When Vans opens it’s newest promotional space inside a Brooklyn, New York warehouse it will not be to sell shoes to the general public. No. The 24,000 square foot warehouse will be used by Vans to host parties, music shows, art exhibits and skate demos, according to a Conor Daugherty story in the Wall Street Journal.
The “House of Vans,” as executives at the Orange County, Calif., company have dubbed the park on Franklin Street, a few blocks from Greenpoint Avenue, is part of a broader strategy to beef up Vans’s presence in New York and the East Coast. . . “Brooklyn is one of the best Vans strongholds outside of California,” says Doug Palladini, Vans vice president of marketing. “As big as Vans has become, we’re still really only known in a few key spots outside of California.” . . But while “you can’t just show up,” Mr. Palladini said there will be occasional chances—a special event through a local skate shop, for instance—for outsiders to get inside the park and roll around. He declined to say how much the company is spending on the facility.
NYC party space rental is expensive. Might as well just own it.
“The addition of Grind Networks to our portfolio demonstrates our corporate strategic commitment to finding and investing in the right partners who have the vision to deliver targeted content, across multiple platforms, to our enthusiast consumers,” said Michael L. Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of Source Interlink Companies, Inc. . . With this move, former Grind Networks CEO Erik Hawkins will oversee all digital sales and marketing efforts for the new group; President/COO Greg Morrow will direct all technical and digital product development aspects of the business. The two founded Grind Networks in 2005 after serving as executives at Yahoo!, CitySearch and Launch Media. Both will report directly to Norb Garrett, Senior Vice President and Group Publisher of SIM’s ASG.
It will be interesting to see what magic ASG’s Norb Garrett can work with these sites as none (aside from Newschoolers in ski and Ridemonkey in MTB) have yet to have gained any authentic traction with either advertisers or readers. And while the domains snowboarder.com, motocross.com, and skateboard.com obviously have potential, this whole deal seems like a rather complicated, expensive way to upgrade a couple URLs.
But the well-known name of Whistler may be an easier sell for an audience of retail investors, especially after the successful Olympics at the site last winter. As a result, an IPO is now the favoured option, sources said. . . “They didn’t like the valuations they got [from other buyers] so they will try the IPO market,” said a second person familiar with the situation.
When you can’t get smart money might as well go retail, but It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where this turns out well no matter how sexy Canadian resorts are.
Every month Volcom’s Chairman and CEO Richard Woolcott sells some of his personal shares of Volcom stock. Occasionally, we like to check in on the totals. Here’s what he’s been selling lately, according to GuruFocus.com.
July 14, 2010 20,000 shares at $19.44 ($388,800)
July 27, 2010 20,000 shares at $20.00 ($400,000)
August 16, 2010 10,000 shares at 16.04 ($160,400)
August 24, 2010 10,000 shares at $15.32 ($153,200)
September 14, 2010 10,000 shares at $17.49 ($174,900)
September 24, 10,000 shares at $17.88 ($178,800)
That means he’s sold 80,000 shares in the last three months and turned that into $1.4 million in cash. But don’t worry. Wooly still has at least 2,730,932 shares left. And at today’s trading price that’s worth a little over $50 million.This brings to an end our Monday afternoon pep talk.
The Frog House, Newport Beach, California’s most famous surf shop, may be getting to boot thanks to being located in an area that has been zoned residential since the 1970s, according to a story in the Daily Pilot.
In 2006, Newport Beach was updating its general plan, which included taking action on zoning restrictions. Two years later, an ordinance passed that required the city to take action on Frog House and three other nonconforming properties in residential areas. . . “[In 2008] the choice was that the commercial uses in residential uses have a year to abate or apply for appropriate modifications or permits, or they would have to leave their location,” Hunt said. . . Although the public has had access to the ordinance since 2008, Hunt said that the city did not contact Frog House directly when the change happened.
But the Frog House isn’t gone yet. . . apparently there is still some paperwork that can be done to prolong the process. Hopefully, it will be allowed to stay until the owners choose to shut it, sell it, or move it. Click here to join the Save The Frog House facebook group.
“I’m surrounded by great people, and we all inspire each other to do better. When I’m teaching, I invite these guys to come to my classes,” he said. . . He teaches marketing to MBA students at Concordia University and has taught at Pepperdine. . . .”There are rumors that I may teach at a couple other schools,” but Lam says he’ll stay with one at a time.
Wing is one the most prolific networkers in action sports. The guy never stops.
“The acquisition presents the opportunity to extract significant synergies in areas including warehousing, distribution, back-office support and overall retail management consolidation,” Billabong chief executive Derek O’Neill said. . . “Additionally, direct retail operations greatly enhance Billabong’s visibility into the buying trends of the end consumer and assist in the speedy development and delivery of on-trend product to both company-owned and independent retail accounts,” he said.
That brings Billabongs total retail fronts to 558, according to the Sydney Mourning Herald and will add three percent to the company’s annual revenue. Buying retailers in bulk is such a nice way to open new doors.
Their graphics have always been loud so it is surprising that Danny Kass and Grenade hadn’t done their own motocross line long ago. Either way, they’re doing it now with Grenade MX Standard Issue.
After successful collaborations with The Metal Mulisha, Hart & Huntington, and Sullen, Grenade is launching a complete line of technical dirt riding gear. The gear debuted at industry tradeshows in August 2010 and includes two styles; the higher-end “Bulletproof” and the more affordable “Macadam Series. Grenade also introduced six new styles of premium MX gloves and is offering a full casual apparel line built specifically for moto accounts.
It seems, like most boardsports brands, Grenade has finally discovered that motocross fans have money, need loads of gear, and exhibit no discernible level of shame when it comes to covering everything they own in corporate logos. For Grenade it sounds like a match made in heaven. [click to continue…]
Looks like The Program’s Bryan Knox has been doing good work for the Burton Corporation lately. Today, (September 30, 2010) it was announced the Knox has been promoted to the position of Director of Team Marketing and Media for Burton Snowboards and The Program.
As the former Director of Team for the Program, Bryan has done an amazing job over the past four years not only building up the Program’s team but also helping to strengthen the marketing of the brands. . . Bryan will oversee the current Burton Team Management group and brings a depth of rider experience, perspective and influence that will help to make the best brands in snowboarding even stronger. In this new role, Bryan will continue to work out of the Irvine offices to function as a West Coast face for the team and core media.
Hoby Darling was a lawyer on the up at the “powerhouse law firm” of Latham Watkins when he took over the Volcom account, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
Now, six years later, he’s living the core life as VeeCo’s general counsel and helping Volcom to bridge the “divide between the Beach and Wall Street,” with what they call Volcom University.
Beginning this year, up to 20 employees can attend, free-of-charge, classes in finance taught by executives from Goldman Sachs and accounting from professionals at Deloitte & Touche. Senior Volcom executives, some of whom have also gone through M.B.A. programs while working at Volcom, then teach employees how to apply the concepts from those lessons to their specific work at Volcom.
If you’re going up against the establishment it pays to know your enemy, right?
When Vans opens it’s newest promotional space inside a Brooklyn, New York warehouse it will not be to sell shoes to the general public. No. The 24,000 square foot warehouse will be used by Vans to host parties, music shows, art exhibits and skate demos, according to a Conor Daugherty story in the Wall Street Journal.
