Does anyone on this list own a surf shop? I am thinking of starting one up. THere is a serious gap where I live. I also want to be able to support local shapers by offering their boards (as well as mine). I need desperate advice though. If someone will be great and e-mail me I’d be forever in your debt. Tom
If you build your own boards why in the world would you put anyone elses in your shop, just confuses the customers. Why is your board not as good as this other board sitting next to it? Get ready to starve in the winter and Barely make anything during the summer while working your butt off in the process. After a few years of eating fish sticks you might can make a decent living.
Don’t believe anything a rep tells you. Watch your dollars very close. You don’t need the cadillac location. Lower rent is more important along with the content of your shop. Don’t buy every brand buy just a couple and go deeper with them otherwise your shop will look watered down. If you can’t afford to pay cash don’t buy product on terms and pray it sells. These companies want you to be on terms because they can ship you anyway they want and you are in their debt. Avoid terms and don’t believe anyone who tells you different. You don’t need all the main lines and don’t give some rep a minimum order. If those are the only conditions to getting open, Pass. Try and deal with companies that are not heavy in malls or places like PAC Sun. Be differnt than your competitors by offering something they do not. Push your own name brand and only gives deals on that. Don’t have surf team unless the team guys bring in customers that don’t want a discount. Don’t start out discounting anything or you will create a habit that you cannot go back on. Instead have a sale rack that is only items that have been on your rack longer than 90 days or items you bought off price for that puropose. Don’t believe anything out of a reps mouth. Did I mention that? No rep is your buddy, everything they do has a purpose and that purpose is to get as many of your dollars as possible. Don’t believe any company that tells you they will not sell to your competitors and don’t ask for them not to. Never retaliate when your competitors run you and your shop down and you can bet they will. Team guys are not loyal so don’t give them the world without someting up front and it’s best to have not team. I should write a book.
Location, location, location. I’ve seen terrible shops do great in great locations. I’ve seen beautiful shops eat it because they weren’t in the right spot. Make sure you have enough surfing population to support a shop and that they are at a reasonable distance to impulse buy. Recognize your target market and stock the shop for them. There are successful surf shops in this world that aren’t even near a beach. Support your customers and involve them in your business. Stand behind the products you sell. Be professional. Do repairs. Give lessons. Have sales. Communicate with customers in a professional and positive manner (a page from Disney). Don’t waste money on items that don’t sell. Don’t sell too cheap. Keystone every product you can. Keep inventory under control. Get rid of crap that doesn’t sell through sales or promotional givaways. Keep overhead low. Get your vendors to supply as much financing through product as possible, they usually don’t charge interest. Banks do. Don’t pay employees money for sitting around doing nothing, send them home. Make some of the products you sell, surfboards, leashes, screen shirts etc. Concentate on your business and leave any competition out of your thoughts. Sell on your positives not someone elses negatives. Bad mouthing doesn’t work and makes you and your shop look small and unprofessional. Leads to bad blood, negative feelings and anxiety in an otherwise beautiful and positive sport. If you do your job right you’ll do fine and the public will respond in kind.
PS. I agree with Atom… Many reps are bottom feeders… I’ve seen them destroy people they’re supposed to be helping… watch out.
