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The View From Over There John Hildeburn’s take on the Japanese economy.

We e-mailed Hasco’s John Hildeburn a few questions about the state of the Japanese economy in October (just after the U.S. dollar fell like a rock against most currencies), to find out what the mood is in Japan. What he sent back was so interesting that we decided to run nearly his entire message. We think it provides an excellent synopsis of the current Japanese economy and how it’s affecting the snowboarding industry. Hasco is the Japanese distributor for Sims. John is also involved with Morrow Japan; Morrow Snowboard’s Japanese distributor.

SNOWboarding Business: Opinion in the U.S. paints the new Japanese Prime Minister Kyzazo Obuchi as being very ineffective. Does the average Japanese citizen hold out much hope that the government will make the right steps to solve the current crisis?

John Hildeburn: Many in Japan and the United States were saying that Japan’s new prime minister, Obuchi-san, is a useless compromise; a faceless bureaucrat who will soon disappear and nothing will change. Basically nobody likes this guy. Then suddenly there seems to be real progress, and a bank bailout package emerges with cap figures larger than Australia’s entire GDP the total value of all goods and services produced in one year. Go figure.

Without getting into some big treatise on the Japanese government, it’s probably useful to have a little background. Japan is run by bureaucrats and the politicians just kind of rubber stamp. By bureaucrats I mean the guys-and they’re all guys-in the Ministry of Finance (MOF) or Ministry of Industry and Trade (MITI) and other such governmental organizations.

As in any country, there’s a system by which government and big business work together. Many times in Japan a shipbuilder is also a bank is also an insurance company is also a real-estate holding company is also a trading company. A conglomerate like that has a lot of influence in the government. Just as R.J. Reynolds may have a friend or two-or 44-in the U.S. Congress, so Mitsubishi has a few bureaucrats to look out for them in the Japanese parliament.

This is an incredibly gross oversimplification, but if we understand that many banks in Japan are “hooked” up with groups of big companies and the big companies are “hooked up” with the government, it makes it easier to understand how they could get into such deep doo-doo. Basically they all loaned each other piles and piles of money to buy real estate and build buildings. This worked okay as long as the economy was growing and real-estate prices were increasing.

Remember when Japanese were buying Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach and pretty much the entire Hawaiian archipelago? Sean Connery was in Rising Sun and we were all freaking out that the United States was turning Japanese? Well that was just an aside to what they were doing in Japan.

But since 1989 real-estate prices have fallen by half (sometimes more). So all those loans are basically bad. They can’t and won’t be paid. And by the way it’s a great time to buy a condo in Kauai.

We used to have banking crises in this country every few years until the government started regulating as part of the New Deal. We had the S&L crisis in the 80s but the government bailed out or closed the bad banks. That was not really comparable to the monolithic, titanic f***-up the Japanese now find themselves in the midst of.

So, in your opinion how is the current economic/financial situation affecting the snowboarding industry?

When banks are in trouble it means everyone is in trouble. Businesses can’t get loans or they have to pay back the loans they have. Some banks are getting shut down, and bankruptcy rates in Japan are setting new records every month. It’s the worst situation since World War II, and it’s particularly severe for small businesses like specialty retailers.

Hasco, the outfit I work with, is in a relatively good position because they’ve been around a long time and our banks are stable. This is not the case for many of our competitors. But throughout the economy there are layoffs and business closures, and that means more people with less money to spend.

The remarkable thing is that Sims snowboard sales are actually increasing a bit. We lost some ground a couple years ago but that had less to do with the economy and everything to do with an industry-wide Japan feeding frenzy.

A lot of brands are toast in Japan now. Retailers facing iffy economic conditions don’t want to handle iffy brands. At the specialty level, the imported brands that are doing well are Burton, Salomon, Sims, and Forum. Other brands may still be visible, but they’re fading. A weaker yen has improved the situation for domestic brands like Mizuno, Yonex and Ogasaka (i.e. Rich Man).

But in general, less money to spend means less snowboards sold. The amazing thing is that snowboarding is still growing as a sport. Maybe people don’t buy a new board every year, but they’re still sliding in increasing numbers. With Sims we’re already sold out of several models. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we’ve finally shut off the flow of boards into the gray market. In this sense, Sims is the cleanest brand this year. Even gray-market Burton boards are widely available. That changes the retailer’s attitude in a big hurry. If he doesn’t have to discount everything to compete with the gray market discount ski and badminton dealer across the street; he’s stoked.

