When the Agenda Show opened at Huntington Beach, California Hyatt Hotel yesterday (August 3, 2011) it didn’t take long for the place to fill right up. And that didn’t seem to bother show co-founder Aaron Levant all that much.
“Even in the first two hours it was packed everywhere we went,” Levant said. “The valet filled up and there was no where to park. We’re having some logistical problems like that, but they’re good ones, just because there are so many people here. We’ve been getting compliments all morning. It’s good show.”
Levant brought the show back to Huntington Beach after a January show in Anaheim because there’s just nothing like the synergy created by the US Open, Huntington Beach, and being right in the middle of it all.
“This is our third year in a row that we have coincided with the US Open,” Levant said. “The US Open has a lot of energy. And the two things together has an undeniable draw for someone traveling from across the country or across the world. They can come out to Agenda, get business done, hang out at the US Open. See the contest. See the free concerts. I think that whole synergy together is kind of undeniable.”
While the space in Anaheim was larger, Levant was able to bring close to 350 brands back to the Hyatt thanks to a temporary building called The Pavillion. “We really wanted to come back to Huntington for the summer with the US Open and the whole vibe here,” he said. “So that’s why we had to build that whole zone, because we just maxed out the space here.”
Time to roll back down to the Crossroads for skateboarding’s most fun trade show and best trick contest. Show runs August 5 – 6, 2011 at Black Box Distribution located at 2777 Loker Ave W, Carlsbad, CA 92010. Click the link for more info.
Agenda has tightened things up a little when it comes to attendees for their show at The Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach, California on August 3-4, 2011. While the show is still free to qualified attendees, pre-registration is required. If you believe you should be there and haven’t registered yet, click here, fill out the form, and then you’ll be notified by email if you’re good to go. This way, you don’t have to show up and beg to get in. Which is better for everyone. Click the link for more info.
According to a story on MarketWatch.com, Greek Investments, an Athens, Greece based investment group run by Jorge and Panayotis Constantino now owns 30.45 percent of Pac Sun. But that’s not all.
The firm is now the biggest single shareholder in sun-and-surf-inspired teen retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and home-furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc., and is the second-largest in dining chain Ruby Tuesday Inc., according to FactSet Research. It also holds substantial stakes in restaurant chain Cosi Inc. and bank-holding company BFC Financial Corp. (BFCF).
They really know how to pick ’em, huh? Add this to the list of things we’ll never understand about PacSun.
After 41 years in the “surf industry” Bird Huffman decided that he’d rather do a surf shop his way, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. As most know, the result was Bird’s Surf Shed.
[Bird’s] vision for what surf shops should be was at odds with an industry he believes is increasingly focused on the bottom line and giving little back to the surfboard shapers who sustain it. Faced with an assault on his values, Huffman did something few in this uncertain economy would dare do: He left a comfortable job to open a new business. Equal parts museum, community meeting place, library and surf shop, Huffman’s unique shrine to surfing recently opened and is nearly complete.
If you haven’t checked the Surf Shed it out already, click the link.
Stuart Smith, 48, the owner of TriBeCa, NYC’s Bikini Bar Surf Shop reportedly fell nearly six floors to his death from the rooftop garden above the shop’s 148 Duane St. location just after midnight on Sunday morning (July 10, 2011), according to a story in the NY Daily News. A passerby reportedly found Smith in the street.
“We believe it was accidental,” a police source said. . . The shop specializes in custom surfboards and includes a tiki bar serving espresso and Hawaiian desserts.
Our thoughts are with Smith’s friends and family, especially his wife Aileen Oser.
Fashionistas in Lake Elsinore, California (and those who bus in on super savings shopper/casino tours) will now be able to purchase quality RVCA clothing at close-out prices thanks to Billabong’s new RVCA outlet store in the Lake Elsinore Outlets, according to a story in The Press-Enterprise.
The store, which carries merchandise for men and women, opened Saturday in a space next to Skechers. . . The brand (pronounced ‘Roo-ka’) is widely available in retail stores across the country, but this is the Costa Mesa-based company’s first outlet store.
Could there even be a better outlet mall neighbor for “Roo-ka” than Skechers.
Agenda Tradeshow has partnered Krush to give brands predictive data on which SKUs in the Spring 2012 lines will be the most popular six months before the products go on sales.
“This new technology is a game changer for the whole retail industry,” says Aaron Levant, President of AGENDA LLC. “It will save brands time and money by allowing them to rapidly eliminate unpopular items and capture more sales from the most popular items. Historically, action sports and lifestyle brands have been the trend setters in the industry, so it made sense for us to be the first to introduce this technology to the brands who exhibit at AGENDA.”
For more info on Krush’s SneakPeek brand events and the product data they can provide follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Our least favorite bargain action fashion retailer, Tilly’s, has reportedly filed to go public, according to a story in the Orange County Business Journal.
It’s a major move under new Chief Executive Daniel Griesemer, who joined the company in February from women’s clothing and accessories retailer and catalog company Coldwater Creek in Idaho. . . Griesemer replaced longtime head and company founder Hezy Shaked. . . The retailer saw sales of $332.6 million last year, which was up 17.6% from a year earlier, according to the filing. . . .In the last five years, Tilly’s entered 25 new markets and doubled its total number of stores.
After 35 days, 11 cities, 11 team demos, and countless hordes of screaming kids the Zumiez Couch Tour shuts it all down today in Bloomington, Minnesota at the world famous Mall of America.
On the schedule for July 1, 2011: a demo by the Plan B team (including: Colin McKay, Paul Rodriguez, Ryan Sheckler, Torey Pudwill, Pat Duffy, PJ Ladd, Scott Descenzo, and Felipe Gustavo), plus the finals of Zumiez Best Foot Forward, and a show by Valencia.
The good news is that we don’t all have to travel to the Twin Cities to see it. We can watch it all live online right here on Boardistan.com. Watch and learn.
