point in this industry where probably north of eighty-five percent of the snowboards sold come from a handful of brands, mostly made by ski companies with the usual exception. And if that concentration is not how we’d like it to be, it’s how it almost always
“Hey! How Come You’re Still Around?” Conversations With Survivors Read More »
Lousy time for a deadline. What am I going to say about ASR that seems relevant when what’s left of the World Trade Center towers is still burning? The most talked about issue at ASR seemed to be conjecture about what was holding up the girls’ low riser pants, and it suddenly doesn’t seem so compelling.
Another ASR. Anything to Learn Read More »
I know it’s because of crossover, and the mainstreaming of action sports, and because we’re selling to parents as much as to kids. I know all that. Largely, I believe it. I just did my occasional and not nearly frequent enough sojourn into a bunch of local snowboard retail stores, big and small, and looked at what they’re
Cash Flow Revisited; Why Hardly Any Successful Business is Just Snowboarding Anymore Read More »
I guess this is a little incestuous, but the idea for this column came from reading Sharon Harrison’s “Ten Shops, One Question” in the June issue of this prestigious rag. The question was “What type of bearings are skaters in your shop buying?” What struck me was how each retailer had similar, but different answers. It
Product Selection and Merchandising: The Blackjack Analogy Read More »