When the yen was trading in the 145 to the dollar range a few months back, did that greatly affect snowboard shops and/or manufacturers in Japan?

The yen trading in the 145 to the dollar range wasn’t a few months ago, it was a few weeks ago. It looked like it would hit ¥150 and yes, it scared the snot out of us.

It helped the domestic manufacturers like Yonex, Ogasaka, Mizuno and hurt the importers like us. Basically it’s not good for shops and distributors who make a living out of hawking imported goods, because the retail prices have to go up.

Suddenly this week in October the dollar has fallen faster than me trying to huck a Michaelchuk. Biggest three-day swing in 27 years and the exchange rate now seems to be wavering around ¥115 to ¥120. This is apparently not so much a function of Japan getting better as it is an acknowledgment that the U.S. economy cannot continue to grow like it has.

This means people all over the world who have been throwing their money into the U.S. markets are beginning to get out. If you get out of a dollar investment, it means you’re selling dollars. More dollars for sale means cheaper dollars means stronger yen, relatively speaking.

If I had to guess I’d say the yen will settle around ¥125 to the dollar, but what do I know? If I were really smart, I’d be rich. Right? By the time your next issue comes out the exchange rate could be anywhere.

President Clinton says part of the solution to the Japanese financial problem includes a greater degree of deregulation of the economy and the opening of the national market. So, do snowboard manufacturers stand to ultimately gain by the current situation?

Yeah, and two weeks ago he said he didn’t have sex with Monica Lewinsky.

So, deregulate what? If the banks had been more effectively regulated, Japan wouldn’t be in this whole mess. Japanese economic deregulation and ending protectionism are things the United States has been demanding since Vin Scully started saying, “Get your hands on a Toyota,” right after his bit about Farmer John at every Dodger game.

Clinton has to say those things because it’s the capitalist creed. It’s like Reagan talking about the “Evil Empire” twenty years ago. Now the Evil Empire is gone. We have to bitch about something.

After World War II, the United States helped Japan set up a projectionist trade regime. The country had been destroyed by the U.S. Air Force and we didn’t want it to go Commie, so protectionism combined with credit were used to stimulate the rebuilding of domestic industry in the hope that it would create jobs and develop a modern market economy. I think we can say this strategy was somewhat successful-Japan has the second largest economy in the world now.

By the 70s, the Japanese should have started opening up. They’ll say they did and to some extent that’s true. In the long run, they have to change because to do otherwise is just stifling their own growth. Many say that failing to reform is why the whole program ran out of gas in 1989.

But it’s never that simple. Eliminating protectionism always requires burning someone. Usually that very same someone is busy stuffing the politicians’ or bureaucrats’ pockets with cashish. Right now is not the moment to expect the Japanese to de-protect or deregulate anything. They kind of have a lot going on with this bank thing. De-protecting also involves throwing people out of work and with unemployment at a postwar all-time high, it just ain’t gonna happen.

Anyway, in our little world it’s not that big of an issue. There’s no duty on snowboards. There is duty on outerwear-around thirteen percent-and yes, that’s to protect domestic manufacturers like Fenix, Descente, Mizuno, Itohchu-none of whom need any protection.

For the purposes of the snowboard business, the real question has to be: “Why is the snowboard industry hurting so bad?” Then we start getting into the real shit and, unfortunately it involves some hard, cold truths about some of your advertisers.

Declining economic conditions in Japan are a small part of the overall story. What I’ve learned the hard way is you can’t make any profit if you have an industry that insists on producing more than it can sell. This isn’t a complicated concept.

For example, if you build a snowboard factory to produce 200,000 or more boards a year-but only have orders for 60,000-you have a problem.

In trying to reach economies of scale you may make too many boards. If you do, they’ll inevitably be gray marketed (and not just to Japan) and your customers/distributors will bum. The value of your brand will erode, your business won’t grow, and your banker will not be stoked.

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• December 01 1998 | 83 views

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The Designers Speak

Some board ideas for 1999/2000.

John Moore, Sims Snowboards

After five years developing hardgoods for Sims in Canada, Europe, and the United States, John Moore has settled into his position as snowboard product manager in its Seattle, Washington headquarters. His job includes dealing with every part of the board design from the artwork to the economics of the business. SNOWboarding Business talked design trends with him recently. Here’s some excerpts from that conversation:

Where do your board design inspirations come from?

We have a vast amount of resources to draw upon for that, including riders, reps, retailers, and anyone who’ll give us feedback. I know I’m in a vortex here in Seattle and don’t travel that much-maybe three months out of the year-and I put a West Coast spin on designs because we ride big mountains. So I have to rely on people in other areas to give us feedback to see if a board works in different parts of the country.

