by The Editors on February 5, 2009
Oh, the things being a publicly traded company will make you do. First, create a special line just for core retailers because distribution has mainstreamed all over hell. Then, after maxing out on the surf/skate/snow market that was the whole genesis of the brand, branch out into motorsports because if you’re not growing the shareholders get pissed.
Enter Volcom MX. NASCAR is next; or maybe they’ll just leave that to Electric.
[Link: Volcom.com/mx via Transworld Business]
by The Editors on February 5, 2009
With a knack for overstating the obvious, retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners President Craig Johnson lays down the bad news in a story on CNN:
This is not a good time for retailers. If people are fearful for their jobs, they will tightly hold on to their money and not spend it. This [situation] makes it very difficult for retailers.”
Really? What an insightful comment. For all the number from the major retail chains click here for a January same-store chart.
[Link: CNN]
by The Editors on February 4, 2009
According to MarketWatch Zumiez same store sales are down. . . again:
Zumiez (ZUMZ:7.18, -0.23, -3.1%) said late Wednesday that its January sales at stores open at least one year fell 14.8%. Analysts, on average, had expected the same-store sales to fall 14.1%, according to Thomson Reuters. Total net sales for the four-week period ended Jan. 31 decreased 2% to $20.3 million, said the specialty apparel retailer.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on February 4, 2009
Source Interlink Co.s the parent company of the ASG Group (publishers of Snowboarder, Surfer, Surfing, and Skateboarder magazines) is denying that it is shutting down its magazine distribution business after major publishers pulled their titles from the magazine distributor thanks to the proposed 7 cent per issue fee Source was hoping to charge:
Gillis said the country’s biggest publishers, along with national distributors Curtis and Time Warner Retail, are shutting Source and Anderson out of the magazine supply chain in a bid to wrest pricing control away from retailers. “This is about American Media and Curtis and Bauer and Time Warner trying to control retailer pricing by eliminating magazine wholesalers so they don’t have so many they’ve got to do business with,” he said.
Guess it’s kind of hard to distribute magazines if no one is giving you magazines to distribute.
We’re kind of glad it only took two minutes to distribute this post to the world and that we didn’t have to deal with anyone to make it happen. No wonder print advertising is so expensive. . .
[Link: Foliomag.com]
by The Editors on February 2, 2009
NHS management breathed a sign of relief when the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously to postpone by one year a new federal law that would have required products made for children 12 and under to be tested for lead starting Feb. 10, 2009.
But that relief came after NHS’s owner Richard Novak had already laid off 17 employees because of sagging sales and worries about the new regulations.
A victory for good sense,” said Tim Piumarta, director of research and new product development at NHS, a Santa Cruz company with sales of $23 million a year. “This untenable legislation, as it was written by non-scientists in Congress, threw the entire global product supply channel into mass confusion.”
NHS and many other companies will now have a year to work out the lead details before complaining about it again next year.
[Link: San Jose Mercury News]
by The Editors on January 30, 2009
Nokia Corp. and Skullcandy have apparently agreed to settle their differences outside of the courtroom according to a post on Law360.
A judge has signed off on a request to drop Nokia Corp. without prejudice from an infringement suit brought by Skullcandy Inc. over two patents for an integrator that allows a user to use a music player and a mobile telephone through one set of headphones after the two sides agreed to resolve the dispute out of court.
So that’s where Skullcandy’s next big funding round is coming from. It’s beginning to make sense.
[Link: Law360]
by The Editors on January 30, 2009
While we were at the SIA Show it seemed that no one in the snowboard business was being effected by the economy. But it appears that Mammoth Mountain is not floating blissfully along. The LA Times is reporting that the mountain has laid off 101 employees.
CEO Rusty Gregory, in an interview with KSRW radio, or Sierra Wave, confirmed that 101 employees have been fired and other cost-cutting measures were enacted to make up for a sharp drop in skier-visits. . . . Revenue at the Eastern Sierra resort, which offers some of the world’s finest skiing and snowboarding, is down 21% from preseason projections. And the projected number of skier visits for this season has been reduced from 1.4 million to 1.1 million. . . . Gregory said 10 senior managers received 5% pay cuts. Vacation time has been shortened and gas allowances have been eliminated. Gregory, however, assured that none of the cuts will jeopardize the safety of visitors.
And to think we always figured if things ever got really bad we could always get a job as a lift op. Guess not.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on January 30, 2009
The Alliance of Action Sports has just announced a three-year deal with Eurosport 2 giving the European sports broadcaster exclusive live coverage of the Winter Dew Tour. And of course, Alli President Wade Martin is excited.
“We are thrilled to offer a live telecast of the Winter Dew Tour in Europe through Eurosport 2,” said Wade Martin, President of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports. “This is a terrific opportunity for fans throughout Europe to see live coverage of the best action sports athletes in the world.”
Are people still watching TV in Europe?
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 30, 2009
Fortress Investment Group LLC, the investment group that owns Whistler Blackcomb has had its stock slide 96 percent since it went public in February of 2007, according to a story on Bloomberg.com, and now things are looking even worse.
“The more I’ve learned about Fortress, the less comfortable I’ve become,” says Jackson Turner, who follows the company at New York-based Argus Research Co. “There’s just this drip, drip, drip of bad news.” He recommends selling the shares. Only one of nine Fortress analysts tracked by Bloomberg rates them a buy. . . . Fortress is a prime example of what happens when the secretive world of hedge funds collides with the public disclosure required of listed companies. Two years after its initial public offering, Fortress remains a tangled web of subsidiaries and partnerships that analyst Turner says is anything but transparent.
Good luck with the coming Winter Olympics, huh?
[Link: Bloomberg.com]
by The Editors on January 30, 2009
Our favorite Euro snowboard blog Snowbroader has all the great ISPO parties lined up for anyone who is staying on the trade show party train. And for those not lucky enough to make the trip to Munich they’re kicking down complete coverage from the floor starting Sunday February 1, 2009. We’ll be checking it out.
[Link: Snowbroader]
