Sure, but “This image or video has been moved or deleted”…
tough times ahead im afraid
no huie we cant see the images mate
Huie, no sarcasm, really. Sorry if it sounded like it, I didn’t mean to. It’s just that your photos don’t appear, making it difficult to understand what you meant.
sorry balsa i dont know i can see everything
dont know??
THEY SHOULD BE THERE NOW LET ME KNOW
The clouds were on the horizon, years ago. This is the eye of the storm, somewhat calm, but raging all around us! Don’t buy corporate. Buy local, and buy custom. And IGNORE the ‘‘experts’’ in the magazines. Ride what you like, not what’s ‘‘fashionable.’’ It’s another way of voteing with your wallet.
Thanks, Huie, for posting this latest example.
22 location chain surf shop…carrying 10million in debt to creditors?
forgive my local insensitivities, but aren’t these the type of outfits people are told to avoid?
I don’t shop at PacSun for a reason…
Yeah, sounds almost corporate, doesn’t it?
And from the ashes the meek will rise and florish. I see a business opportunity, a surf shop starting, starting by eating the crumbs the big guys kick aside. Become the nuclear age roach of surfshops if you want to survive. Don’t sell crap surfboards, don’t sell crap wetsuits, limit you soft goods. Specialize in cool things like free diving gear, spear guns, game bags. Maybe even towboard stuff…sell blanks, resin, tape, glass, maybe do board rentals, ding repair. Become a watermans shop.
Mitch’s in La Jolla & Solana Beach. 2 locations…not 22.
Quote:
The clouds were on the horizon, years ago. This is the eye of the storm, somewhat calm, but raging all around us! Don’t buy corporate. Buy local, and buy custom. And IGNORE the ‘‘experts’’ in the magazines. Ride what you like, not what’s ‘‘fashionable.’’ It’s another way of voteing with your wallet.
Thanks, Huie, for posting this latest example.
Great post. The storm began as soon as surfing had to have a look and an attitude. When it lost the individuality and creativity that made it inspiring in the first place. That was almost right at it’s beginning and we are seeing the end result of having nothing but a name and marketing plan to sell.
sounds like a great idea. I’d go there. But fuck, you’d be a brave man (or have rich parents) to open a retail shop in surfing right now.
yea bill sorry about the headline it is a bit late ( but it was catchy)
i just got told the 6 once board store bondi. closes this month
they were preety much sole shapers boards
i went to the barn when they crunched me in the eightys
its the only safe place left.
huie
Tradition died a long time ago when boards from China and Thailand began to outnumber the REAL boards in shops by 3 to 1, built by the coolies working on the new railroad.
And the Gap between the mass market crap and the custom shape world begins to close more rapidly when Burton buys Channel Islands and replaces seasoned shapers with cheaper help finishing machined boards made with cheaper blanks to achieve optimum Price Per Unit and Return On Investment intersections, and “Legend” surfer shapers bro everybody as they show up at the factory to sign the stringers on $1000 custom surfboards built by ghost shapers.
To the mass surfing public for who surfing is sport, it matters not. When not in use, it hangs on the wall next to their snowboard, skiis, mountain bike, kayak, and other seasonal gear they share equal time with.
Real surfers ride real boards made by real shapers. That tradition will never go away, it will just become more and more the minority position in what has become a majority activity…
Quote:
Tradition died a long time ago when boards from China and Thailand began to outnumber the REAL boards in shops by 3 to 1, built by the coolies working on the new railroad.
And the Gap between the mass market crap and the custom shape world begins to close more rapidly when Burton buys Channel Islands and replaces seasoned shapers with cheaper help finishing machined boards made with cheaper blanks to achieve optimum Price Per Unit and Return On Investment intersections, and “Legend” surfer shapers bro everybody as they show up at the factory to sign the stringers on $1000 custom surfboards built by ghost shapers.
To the mass surfing public for who surfing is sport, it matters not. When not in use, it hangs on the wall next to their snowboard, skiis, mountain bike, kayak, and other seasonal gear they share equal time with.
Real surfers ride real boards made by real shapers. That tradition will never go away, it will just become more and more the minority position in what has become a majority activity…
Amen.
“I see a business opportunity, a surf shop starting, starting by eating the crumbs the big guys kick aside. Become the nuclear age roach of surfshops if you want to survive. Don’t sell crap surfboards, don’t sell crap wetsuits, limit you soft goods. Specialize in cool things like free diving gear, spear guns, game bags. Maybe even towboard stuff…sell blanks, resin, tape, glass, maybe do board rentals, ding repair. Become a watermans shop.”