Our team riders give us a lot of feedback, but for a while we had the same riders and they were saying the same thing over and over and things stagnated. Now we have some new riders and some of our mid-level riders are giving personal feedback like I’ve never heard before.

It’s tough because everyone can give feedback, but you can’t compare what one rider says to what another rider says because it’s so personal. So you have to take it all individually. We try to get riders to say what the problem is with a board, and not just say that the board doesn’t turn well so it needs more sidecut. They aren’t accounting for all the variables that will make a board change.

Board shapes have stabilized right now. Snowboards have become almost a commodity with them all looking the same, and that will allow us to get ahead on the design front. All the shapes are the same, but the materials aren’t the same and there’s a lot to be done with those, flexes, and torsion.

What are some of the trends for next year?

Companies have been defining their boards as freeride, freestyle, and carving. Recently people have started calling their boards freeride/freestyle boards because riders are doing both. We’re calling the category fullride. It’s basically all-mountain riding and it’s what everyone needs and wants now with their boards.

I think the trend with boards getting longer has about peaked and we’ve hit the optimum size. Boards won’t go over 160, but will stay around 158, 159, or 160.

But we’re seeing it grow just a little bit more with one of our boards, the new Project Hex FC. It’s a super high-end, super-light, super-stiff board made of carbon. It’s so light and stiff that riders need to ride a longer version of it than what they’re used to.

I think there will still be a lot of changes in the flex of boards. I’ve studied it a long time and think that most boards right now have similar flexes. They have softer tips to initiate turns and stiffer tails to ollie. With Mark Fawcett, we developed the Burner race board that had a really stiff nose and soft tail. We’ve now taken that to the Daytona, a freeriding board, that has a centered stance, with stiff nose and softer tail. It’s meant to be ridden forward. There’s still a lot to do with camber, torsion, and flex of boards.

John O’Conner, Ride Snowboards

After working at Ride for four and a half years, John O’Conner recently became Ride’s product line manager for snowboards. In the past he worked in conjunction with Ride’s board designer Jason Kasnitz, but took over full-time with Kasnitz’s recent departure from the company. SNOWboarding Business asked him a few questions about next year’s board trends.

Where do your design inspirations come from?

We have one person, Bernard Gervasoni, working full-time on the future, looking for the next best thing like the Timeless board was. He’s trying to find the best thing in design, materials, whatever. He has his own budget and sometimes wastes a lot of money going down a dead-end road.

Then he shows us the ideas and our group will see if they will work from a marketing and team-rider perspective. We’re constantly working on things like the tip-to-tail woodcores, swing weight, and other ideas.

We have some new ideas that we’ve put on the snow already but if they were out now they would get laughed right off the hill because they’re so far out there. There definitely has to be a progression with the designs.

What are some of the changes in the line for next season?

We’re making more specific shapes in tune with what riders need. If they have larger feet, want to ease into a turn, want something that turns faster, or is stiffer, we’re trying to design it. We’re pretty much splitting hairs on the shapes now.

But have you over-specified and forgotten to make a good all-around board?

You still have the classic all-around shape, but riders and retailers are more educated and are aware of what boards do and how they perform. If someone has big feet, he knows he needs a big board. But he still wants a board that will float through powder all day and won’t get too heavy, but still has a good sidecut for turns and will still be able to handle in the park at the end of the day when the powder is all gone.

Materials in boards are changing so much that it takes a long time to test them and see if they work. We’re also changing the shapes at the same time, but they’re a bit easier to figure out if they work or not. An accomplished rider will know after the first run or so whether a shape works. But you have to work at both simultaneously.

It sounds like it can get pretty complicated.

I’m probably making it sound more like rocket science than it really is, but that’s why every company has a house at Hood all summer.

What are some of the basic trends for the next season?

More full-length woodcores, what we call three-dimensional cores, dampening, torsional stiffness. These are some of the different buzz words you hear people talking about now.

We’re also working more on sidecuts and getting away from radial sidecuts. You’ll see a lot more quadratic sidecuts, similar to what skiing did a couple of years ago with their super-sidecut skis. These will put the fun back in the sport and just make riding easier.

-John Stouffer

Boots Preview

Where do designers find inspiration?

By Sean O’Brien

Maurizio Molin is the primary snowboard boot designer for Northwave. He initially got into the footwear industry after winning a design competition held at his school in Padova, Italy. He started snowboarding eight years ago, because “I was getting tired of skiing.” Five years ago, Molin went to work at Northwave in Montebelluna. He’s 29 years old.