You’ve run a shop too, haven’t you. For quite a while, I’ll bet. Couldn’t agree more. A few other things besides - Is there really a market for a surf shop in the area? Bear in mind that somebody has tried to run a surf shop most places, more ambition and money than brains, and the place has folded. You can be the next one. Sound like a good way to blow all your savings and a few years of your life, plus what credit rating you may have? As a thing to sell, surfboards suck. The markup is a fraction of what it is on everything else you carry - you will literally make more money on five t-shirts than on a board. Even though the board costs you five times what the t-shirts did. There are exceptions to this. They are called Surftechs and Bics or they are made in China. The only rep that was the exception to the rules above will be fired by the companies he reps for or quit in disgust when the manufacturers lie to him too often and burn his customers. Again, Keep Costs Low. The dollar you don’t spend is the six bucks worth of stuff you don’t have to sell to make the original dollar back. The surfer labor idiot you hire so you can go surfing once in a while will either steal you blind or give the shop away to all his buddies or both. Like surfing? Too bad. You have to be in the shop when it’s going off, ‘cos that’s when the idiot comes by looking for free wax who will badmouth you forever if you’re not there to give it to him. Credit - don’t give it and don’t take it. A surf company that sells to you will happily sell to your nearest competitor and sell to them for less. They are all scum. Advertising. Don’t do it. You will never, ever see a profit on it. If you need to sell $100 worth, gross, of stuff to make back every dollar you spend on advertising - and youi will, you’ll never do it in a hundred years. Word of mouth is the only advertising that is worth what you pay for it. At the same time, your most loyal customer will dump you in a heartbeat for five bucks off on a t-shirt and never darken your door again. Some industry terms decoded - remember this when ordering merchandise ‘Classic’ - the same old tired crap, but they raised the price "New’ - they changed the lettering style on the size label and raised the price. ‘Improved’ - now it comes in another color, so the price went up even more ‘Radical’ - now it comes in three more colors. Guess what else… ‘Core’ - it only comes in black, at a premium price. ‘List price’ - what you’d have to sell it for to make money on the thing. ‘Discount’ - what you have to sell it for just to get it out the door and get something back. ‘Dealer Cost’ - what you paid for it and what your competition is retailing it for. ‘Delivery in’ - an arbitrary time frame that is either half as long or a month before when your stuff actually shows up unless you pay for rush fees and every other thing. ‘In Stock’ - in Maylaysia, where they make them. To get it to you means they load it in a container on a slow freighter headed the other way. ‘Back ordered’ - they don’t have it, they won’t ever get it either, but they have your money so they don’t care. ‘Manufacturer’s Warranty’ - a work of fiction referring to a theoretical method of repair or replacement. It’s a two-for-one deal, not only is the customer ticked off because it broke but he’s really gonna be ticked off when they send it back and charge for the repairs or lose it completely and deny it ever existed. ‘Promotional’ - means the idiot children of the surf company owner show up expecting the red carpet treatment, stay at your house and get taken to dinner every night for a week plus free booze and do little or nothing to sell stuff. It gets better - they go surfing at your local break and are so obnoxious that you lose half your steady customers. ‘Pro Surfer’ - idiot children of the surf company owner. See above for other details. ‘Endorsed by’ - one or more of the idiot children got paid big bucks to have his picture taken with something while standing in a parking lot somewhere and also to accept lots of freebies. Don’t laugh, that money and those freebies are coming out of your pocket and making those products more expensive. This means your competition can sell effectively identical items cheaper while you sit on a whole bunch of the signature models and wonder what’s wrong. ‘Going out of business sale’ - what happens eventually. print the signs up now so you won’t have to later. Owning a restaurant is more likely to succeed than owning a surf shop. And they have a failure rate of 95%. doc…
Hey thanks for your responses. Since I am in the northeast and I hate fishsticks, I would also sell skateboards and snowboards. I’d sell some local shapers boards because a) they are low volume and b) I am even lower volume when it comes to shaping. This is still an idea but I found the most perfect location with no competition for at least 15 miles in any direction.
Now I am having severe second thoughts…
Wise move. I am in the northeast, have been running a surf shop for over 20 years. Snowboards and skateboards? Multiply problems by three. But the reps are even sleazier. If you want to understand the surf biz, work for a surf shop for a few years and see how it goes. The pay, by the way, sucks. Doing dings on the side for cash is the only way you can stay with the job, that and waiting tables at night. doc…
Take the crap some of these guys just said and then think to yourself, hey they might be trying to talk me out of it for a reason. They dont want anymore competition. Gl was the most spot on of the bunch if you want to make a go of it.