This is the type of idea I have had for a few years now. I know the Idea is sound but how do you make it when just the rent would be $4000.00 a month? You are right about what the “big guys” are missing. Most of em don’t surf { some get out a dozen times a year or so just to look legit} and have a constant turnover of minimum wage kids representing your product. How can they know what “waterman” want when THEY don’t get it. It is just easier and more profitable to go along with the current business fashion trends. Most retailers are just looking for the easiest way to make money. They don’t have any real trade other than being in the middle between the customer and the manufacturer. Thats the system.
Quote:
“I see a business opportunity, a surf shop starting, starting by eating the crumbs the big guys kick aside. Become the nuclear age roach of surfshops if you want to survive. Don’t sell crap surfboards, don’t sell crap wetsuits, limit you soft goods. Specialize in cool things like free diving gear, spear guns, game bags. Maybe even towboard stuff…sell blanks, resin, tape, glass, maybe do board rentals, ding repair. Become a watermans shop.”
This is the type of idea I have had for a few years now. I know the Idea is sound but how do you make it when just the rent would be $4000.00 a month? You are right about what the “big guys” are missing. Most of em don’t surf { some get out a dozen times a year or so just to look legit} and have a constant turnover of minimum wage kids representing your product. How can they know what “waterman” want when THEY don’t get it. It is just easier and more profitable to go along with the current business fashion trends. Most retailers are just looking for the easiest way to make money. They don’t have any real trade other than being in the middle between the customer and the manufacturer. Thats the system.
There are a few retailers who do it because they love it and have a real job to pay their bills. Also…there are good shops still around. For me…I am not too sorry to see a big chain go…regardless of who owned it. You can bet there are a few small shops that didn’t make it or couldn’t get the lines because of the chain. I hear the one mentioned above was fairly ruthless in their approach also. Don’t know…but thats what I have heard and it’s kind of what the big boys do in any case.
Individuality, creativity and something worth selling are usually a good mix.
It’s funny ACE and Resinhead, I’ve toyed with that same idea (the watermen’s shop) before too. Limiting the shop to select high quality equipment for a variety of ocean-related activities: surfing, paddling, fishing, diving, bodysurfing, etc. Get rid of all the junk and the fluff and only stock stuff that you and/or your core customers believe in.
Apparently a few other folks have too because they’re are a couple of shops out there that take something close to this approach, not exactly, but they’re heading in a somewhat similar direction. Probably the two most well-known that come to mind is the Patagonia shop in Cardiff and the Wetsand Shop in Ventura. Neither sells surfboard building supplies (as far as I know), but they sell surfboards from quality shapers, paddleboards, spear fishing gear, etc. The clothes they sell tend to be from more environmentally responsible companies.
Of course, while both of these shops have some neat ideas, they’re tied to a bigger entity that probably helps to keep the shop afloat during lean times. There might be demand for more shops like this out in parts of CA, Hawaii, Australia, etc. but man, it would take some cojones to take it on as a small mom and pop-type establishment.
I know one of the regular posters on here has a shop that fits your bill pretty well in Ventura. He sells boards, wetsuits, accessories (i.e., fins, leashes, boardbags) and surfboard building supplies. Maybe a couple of t-shirts, but really, not much at all in the way of soft goods. I’d be interested to hear his take on this.
I don’t mean to sound like a jerk (which I guess is something a jerk would say) but the whole “waterman” deal is another marketing ploy and label designed to sell Product. I surf, paddle, and spearfish but I don’t call myself a waterman or need a one-stop store to sell me equipment and fair-trade, organic, 100% biodegradable t-shirts for $50 each. To me the whole concept sounds exactly like existing sporting goods stores: The Waterman’s Chalet! Waterman-Mart! Stores like wetsand and patagonia are selling a “lifestyle”. They are fine stores and I have nothing bad to say about them, but I wouldn’t buy a board from them. I am sure that they make the vast majority of their profits from soft goods and the boards are essentially just advertising to draw people into the shops. If you want an Eaton paddleboard, why not call Mike Eaton?
Someone working at a retail store isn’t going to be an expert on multiple pursuits. The thing to do is go right to the source for equipment. In CA and HI at least we are fortunate to have many options for local surf and paddleboard shapers and even specialized spearfishing/freediving gear stores. I value businesses that do one thing and do it very, very well.
I suspect the true Hawaiian watermen in the old days built their own gear anyway!