How far in advance are you designing boots?

Molin: We have prototypes going for ‘01/02-so usually about two years forward. It gives us the time to fully develop and test the boots.

Do you start entirely from scratch or do you update the previous year’s models?

I start by planning a collection for the year. Then we begin development on the most complex boot, and work our way from there. If we decide to change construction or cosmetics on an existing boot, we look at the collection as a whole and then see how those changes affect the line.

What are your primary considerations when designing a boot?

We listen to a lot of rider feedback. I get together with a group of riders over the season, and gather their feedback on the different boots. We want to make boots the riders are going to like, before we begin thinking about the marketing and sales.

What design influences do you use to choose the look and colors of the models?

I think I’m pretty lucky because designing shoes gives me the opportunity to take in all kinds of design and form as my inspiration. I’m always painting, drawing, and going to museums whenever I can.

This year it was a lot of car colors and designs-like the new Audis and Mercedes. I try to go inside the mind of the designer and figure out the essence of their concept. For me, I try to put a lot of art into the design of our boots.

Is there a balance between good style and performance?

Yes, because all of our technical pieces have a design to them that becomes the basis for the boots’ style.

Does binding shape and type affect your design?

Yes, especially with Drake. You can see the same design perspective in the boots as in the bindings. We exchange a lot of ideas about shapes and colors.

What are the major design and performance trends retailers will see from Northwave when they attend the SIA Las Vegas show?

To make a boot that shows its technical performance features in the overall design of the boot. We’ve taken a lot of the internal performance features and brought them to the outside as design elements. I like clean shapes and geometric designs.

Jamie Meiselman, Burton’s soft-boot product manager, has been tinkering with snowboard boots design since the late 80s when he experimented with a hard/soft-boot concept that was years before its time. Before taking the job at Burton, Meiselman worked at TransWorld SNOWboarding and SNOWboarding Business and was the North American sales manager for Generics and Blax.

Who comes up with new boot models at Burton?

Meiselman: It’s truly a team effort-there’s never just one person who comes up with everything. We have our industrial-design team, our graphic-design team, and then, of course, our team riders.

The team is probably the most influential group and we definitely bounce a ton of ideas off them about style and fit. Burton makes a point to talk about how the company is rider driven, so it makes sense to have them extremely involved.

Boot design definitely starts with the last, which means our industrial designers are responsible for getting the process started. We keep the different groups pretty separated-mostly because the engineering behind the designs is becoming incredibly sophisticated. The graphic design team handles the color combination and details like lace pulls and logos, but it’s the industrial design team that actually comes up with the shape of the boot and how it fits.

How far in advance are you designing boots?

Paul Maravetz, the director of the advanced product development team, works on ideas and technology that are more than two years out. It’s pretty amazing to see some of the things he’s working on. But officially, we’ve already been working on the 2000/01 line for quite a while now. But we also have the flexibility to make last-minute tweaks and changes. Production starts in January for delivery in August, and we really can make some changes as late as November.

How important is fashion to snowboard-boot design?

The trend we’ve been working on is definitely away from fashion. In the last couple of years, the entire snowboard market has been trying to capture and define the latest fashion trend. This year, our emphasis is on engineered solutions and a more scientific approach to flex. We’re really devoting time quantifying the flex patterns of boots.

Why is flex so important, and what are you doing differently?

What we’re actually going to be doing is still kind of secret, but the approach we’re taking is that it’s like a snowboard, you want even, consistent flex. We’re working on individual flex pattern for different boots. Most patterns have been the result of the how the boot was put together. We want to actually build a boot with a specific flex pattern that will maximize power and control-and yet be durable and supportive.

What other trends will we see from Burton?

Things are really moving quickly. Really, it’s the board market that’s pretty stagnant. But with the advancements in footwear technology we’ve seen from Nike and other companies, the future is wide open for boot development.

Another direction is the integrated development of boot with binding, where the highback will match the boot and prevent pressure points. Of course, you could ride any boot with the binding, but the models that integrate with the binding will obviously fit better.

In terms of style, there are a couple different directions we’re going. We’re seeing demand for the conservative plain-leather look and several markets still want skate-shoe detailing. But to be honest, from a philosophic point of view, we’re over the whole skate-shoe direction. We’re capable of better. We shouldn’t be following anyone, we should be melding different looks and leading-no blatant modeling.