Here I go way off topic: I’m glad you said “many” because I was beginning to take offence at a lot of rep mud slinging. I’m lucky because I have a regular full time job so I rep on the side. True, in sales 99.9% of guys out there who are interested in themselves and their commission. But how do you continually generate business if you don’t honestly sell based on the true needs of the customer? I cannot and will not sell a product or line of products to a shop/mfg unless I believe it is the best and it is applicable for them and their customer. I don’t want you to have it if you’re not equally stoked as I am - I’ll be just fine if you don’t buy. I wish there were more shop owners/mfgs who knew what they wanted and sought out good things instead of feeling completely hopeless and at the mercy of a salesman. Grow up, run your business and get some nads. It’s okay to say no thanks. Unfortunately there are a lot of reps who think a reply to “no thanks” is “let me put it to you this way” when they should be saying “thanks for the time and here’s my card if you change your mind.” Anyone have the Jerky Boys cd with the skit where the guy responds to an ad looking for car salesman?
surf shop??? what so you can smoke wees with your bros??Give me a break!Here is my dream job—Jazz club and combo bikini shop!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!–jhall
Here is the biggest thing reps like to say. I will not sell to shops who… 1. Are too close to one of my favorite shops that gives me alot of luv (big orders) even though my hurting product is being sold in PAC SUN, and most dept. stores. 2.We only want to be in shops that carry surfboards or are core (in other words: I can’t sell my product anywhere else but to surfshops who can’t get anything else) 3. I want to sell you but the big surf shop across town said they would cut back orders. (99% of reps have no balls in this area) 4.We need shops are going to really support our brand and that will be a minimum order of … usually $2500.00 to $4000.00 per season (they really don’t want to open you, but they will consider it if you give them that amount and agree to buy their samples at full wholesale. Back to more advice: Good one Greg L. much experience speaking You can carry other boards besides surftechs and Bics and in fact if your going to be called a surf shop you should have at least one fiberglass or epoxy handshaped board by a reputable shaper. Promote your own private label for price boards, and don’t get in the habit of discounting boards to get them out the door. Buy more hybrids, eggs,and longboards than Shortboards. There are more beginners and older surfers with money than rippers who want the boards at cost or for free (these rippers will badmouth you in the water even if you give them the deal they want if you don’t get them sponsorship and free cloths) What I would say to the guy who said Surf shop owners don’t want competition; thats true, but if they have been around awhile and know the business they realize most of the new shops will be bankrupt within 3 years anyway and they will get their clothing and boards for .15 on the dollar. You can make money in the surf business if you are the only game in town or are filling a nitch. I think small shops around 1000 to 2000 sq. feet merchandised properly are the easiest to manage. Employees steal product, time, and money. If you get a good one he/she will probably have to leave eventually because of the low pay. Never paint a picture of yourself on a van and drive around the state or states or to trade shows. You will be a laughing stock. Don’t brag on yourself or your shop other than to say we try or our motto is… let your actions speak not your words. Don’t take discounted merchandise back and don’t let your customers bully you. Have signs about your return policy on the counter and stick to it. Fight to urge to do special orders on clothing or shoes… They will never be there on time or the right color, size etc. or the customer changes their mind and wants their money back so they can bad mouth you around town for taking their time. Stay out of malls period… you cannot compete with the stores and Mall managers are worse slime than most reps and vendors. Stay focused on your plan and be flexable. Never ever ever move your store for any reason until you have fully maximized your current location and even then your better off staying put. You can’t believe how many customers will lose you and you will need all your $$$. Your surfing life is over exept early in the morning and maybe right before dark in the summer. You don’t need any one line of cloths to make your shop go. You make more money on accessories. Don’t buy anything but teeshirts, sandles, hats and boardshorts to begin with. Steer clear of fashion. On lines one of the big three and one other is all you need. If you cannot get Quik or Billabong reconsider opening. Not because they are all that great, but because if they will not open you the area is probably saturated with competition.
