Things were bad everywhere, but Zumiez just announced a 49 percent slide in Q4 profit vs. last year. That’s like cuttin’ it in half.
Chief Executive Rick Brooks said the second half of fiscal 2008 was “incredibly challenging.” “Since September, the deteriorating economic conditions have significantly dampened consumer appetite for discretionary items,” Brooks said.
Yep, that’s what we keep hearing.
[Link: Forbes]
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Over the past few days we’ve been getting repeated reports of Active’s plans to close several of their 29 Southern California retail locations. The company is closing its Chula Vista store this week.
Active President Shane Wallace hinted at this in a January profile in Women’s Wear Daily saying that he wouldn’t rule out store closings, if needed. “We’ll do what makes sense for our business,” he said.
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In the latest of a string of bizarre announcements to come out of Redmond, Washington Microsoft is now launching a clothing line called Softwear (get it?) that:
” . . . taps the nostalgia of when PCs were just starting to change our lives. With retro logos, classic photos and geek-chic igonography, these pieces showcase the DOS days of the software company that now connects over a billion people.”
The clothing will be sold at the seemingly recession proof Urban Outfitters and is being designed in collaboration with the rapper Common. There certainly is no worse time to launch a clothing line.
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Looks like Op isn’t the only company with Walmart dreams of global domination. The Skatelab in Simi Valley, California and Alantic Beach, Florida has announced that they now have product displays in 450 Walmart stores and by the end of April they will be in 1,750 stores.
Killer T-shirts and hats only $7.50. Support SKATELAB and go get your kids some of the new gear today!
Just wondering. . . will this make Skatelab the world’s largest selling skateboarding T-shirts and hats? If not, it will certainly increase Skatelab’s brand awareness in the all-important “uneducated, foul-mouthed, fat, ugly, and unemployed” demographic.
[Link: Skatelab.com]
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Steve Nesser’s Familia Skateboard Shop has made the cross-town hustle from St. Paul to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is celebrating the move this weekend, according to as story in the City Pages.
Check out the store’s ‘Grand Re-Opening’ this Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., featuring a special in-store Todd Bratrud art show and hang out with the Familia crew at The Red Stag later that night, with tracks from DJs Millions Billions and Tendercakes.
Sadly, we’re not going to make it to that freezing Midwest skateboarding hotspot this weekend nor any weekend in the near future.
[Link: Citypages.com]
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The Dallas Observer has posted a photo tonight of Quiksilver employees closing up the store at Ross Perot Jr.’s Victory Plaza.
Quiksilver, among the first tenants in the Hillwood project, would be closing sooner than later, as word was the place would go days without posting a single sale. Well, that sooner is now — actually, February 22.
It’s sad to see dreams die. Then again, it’s only one store and there are at least 400 more where that one came from.
[Link: Dallas Observer]
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Those Mono County Sheriff’s officers sure are clever. Recently they placed an ad on Craigslist offering Mammoth Mountain lift tickets in exchange for narcotics and ended up nailing six people, according to a story in the OC Register:
Sheriff’s deputies advertised their sting operation on Craigslist.org, offering to sell Mammoth Mountain lift vouchers in exchange for narcotics. . . . The six people from Orange County, San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles came to Mammoth Lakes, gave the agents the drugs and were arrested Friday, officials said. . . . Deputies seized about a pound of marijuana, a fourth of an ounce of cocaine, Ecstasy tablets and prescription medications.
Nice way to drum up some out-of-town revenue for the county. It almost seems too easy.
[Link: OC Register]
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Used to be that it wasn’t a real amateur snow, skate, or surf event if Wing Lam wasn’t there handing out Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, but now he’s handing them out for a 20-year-old business. Hard to believe.
Yesterday, Ryan Sheckler joined the Wahoo’s Fish Tacos crew to celebrate their birthday at the original store in the heart of Orange County’s surf ghetto, according to a story in the OC Register.
Wahoo’s co-founder Wing Lam greeted those who lined up for the event. Lam and his brothers and Wahoo’s co-founders, Eduardo Lee and Mingo Lee, were joined by Steve Karfaridis, their business partner since 1990, at the celebration. . . . “When we started, Wahoo’s was all about bringing our love of surf and food together to create something unique we could share with our family and friends,” said Lam, who first encountered fish tacos while on a surfing trip to Mexico. “We had no idea we’d still be around 20 years later, and we would have the opportunity to support local charities that mean so much to us.”
Happy Birthday, Wahoo’s! Thanks for all those tacos over the years.
[Link: OC Register and Etnies.com]
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Cody Behrns, 15, is a skater who is already running his own retail business out of an old train caboose in Pittsford, New York, according to a story in the Democrat and Chronicle.
Cody has managed Small Town Skate Shop for a year, and while the Pittsford Sutherland High School freshman says business has been slow during the winter, he expects sales to increase as the weather improves. . . . He’s planning a new venture for the spring: a line of sweatshirts sporting his company’s logo. The sweatshirts will be in six different colors priced at about $35. He said it’s more cost-effective as a business owner to sell some items that aren’t a national or international brand to eliminate paying a distributor and other fees.
In the business for one year and already he’s seeing the value of going private label? Sounds like Cody is on the road to success.
[Link: Democrat and Chronicle]
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