What’s weird is that the designs are all over the place. Jason Brown, a young skate-type pro, is riding step-in. It’s all over the place.

Apparel Preview

Input from top designers on what we’ll see next season.

By Robyn Hakes

Jose Garcia is the senior designer for Convert, Columbia’s snowboard line. This is his first year designing for the brand and he’s been at it for over six months. Before taking the job with Columbia, he worked in Fila’s activewear division designing tennis, golf, and activewear. Prior to that he designed custom apparel for hip-hop artists.

What are some of the trends you’re seeing in snowboard apparel for ‘99/00?

In general, I’ve seen more technical fabrics, lighter weight with subtle texturing. There’s a lot of fabrics coming out of Asia featuring full-dull yarns that don’t have a lot of sheen. That’s what a lot of manufacturers are requesting. For colors, grays are hot, blues are still in with a few accents in fashion hues-bright, in-your-face. Also army utilitarian colors will be used.

For sizing, there’s more of a technical approach. For backcountry you need a lot of room in the chest so we’ve added chest-entry pockets. And with pocketing, we’re seeing a new interest in utilitarian styles, stacking of pockets, giving them a new twist to keep the interest up.

What are some of the changes to your line for the coming season?

We’re introducing a new logo for Convert for fall ‘99. We’ve improved a lot of little things such as rubber pulls and tabs on cuffs that are easier to grab when you have your gloves on. The fit is new also.

We’re adding a hand warmer and utility stash pocket on the pants as well, and internal pockets for goggles and more.

Where do your inspirations and ideas come from for design?

Everyone who works on the product rides, so the design took a big turn this season. I like to research the automotive industry, the fashion industry, and I even look at golf for its attention to detail. I personally try to look at everything involved and look at other industries to get new ideas.

Andy Wightman is the product manager for Sessions snowboard apparel. He’s been working in that capacity for six years and is primarily in charge of implementing and engineering design ideas.

What are some of the trends you see in the outerwear market for ‘99/00?

People are really over the oversized, baggy thing. Sizing is more traditional. Not exactly fitted, but closer to the body yet still roomy enough to layer.

Colors are brighter, yet not radically bright like early 80s neon. Brighter blues, yellows, reds, not the earthy or neons-but more primary shades. We’re seeing the sixteen pack of crayons, not your basic eight or your broad 24.

What are some of the changes to your line?

The ‘99/00 line offers better value, performance, improved functionality, and overall improvement to existing features.

We’ve taken complaints we’ve heard and re-engineered the clothes to take out that ten-percent nuisance factor to make those improvements.

Customers are getting more for their money. Better fabrics, more functionality, more features in the lower-price categories. We’re addressing the specific needs of the women’s and kids’ markets as well.

Where do your inspirations and ideas come from for design?

Styling really comes from a few people within the company. A lot of design and style comes directly from the owners Cindy Busenhart and Joel Gomez because they have great experience and understanding of the market.

Joel and Cindy’s influences come a lot from the sporting-goods industry in general along with the athletic look that’s really popular right now. Any performance-oriented sport out there from car racing to basketball to hockey. But that’s just for the look and style of the garment, not functionality.

Sessions philosophy is to have good clean designs full of life, energy, and visual appeal. Simple and clean, nothing too wacky or crazy.

The team also has a lot of input. The more they’re encouraged and rewarded, the more they’ll offer their input. We’ve implemented an in- house rep program that also helps with design. We get feedback from reps on the spot and they never hesitate to pass along both compliments and complaints from the retailers.

Roger Sgarbossa is the co-owner/designer for Swag, Prom,and Twist snowboard lines. He started Swag in 1991, then Prom in 1994, and this is his second year designing the Twist line.

What are some of the trends your seeing in snowboard apparel for ‘99/00?

Cleaner designs that’re more functional, though people have really reached a level for functional outerwear. Almost every jacket in a line has to have functional features.

Silhouettes are more refined, meaning not necessarily fitted but better sizing. Fit is getting better.

We’re also seeing the functionality of women’s apparel really stepping up, as it has for the last couple years.

What are some of the changes to your lines?

Simpler styles. A fewer number of styles. We’re focusing in on one really good piece. Simpler color blocking. And we’re fine-tuning the existing technical features, moving stuff around, but not adding anything drastically different.

Where do your inspirations and ideas come from for design?

A lot of it comes from what we’ve done in the past. We use that of as starting point. We use a lot of our riders input on colors and what works and what doesn’t work. I don’t really look outside the industry much, like fashion or other industries. I think we’ve done snowboard apparel long enough to have fairly well evolved.