Agreed. Man, I wanna be saying something like the old revival meetings… “Halleluiah, Brother. Tell it like it IS”. A rep story - see, I used to hang out with a guy who later became the Northeast rep for what were the hot lines at the time. He was doing so well he gave some of his territory in one of his big lines to his brother. And I happened to be up in his neighborhood one afternoon and I dropped by about the time he got home from who knows what. Well, he picks up the answering machine… and there are something like thirty messages ( and this was dead of winter, slow time ) and I hear the start of the messages and they are all 'G___o, where’s my stuff, man, I gave you the money a month ago…" and his action was to hit the erase-next button while commenting ‘F__k them’. Didn’t take any notes, didn’t do a damned thing. Yeah, he got fired. For keeping the $ that the shop owners gave him for up front rush delivery orders that may or may not ever have gone in. Theft/embezzling, in other words, not what he was doing to his customers. And he is still repping for some other surf companies, which is why I haven’t used his name. Another rep story. New England rep for a couple of really good outfits, guy called Joe McGovern. Good guy, we’d carry stuff on his reccomendation 'cos he wouldn’t screw ya with stuff that wasn’t right for your clientele or undercut you with the chain store across town. Your order was slow or something? He’d get on the phone right then and there to take care of it and charge the call to his own number, I had ordered a couple things for a long surf trip from a company he repped for for myself, they dropped the ball at the home office and he travelled a hundred miles at a lousy time of year to loan me his own personal stuff so I’d have it for the trip. They gave away his territories to other people. Okay - couple other things, maybe more as I think of them… Not only are clothes a hassle, though a good markup, there’s a few things to consider: Don’t carry the latest stuff. It’ll be out of style next year and you’ll need to have a penny sale. Having your own line of, say, fleece, sweatshirts, hats and tees with your logo on 'em is a good move. Put 'em on premium-weight goods, not baled goods, so that they last and act as your advertising. Don’t try to have a new design every year. If you do, you’ll have to dump everything you carried over from last year at cost. Also, keep your logo the same, even if it is stupid-looking. Some artiste wants to make a super cool core rad gnarly duuude t-shirt design up and have you sell it? Only if he does it with his own money and you have it on consignment. Like the new surf shop in town, chances are he’ll go away after a while… and the shirts you still have on the racks and the money you were holding on consignment? Well, funny thing about that… The big 3 or four lines of fashion surf clothes… uhm, look, I’m gonna be fifty next summer . The guy I work with will be sixty three- we’ve been in business longer than anybody in the northeast except maybe Charlie Bunger. And we are gonna be going to the trade shows ( more money down the dumper ) to look at samples of stuff that may or may not be delivered in the spring that sixteen year old kids will want to wear? Like I know what a sixteen year old kid wants to wear six months from now - riight. The guys in the business who are good at it screw up half the time, that’s why they have Fall Sales and Back to School sales, so they can unload the stuff that didn’t move all summer. And when the kids and their moms can buy the same stuff at Costco or WalMart for less? I stay out of the big lines. Another rep story - actually, it’s an O’Neill story. See, O’Neill had pre-sold a whole lot of clothes at the trade shows one year. Stuff was really pretty good, considering it was cheap junk made somewhere on the Pac Rim in a contracted sweatshop, like nearly all other surf clothes. Well, a funny thing happened. The time frame O’Neill had rented with Exploited Workers of Rangoon, LTD? Gee, they also rented that time to somebody else. Two somebody elses, in fact. The biter bit, for a little literary reference. Oopsie - sorry, guys, we won’t have those clothes you ordered after all. You want your money back? Oh, no, we can’t do that, but we’ll give you credit towards next year’s orders… I have some, salesman’s samples I got dirt cheap for myself. Better made than the production stuff would have been, by the way. It’s good to have hand shaped boards in the store. It does confer legitimacy. But don’t expect that that’s where the profit comes from. Besides which, somebody buys a board, they expect a leash,free wax for life and so on. If there are two other local shops, one will be good guys who stop by for a beer on their days off and often bring extras and the other will be the ones that say that your shop has