30 Shops: Jackson Hole’s Boardroom

mike lewis

• April 02 2009
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“30 Shops In 30 Days”  is our way of keeping a close eye on what’s happening with retailers across the country. Over the course of a month, we’ll feature a new, in-depth shop profile every day. To participate in “30 Shops,” contact us at business@transworld.net.  Stay tuned to TransWorld Business all month to follow our shop tour.

Boardroom
225 W. Broadway
Jackson, WY 83001
307.733.8327
boardroomjacksonhole.com

Located in the heart of Jackson, Wyoming, the Boardroom, with its main street mini ramp, has been a fixture on the scene since snowboarding’s early days. Marc Loebe, owner of the Boardroom, moved to Jackson 25 years ago for the riding, and has seen his share of good times and bad. We caught up with him to find out how the Boardroom’s single 2,200 square foot shop and the Jackson Valley are weathering the current economy.

How’s everything going?

Pretty slow, scary slow.

How much are you off?

Forty percent. I got scared this winter that I wasn’t going to be able to move stuff and I didn’t want to hold it. All the high priced stuff, snowboards, boots, bindings, were at least 15 percent off all winter. The same with my outerwear, it was 25 percent off almost as soon as I got them. I was asking them to take it back and not to send me anymore. I started seeing numbers in July, and then in September I knew it was bad. By mid-late October I put all that high priced stuff on sale. But goggles, beanies, gloves, hats, tune-ups, all that stuff was normal price.

What do you foresee happening?

It’s pretty tough. I’m hoping that by the end of the second quarter we’ll be starting to come up, I’d like that because summer’s big for me in a tourist town, I’d like to start paying back the money I owe, but I think it’s going to be in the third quarter that we start turning around.

Americans are optimistic people. We’re go-getters. We get after it. I think what’s going to happen, is when we can just start to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, we’ll try and squeeze through. Right now, we’re scared. We can’t see when it’s going to end. As soon as we can start seeing that, we’ll come around.

I like your outlook. Do you still have a lot of carryover left?

Yeah. Some stuff worked, some didn’t. Men’s jackets worked. Women’s didn’t at all. One of the shops that went down here was called Summit Surf and he was killing the kids market. When he went out of business I picked up some kids stuff and the outerwear bombed. I brought in a stuffed four way and three pieces sold. I still have it. It worked in streetwear, but not in outerwear. Same with women’s, streetwear for them did OK as well.

You have an online shop, right?

Yeah, I have a nice clean, easy to navigate site. You can move around there, if you’re looking for something, it’s easy to find. It’s about three years old. I have a little niche with split boards. We cut them up, I rent them, we make them. It’s $125-150 to do the labor. I buy Google adwords for it. It’s not making any money online, but it does create a little traffic and cash flow.

What percentage of your sales are online?

It’s tiny, less than five percent.

Is that something you’ll focus more on?

The big guys have it happening. The really big guys like Colorado Boarder and Tactics, those are the ones that can make it work.

What have been your top product categories this season?

Hoodies are good for us. For winter margins, snowboards is the top category, which kind of surprises me. And then men’s hoodies, men’s snowboard jackets, shoes is fourth.

For gross retail dollars, the top categories are:

Snowboards –10%

Hoodies - 7%

Men’s snowboard jackets - 7%,

Shoes –5%

Bindings - 5%

Boots –4%

Men’s snowboard pants –4%

Beanies –4%

It’s pretty well spread out.

What are your biggest categories in the summer?

Skate for sure. It’s skate hardgoods, shoes, and probably ball caps.

What about brands?

I’ve got my own stuff. That’s one thing I sell online that kind of works because I write Jackson Hole on everything.

What are your biggest streetwear brands?

Volcom’s probably our biggest, but I sell a lot of mine as well. The top brands according to my report are:

Volcom

Burton

Boardroom

Never Summer

DC

Sector 9

Smith

686

Element

Lib Tech

ThirtyTwo

We sold a fifth as much of our stuff as Volcom, that’s cool. The margins are way better and it looks better too! My stuff has to be top quality.

Makes sense, there’s a lot of gear-focused people up there?

Exactly, they want more bang for their buck. It can get pretty serious up here.

How are accessories moving?

I’m cleaned out in stomp pads. Goggles did OK. I’m cleaned out in gloves pretty much.

Who are your best reps?

My best rep isn’t a rep anymore. Keith Stewart was with Burton. He was honest, which is hard to find some times. That’s a tough job. They’re between a rock and hard place. The sales manager is all over the rep, ‘ten percent increases or you lose your job.’ Most of those guys don’t have enough integrity to tell you that’s the case.

There’s very few that will keep an open, honest communication with you. That’s key for any relationship. How simple is that? It’s an easy concept, but it’s hard to do.

Andy Wise at Globe has been good to me. He’s new, he was sub-repping 686 and Coal, and then he went on his own. He’s been standing tight. Brad Gobdel with DVS is also really good. He was doing Adio for a long time. Brad took over, and he’s on top of it. You email him and get an answer back today with everything from availability to returns.

Mike Gagliardi has always been solid.

Who is your competition here?

With everything, big box, ski, there’s five here in town and there’s half a dozen in Teton Village. I’m the only snow/skateboard only shop. There were three of us two years ago, but those guys couldn’t make it work. Illuminati was one of them. They just wrapped up last spring. All of the gear and clothing that they dumped at 80% off or whatever was tough. He dumped so many [boards]. If I didn’t have a shop, I’d probably run one though, it’s a local thing.

Is that a big part of business being off?

No, it’s a small factor. Everybody’s down - hotels, ticket sales, restaurants, everybody. We’re really dependent on tourists.

What sets you apart from your competition?

Customer service. I just won a newspaper award. It’s the best skate, snowboard, ski shop in the valley and we don’t even do skis. It’s from a local paper called The Planet. Tonight I get to pick it up and pin it up for all my competitors to see.

How do find staff with good skill sets?

You have to pick them, it has to be with them to start with. Most of the people that work for me, I’ve seen them work somewhere else and I let them know if they ever get rid of that job to come talk to me. You just watch for them, you can see how people work. Are they on it or are they just punching in and trying to fill hours.

I get compliments all the time, on the hill, in the grocery store: ‘Your staff’s so good.’ I get it all the time.

How do you keep them on the ball?

I set an example to them. If we’re jabbering and somebody walks in, it’s like bam, we’re not jabbering anymore. That customer is it. I’ve just got a couple employees and they like to help people out. They’re in it. They want to do the right thing for them, not just make money. That’s not the first thing. The first thing is this is a tourist town and we realize that we need those guys so we’ll help them with anything. ‘You need a place to eat or stay or something to go see or anything?’

Do you have any examples?

Matt takes a lot of time setting gear up. On my side it can be a little frustrating, but on the customer end, they are so stoked with all the time he took. He gets it set up ridiculous and takes it all the way and makes sure they understand. He’s got it dialed in down to a tee. Matt’s also our best local radio DJ – his name’s Terminator Matt.

Paige Jackson is one of those people when somebody comes in she lets them know she’s working and helps them feel comfortable. Paige will see people go after something and she’ll just get right in there: ‘This one’s cute, this would look good on you.’ Not pushy, just helpful: ‘what size you looking for, these are mediums here.’ She can get right in there with them.