We also sent out a survey to kids. I bring all that research together and then put it into my view. I’ll come up with 200 or more designs and then we’ll choose what works. It’s a weeding-out process, fine-tuning the designs.

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• December 01 1998 | 86 views

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In Through The In Door: Popular promotions used by snowboard retailers

“The business of America is business,” said Calvin Coolidge, and who are we to argue? The business of a snowboard retailer is business too, attracting more and more of it to your store in ways that are cool, fun, and service all involved: the customer first, but also the manufacturers, suppliers, local mountains, store employees, and the sport and industry in general.

SNOWboarding Business wanted to find out if retailers had any devious promotional strategies for luring customers through their doors. Promotions ranged from the simple to the gargantuan. In between we found lots of ideas for snowboard retailers wanting to attract some attention and some dollars to their store.

The Swap Sale

Of all the promotions we found, the swap sale was one of the most popular. At O’Neill Surf Shop in Santa Cruz, California, Andrew Walford says swap sales work well for his shop. “Our swap is the weekend before Thanksgiving,” he says. “People bring in their old snowboards, boots, or other gear, and put them on consignment in the shop parking lot. If it sells we cut a check for them, or they can spend the money on in-house product. We’re providing them a service and they’re turning around and supporting the store.”

In Southern California, Hansen’s Boardroom employs the same strategy-although they take a little off the top. “We have a thing in October called the ski swap,” says Retail Sales Associate Kevin Cooper. “People bring their used ski and snowboard gear and we put our own tags on it. If they sell it we keep fifteen percent and they get the rest. We always put last year’s stuff out at a discount, which is a good way to get rid of extra inventory. Our ski swap attracts hundreds of people. They’re out looking at all the old stuff, but inside we have all the new stuff and a lot of times people just decide they want what’s current, so they’ll come in and buy. But it’s the ski swap that attracts them. It works.”

The Consumer Expo

A step up from the swap sale is the consumer expo. “We invite various manufacturers to come and set up ten-foot by ten-foot booths in front of our store,” says Anthony Scaturro of EZ Rider in Burlington, Massachusetts. “It’s set up like a buyer’s trade show, but geared toward consumer product. Along with the booths we have a barbecue, live bands, and DJs playing music all day long. We set up a street skateboarding course and the Waterville Valley Ski Resort brings down a halfpipe.”

The expo attracts approximately 2,500 people over two days. “The reps talk all day about their construction techniques and all the unique qualities of their product. The consumers get their heads filled with all the different materials, constructions, and styles of riding.”

When those people sort out all the information and decide to buy, they usually come back to EZ Rider. “It’s very successful and worth it all the way around,” says Scaturro. “People have a good time and learn a lot. They ask about it all year.”

Cal’s Pharmacy likes to be different, according to a store employee called Bird, and that distinctiveness extends to participating in a local Portland consumer expo.

“We do the show right before the holidays for the new season,” Bird says. “One year we built a Japanese garden with a little pond and a bridge with snowboards inside. Last year we did a big Russian Constructivism thing. It was a big building in the middle of the show. We had all our products on display inside, and it attracted a lot of attention to our store. We just try to be a little different, but I think people appreciate that.”

Thinking Big

Princeton Ski Shop services the metropolitan New York area, so it has to think big. “We rent Giants Stadium the second week in November and have a huge ski and snowboard sale,” says Princeton Owner Jack Meyers. “We buy discontinued boards from manufacturers at reduced rates and sell them at ridiculous prices. The manufacturers send reps and we bring in celebrities from time to time. We have refreshments and it’s a pretty big sale.”

Princeton rents the Giants Club, which is an indoor space of about 50,000 square feet. Meyers estimates last year’s attendance at about 45,000 people. “We do it Monday through Saturday. We’d go into Sunday, too, but New Jersey still has Blue Laws, so we can’t be open on Sunday.” Meyers wouldn’t say how much money the sale raises, other than that it was, “a lot.”

The Easter Board Hunt

The Easter Board Hunt is the most unusual promotion we found, and one of the coolest. It is a mature version of the traditional Easter egg hunt. Marc Loebe, the owner of Boardroom of Jackson Hole, came up with the idea last winter, and has been congratulating himself for it ever since.

Last Easter, Loebe hid a Lib Tech Doughboy model snowboard in one of the patrol shacks on the mountain at Jackson Hole. He then left a series of seven clues scattered all over the mountain, one clue leading to the next, eventually leading to the hidden board.