been closed for years. You send customers to the good guys for what you don’t carry and they do the same. You can’t carry everything. No matter what you do have, you’ll get at least 5 percent of the people who come in the door that are fixated on a particular brand, style and color and they won’t even look at anything else, even if it is better and cheaper. Live with it. Have a sideline. One with low overhead that you can almost run like mail order. Sell your boards on the net or supply the local swim teams or something. Running a surf shop is a great business for schoolteachers, by the way, as they have to keep it to the profitable season and they do have all summer off. Small is beautiful. Low costs, low overhead, doesn’t take a zillion bucks worth of merchandise to keep it from looking empty. The surf biz comes and goes, it’s cyclic, and when those two good years in a row tempt you to get bigger, don’t, ‘cos it’s sure that the new crop of sixteen year olds will be into golf or something and you’re stuck with the bigger store, too much merchandise, a platoon of employees and having to suck it up. Returns and such- look, sometimes things break. If you shaped the board, or if you carry boards by a local shaper or a name shaper/company, expect some to suck, some to break or delam or whatever. The ones you made you’re responsible for. The others - well, sometimes you’re screwed and your customer is too and the best you can do is drop their line. Be aware of not only their stated return/refund/warranty policy but how it really is, not just what they say they’ll do. Shoplifting - oh yeah, if it’s smaller than the average thruster keep it either behind the counter or right in front of the counter. Your nephews will rip you off if they get the chance, not just the skuzzy skate kid from the bad side of town. And nobody but nobody gets behind the counter except you and your employees. No Body. Ah…life is good. You got a half day off and the waves are prime, it’s happening, it’s on, the sun is out, the wind is offshore…and you get to the beach and you have to get grief from everybody about how their board isn’t perfect or their t-shirt is the wrong size or their friend says they should get some money back on whatever they bought or maybe you should sponsor them. That’s the good part. Pray nobody slashes your tires. Last, at least for the moment… be good to the local lifeguards and parking lot attendants, as it’s them that send random customers to you. Invite them for Friday beers after closing or something. Surprising how many can put together a sentance without using the word ‘dude’ besides. The local hot surfers have at least as many enemies as friends and they are worthless for attracting customers, plus a lot of them are complete schmucks. You only have a certain amount of time and goodwill, use it where it will do you the most good. It’s not all bad, this biz. It’s fun, you do run across some interesting people and get to do some neat stuff. But it’s not nearly as easy as falling off a log. You don’t rake in tons of money. But a few beers with friends on a warm Friday evening out behind the shop, talking story and shooting the breeze - can’t get that workin’ for IBM, ya know? doc…
Doc, where is your surfshop? What is its name? Funny thing is, I am a teacher an was looking for something to keep me busy during the summer. I found a real vacant area of rich kids and families with a lot of disposable income. Besides I know from my students alone that they would drop a nice dime in my store to support me. I envision an 2000 sq foot max shop with good boards, skateboards, and snowboards in the winter. I have an artist friend to design a line of clothing and another friend who currently manages a retail store who is up for the challenge. I’d be there mainly on weekends during the school year and all summer. Currently in this location, the people have to travel to either a kayak store for surf goods, a small tourist shop, or a surf shop with an owner that pisses off the world, especially since he trashes local shapers (whom I have a ton of respect for). All of which are over 15 miles away. It was an idea that I was psyched about and if it allows me to get a nicer car or to take a few more surf vacations each year, I’d be happy. By the way, thanks for all the info- for and against. That is the type of stuff you can’t get anywhere else. I am writing this at 3AM while my buzz from New Years winds down- have a great year everyone- be good to one another.
“doc”, Your a good judge of character. Joe Mcgovern is a good man,father,husband and a dam good photographer. Any line he sold to the “Shed”, I would go out of my way to purchase. The wet suit line he had a few years back (I won’t mention),when they let him go, as good as I thought their suit’s were, when it was time to re-place, I switched out.