“We had about 50 people of all ages and sexes involved in this thing, and I wanted to make it fair,” says Loebe. “You had to ride at least one lift for every clue, and I made people go all over the mountain, and it’s a big mountain. There was a bit of luck and digging involved.”

Loebe adds that he didn’t feel any immediate effect on his business after the East Board Hunt, but that it created goodwill. “People had a lot of fun hunting down that board,” he says, “and I’ve been asked about it all year. I imagine next year’s hunt will be much larger.”

A Strong Team

George Johnston, general manager at Milo Sport in Salt Lake City, Utah, uses the straight forward technique. “I guess we’re kind of boring,” he says. “We do direct mail off our mailing list to people who have purchased from us before. We do a video premiere at the beginning of the season at the University of Utah,” he says

Johnston says that Milo’s strongest promotional asset is having a strong team. “As far as shop teams go we have one of the strongest in the country-J.P. Walker, Jeremy Jones, Jason Murphy, Brandon Ruff, Timmy Osler, Tanino Copene, Mikey Leblanc,” he continues. “These guys display Milo everywhere they go, and that creates word of mouth. We think there’s no better advertising than word of mouth.”

The Halloween Bash And The Thanksgiving Turkey

Jay Erickson of Alternative Bike and Board in Minneapolis, Minnesota believes sales are bad for the industry, so his store puts on a couple of fun, no-pressure bashes around the holidays to attract people and get them looking at new product.

“We have a newsletter called Whiteout that’s mailed to about 3,000 snowboarders in Minnesota and Wisconsin,” he says. “Whiteout promotes all the different things we do in our shop. Every year we have a Halloween bash. We don’t put any new product on sale. Only last year’s stuff is discounted. They’re more like parties-we offer free pop and candy.”

For the Halloween bash Erickson brings in a 720 skateboard arcade game. “It’s a relic from the 80s that uses a joystick and a button, but people really get into it, and we have competitions,” says Erickson. “We also put a trampoline out back and people compete with that. We do snowboard tune-ups while you wait and we hand out antenna balls and stickers.”

Shop-Sponsored Snowboard Trips

Pro Sports New York is a specialty skate, snow, surf, and wakeboard shop in the heart of New York City. Space is very tight and they’ve found the best way to promote the store and snowboarding is to provide one-day snowboard trips to the local mountains. “Once a season we’ll organize trips to the U.S. Open in Vermont at Stratton Mountain,” says store employee Daniel Benzaken. “But in the winter we provide one-day trips to Hunter Mountain in the Catskills, which is about a two-and-a- half hour bus ride from the city.”

PSNY charges 55 dollars for the Saturday trips, and that includes the bus ride, breakfast, and a lift ticket. “We use those big, luxury buses, which are comfortable, have bathrooms, and video screens. On the way up we’ll show snowboard videos and maybe raffle a snowboard or some other gear. If people need a lesson they can get that and a limited-access lift ticket for the same 55 dollars.”

Benzaken says the trips are very popular in New York City and are generally full through the winter. Other specials PSNY offers are 25-dollar snowboard rentals. Customers can apply three of those rentals toward the purchase of new equipment for a 75-dollar discount. PSNY also provides lifetime service for all the equipment they sell.

Video Premieres

A video premiere is an inexpensive and fun way to get the blood pumping at the start of the season.

Greg Groves, owner of The New Ground in Edmonton, Alberta likes to host video premieres. “We rented a big movie theater in Edmonton and had about 200 people there,” he says. “Not crazy but a good stoke session none the less.

“Two seasons ago we showed Subject: Haakonsen, TB6, Simple Pleasures, and Steak and Lobster,” he continues. “We made it cheap, like four dollars, because it was just a promotion. We gave away snowboards and product and got everyone amped.”

Races

Promoting a race or a freestyle event at a local mountain is a good way of putting the finish line at the door of your store. Boardsports of Eugene, Oregon does a variety of promotions: local advertising, a snow phone, and a snow update on the local radio station. Boardsports also likes to promote races on the local mountain, according to Rain Couture. “We’ve done everything from slalom to freestyle for people from five years old to 50. We did a couple GS events last winter, but people seem to like the freestyle events more.”

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• November 01 1998 | 133 views

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Northwest Report

The perks for full-time employees are significant at Powder House in Bend, Oregon. “The six full-time employees are on a base salary plus commission,” says employee Julie McCuen. “We get a ten-day ski pass, health insurance, six weeks of vacation, and a yearly trip to the Caribbean.”

There are also four to six part-time employees who make six- to ten-dollars an hour with no perks beyond that. “Most of the full-time employees have been with the store for ten years,” says McCuen, who works full time. “Why would they want to leave with perks like that?”

At the Sled Shed in Rexburg, Idaho the starting hourly wage is average ($5.50), but the spiffs are good, says Manager Brian William. The shop has a small staff of one manager and two part-timers. “We’re in a college town and the turnover is pretty high,” he says. “However, we have good employee discounts, family discounts, pro purchases are encouraged, and we get free a season pass to Grand Targhee.”

Board Bin Owner Jim Slanetz has an unusual problem. The shop, located at the base of Sun Valley in Idaho, attracts overqualified employees: “One employee had finished law school and passed the Bar and wanted to take a year off. Another was a college graduate.” This makes for high turnover, he says.

In winter, Slanetz usually employs three part-timers who are paid between six and eight dollars an hour. Season passes at Sun Valley cost 1,500 dollars-too expensive for a perk-but Slanetz can offer employees a season discount card that allows them to buy the 50-dollar lift tickets at half price. Of course, the store also offers 30-percent discounts for off-the-shelf merchandise, and at-cost deals for product orders.

Ride On Snow & Skate Owner Jeff Bucy likes to start his part-time employees out at between eight and ten dollars an hour: “If you’re getting ten, you’re the man. You know all the products, you’re opening and closing the store, the works.”

The shop, located in Redmond, Washington, currently has one full-time employee and one part-timer.

“Employees get passes for Alpental or Stevens Pass-whichever they live closest to,” says Bucy. “Of course, they get all products at cost if they pre-order it from me. I also like to spread the kick downs from the reps. A lot of companies sell Rep kick downs, but I think it’s better to get the product out on people who are using it in a hurry.”

Art Couture, owner of Boardsports in Eugene, Oregon employs six snowboard staffers. The other five employees work the windsurfing rental and training business. “There are four full-timers who are on salary; part timers start at six dollars an hour-which is minimum wage here,” he says.

Full-time employees receive health insurance, and Couture likes to give bonuses during the year: “I might give everyone 100 dollars at Christmas for example.”

Of course, all employees get discounted shop merchandise and freebies from reps. “We also get two free tags for our local hill-Willamette Pass-and we make sure we share them among employees,” he says.

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• October 01 1998 | 244 views

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Dryve Expands Factory

The Dryve factory started in a cramped room-barely large enough to hold a snowboard press-in the corner of Bruce Witkin’s auto-body shop back in 1995. Then it expanded out-and up. Soon it was crowding the line of cars waiting to be painted.

“Back in 1996, when everyone was making snowboards, people used to laugh and say, ‘He makes his snowboards in an auto-body shop!’” says Witkin. “That’s okay-at least I’ve proven that I can run a business.”

But this past summer Dryve Snowboards finally got a home of its own, in a new 12,000-square-foot factory across the parking lot from the shop. Witkin says he plans to build a showroom where a full collection of the boards Dryve has made will be on display. The showroom will also include a computer with flatbed scanner where customers can design custom board graphics.

Large windows throughout the planned showroom give visitors a good view of the new factory floor, where Dryve’s sandwich-constructed boards will be made. “With the new shop and showroom, OEM customers can pick out board shapes and graphics and before they leave they’ll be able to see their design-complete with logo and graphics-print it out, and take it with them,” says Witkin. “We’re also hoping riders visit the factory where they can be fitted for the right board and then directed to one of our retailers.”

Last year, Witkin made snowboards for Dannon Yogurt and Dannon Water, KROQ, X-103.9, Sol Cerveza, Random Snowboards, and the Morgan Stanley Technology Group. This year, plans are also in the works for Pontiac and other large corporations. All of this is in addition to the house brand. “I’d like to grow both my OEM business and the Dryve brands,” says Witkin, mentioning that he’s considering going factory-direct this year.

A true entrepreneur, Witkin started his auto-body business with the help of his girlfriend who worked at an insurance agency. She sent customers to Witkin’s home where he would do car repairs. From this humble start he’s built a million-dollar business. A passionate snowboarder and wakeboarder, the 48-year-old Witkin points with pride to his metal-screw supported legs: “I’ll ride as hard as anyone.”

With the consolidation hitting small manufacturers hard, Witkin says his corporate OEM partners, as well as his auto-body shop, give him the financial flexibility to continue to build great boards and keep riding.

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• October 01 1998 | 1 views