Hey, I run Jasper’s, down on the Cape. And if you’re looking at the local Cape shapers, well, ‘awful’ and ‘inconsistent’ come immediately to mind. Most ‘local shapers’ do suck as regards consistency, and you gotta sell consistency, even if it’s mediocre consistency. This may be heresy here, but there is a big difference between making yourself a personal, maybe idiosyncratic board and selling them in numbers to people who you want to come back someday and have them come back happy. Even if you just have local boards on consignment, you are in a way standing behind 'em and you’re the warranty. Boards you make yourself, well, that’s implied anyways, but it does carry over to non-name brands that you have and sell. Don’t base your biz around the kids - their parents have the disposable income, not them. Skateboards as maybe a sideline , a small sideline - bear in mind that the Tony Hawk model they order off the net at less than you pay is identical to what you’re trying to sell. Snowboards likewise. Amazon’s bright idea was that you don’t need to try on a book for size, it’s the same from them at a discount as it is from the corner bookstore at full price. Your move is to find what they can’t sell mail order or through a discount mall chain and sell that. Snowboards likewise. Maybe more so, as you’re not in a ski area and you’ll be closed for the most part when the season is on. The ski areas can sell 'em for a premium impulse buy price, you can’t. Oh, and bodyboards. Look, Joe Customer doesn’t know the difference between the hottest pro model and the stuff that’s in WalMart and doesn’t care. He does know what the price difference is. Have non-core cheap stuff and happily aim him towards the good deal in Building 19 when they have Morey’s best at $59 a pop. The ‘core’ surf shop only lines of just about everything - forget it. Opening weekends in the off season is okay, but you’re better off closing weekends after your after Xmas sale. Reopen when the guys who went on surf trips get back, and go someplace yourself. Have a shop number with an answering machine and never directly answer it. You can always meet somebody in the evening to sell ‘em that half-case of Tropical wax. You’re in a very good situation, being a teacher, with some time and some people skills. Don’t cash in your pension plan, though, to finance this. Beware of artists bearing designs. Their design, with 417 colors and such, may be beautiful but the cost of the silkscreens at $45 a pop per color will kill ya. 3 color screens are a good setup and most decent screen printers have an art dept which is worth the $50 per hour they charge for translating whatever design you have into something you can print without - ahem- losing your shirt. Do find a good screen printer who delivers when they say they will. Do put it on a top-quality T or other shirt - the extra buck or two per shirt is worth it in peace of mind if nothing else. Lead time with screen printers is key and if you can order around now for May or June delivery, then your small order ( less than a gross per size/color) is something they’ll do happily and often at a discount. Do Not give rush orders in July and expect your stuff in two weeks. It ain’t gonna happen. You mention a friend who works in retail and an artist friend - look, I’ll warn you against partnership arrangements immediately. But if you’re in the surf shop biz, especially if you do any rentals, incorporating and ideally under several layers of corporation is a must. Leastwise if you don’t want your MTA pension to go away and have your wages garnisheed forever when some moron steps on a piece of bottle glass at a beach and sues yer ass. It also helps with the boiler-room types who are collecting for the Friends of Friends of Somebody Who Knows A State Cop Association Yearbook - you just say "I’ll have to bump that up to the corporation’. There are some, the local firemen’s association and such, if a fireman in uniform asks for a donation you give 'em one. After all, they will be doing the fire inspection at the shop, no? You don’t need 'em mad at ya Likewise building ordinances, licenses and such - go in and talk to the building inspector or whoever. Work with 'em, don’t get into a pissing contest. You’ll lose, they have lawyers on retainer and you don’t. Ok, that’ll get you started. Have fun… doc…
Doc, Man I am busting a gut right now. You said it brother. Some Reps are good guys and honest hardworking to boot. Those usually don’t last though. The Quik rep in my area opened me then shut me down then opened me again because of some competitor across town, but he was rarely wrong on what to order and what was selling. exept his own personal samples. Good or not they all play politics. There are kiddie politics in surfing like no other and politics that make no reasonable business sense. Me, Don’t take a partner unless you have to. If you are going to sign a lease and be on terms (something to avoid at first if possible) become a sub chapter S corporation instead of a sole proprietorship. There is protection and I have seen it firsthand. Don’t get an attorney to do it for you. Go to the dept of state and follow directions. You will save about $500.00 Don’t become a limited liability corp. these things were invented by attornies and are the flavor of the month, plus bookeeping is a bitch. Do hire a bookeeping firm. A small firm should run you about $125-$200.00 a month that should include detailed and easy to understand printed reports and they should have someone pick up your work from you at your business, pay your own taxes don’t let anyone have acess to your checking account. If you get behind on bills believe nothing collectors say and never ever ever ever ever ever send a post dated check. Stop payment on a chech before you let it bounce. Bounced checks are illegal stopped payments are not. I know this sounds bad, but you never know in this industry. Thats why I recomend staying on a cash only basis and if you cannot afford to do that you should not be in business. Terms are a suckers game unless you pay when it comes in. Make them give you a discount for early payment if your on terms some can be up to 8%. Check your invoice on everbox, if your order is too broken up; refuse it. Never take a partial order of one or two items sent when it comes to clothing. Whats the point. Doc is right about big companies. Everyone has them, why not be different. Find surfers that are trademen and trade out product as long as both of you get full retail. Trademen will be a huge help when you need them. Most of them are good guys and appreciate what you do for them. They don’t get the royal treatment too often as do many worthless sales reps. If you bring in pro surfers do it in the form of a show not at the shop. Too many people just hanging out and prime theft time, plus anything that goes wrong will not be associated with your location. Better yet, let your competitors bring in the pros. You stick with being the best at what you do. Most of the time, the pros will stop by for free after the show because their company will want to size you up anyway to see if there is any potential to cut open your back pocket. Like unloading unsold boards from the show. On skate; you can go two ways. Load up or stick with basics. Skate is more profitable than surf and easier to show off. A small space in your store can make big bucks. ON shoes. Don’t do it unless you have to. You will spend $45.00 on a pair of shoes that you can only sell for $79.99 or less if it goes out of style in two weeks after it’s out. IF you must do shoes try only one company and go deep with only a couple of styles that are the most neutral. Better to pass on shoes until your established. Don’t carry anything in your store that kids like that parents are offended by like drug stuff or tee shirts, any type of fifty saying or pictures. Rip curl had a shirt with a picture of a cartoon couple doing it doggy on it. Tacky. The shop that the parents like is the shop that stays in business. They spend the money. Older surfers spend more money and if you treat them with respect they will be more loyal than any kid. Most kids think think they could run your shop better than you anyway and have not quite figured out that discount equals money. You will become familiar with AW Man it’s only a 10% discount or as much as I do for this shop I feel that I should get half off and free surfboards. Don’t talk shop when your off work. Period. Your family will not want to here it and others will listen to everything you say and come up with their own verison of it to spread around town. Do let your business pay for at least one good surf trip to somewhere you always wanted to go. It may be the only fond memory you have of owning a surf shop.
Yeah, I know just the wetsuit line you’re referring to. All my personal suits are _______, but I’ll never carry another one. Reps get a bad rap, and for the most part it’s deserved. But you get one Joe McGovern and that almost makes up for all the rest of 'em. And he most assuredly is a good photographer and very generous with his time and knowledge to people like me who want to learn it. The only problem with Joe is he’s such a good guy, all the time, that he makes the rest of us feel bad about ourselves. The idea behind a rep is that he’s the guy that’s not just pushing product, he’s the guy who takes care of his customers, shepherds their orders through the system and is the conduit for feedback to the corporate bufoons at the factory who can actually get something done. Otherwise we’d all just call the factory with our orders. Oh, another good guy down your way, at least he’s been a good guy in all my dealings with him, is Rian at Marine Rescue. doc…
you knwo what i would like to see? a shop owned by a damn surfer!! not soem damn ronjons crap, or its little sister the longboard house. when i think of core surf shops i’ve been to…i can maybe think of 2. i live an hour inland in central florida, so i head to both new smyrna and cocoa area. the shops in my town, are basically clothing/boat /wake stores, that decided to buy a couple boards and leashes and put them up with their “surf clothes” for the longest time they always had their prized “lost boards” up. lately i’ve finally managed to infiltrate some boards into there. and others are now better smaller brands like orion and stuff. but the thing i hate the most is ronjons…thats not a surf shop