by The Editors on February 23, 2009
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]
by The Editors on February 20, 2009
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]
by The Editors on February 18, 2009
When the Whiskey Militia site rolled out sometime last year we thought it was one of the coolest concepts to hit online retailing in a while. The site simply sold one action sports item at a time at a ridiculously low price until they were all gone. It mixed a little of the Home Shopping Club with a pop-up closeout store. It’s a model that seems to work well for Backcounty.com.
On February 19, 2009, Whiskey Militia is launching a site that will do the same thing with snowboard gear. The site is called Brociety.com.
Brociety is the new snowboard-only one-deal-at-a-time (ODAT) store, slinging everything from split kits to steezed out one-pieces to buttery jib boards–all at face-melting prices. It’s the pow-lovin version of Whiskey Militia, with one ridonkulous steal after another (50-80% below retail). And it’s strictly for snowboarders. Nothing but endless winter. Whiskey Militia can keep the warm months.
Kind of goes back to the old art as business adage: do one thing and do it well, over and over and over again. Follow the jump for more.
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by The Editors on February 17, 2009
It reads more like a nice, swift, kick to a yapping dog, but in a letter released today Pac Sun Lead Director Peter Starrett clearly outlines what the Pac Sun Board of Directors thinks of Adrenalin CEO Ilia Lekach’s plans to oust Pac Sun CEO Sally Kasaks in a proxy battle:
First and foremost, you should know that the Board fully supports Chairman and CEO Sally Frame Kasaks and the strategic program that is underway to build value for PacSun shareholders . . . It’s also clear to the Board that PacSun shareholders will not be well served by a proxy contest pursued by you in furtherance of your stated desire (as most recently to combine PacSun and Adrenalina and install yourself as CEO. But make no mistake, if that is the course you wish to pursue, we will do all that is necessary to protect shareholders.
We keep writing Lekach off as simply publicity hunting, but he seems to be sticking to it.
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on February 13, 2009
by The Editors on February 12, 2009
In the latest round of letter writing, Adrenalina the Florida-based, three-store action sports retailer is demanding the resignation of PacSun CEO Sally Kasaks and nominating four people to the PacSun board of directors, according to a story on Reuters.
In a letter to CEO Sally Kasaks, Adrenalina, which owns about 3 percent of PacSun shares, said it has the support of the largest shareholders in demanding her resignation. . . . Adrenalina’s claim of shareholder support could not immediately be verified. . . . “We hereby demand your immediate resignation from Pacific Sunwear, which is imperative for the company’s survival,” Adrenalina said in a letter to Sally Kasaks date Feb. 12.
Makes us wonder if we should buy up a few shares of our favorite publicly traded action sports company and start making demands . . . hmmm?
[Link: Reuters]
by The Editors on February 11, 2009
Like it or not, the moms of the suburban west shop at Sport Chalet for snowboards and skateboards (and ping pong balls) so it is no real surprise that the retailer whose 55 stores are all in “the housing states” would be down in the third quarter ending December 28, 2008, according to a story on Sports One Source.
Sport Chalet, Inc. saw sales for its third quarter of FY09 ended Dec. 28, 2008 declined 10.3% to $104.6 million compared to $116.6 million last year. Eight new stores not included in same store sales contributed $4.7 million in sales for the quarter while same store sales decreased 15.4%. . . . Gross profit as a percent of sales was 22.3% compared to 30.2% for the third quarter of last year.
The last quarter was bad for almost everyone.
[Link: SportsOneSource]
by The Editors on February 10, 2009
During the 2008 Q4/Year End conference call with analysts, VF Corp CEO Eric Wiseman said that the company will “remain very interested in acquisitions” for 2009. Though he said they were going to be very careful with their acquisitions and he didn’t mention any companies by name.
The biggest news of the call is that Vans is crushing, which isn’t news to anyone. “At Vans we enjoyed an extremely positive year,” said Stephen Murray, President of VF Corp’s Action Sports Americas. “Domestic sales were up 13 percent and we were up in every category except snow, and that is a small percentage of our business.” More Vans notes:
- Footwear sales up 11 percent
- Apparel and accessories grew by 40 percent
- Launch of boys apparel line was particularly successful
- Direct-to-consumer business grew 20 percent
- Vans stores saw an 8 percent increase in sales
- E-commerce grew by 40 percent
- The company plans to open more Vans stores outside California in areas where they feel their retail distribution is lacking
Follow the jump for info on Reef and VF Corp Overall. . .
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by The Editors on February 10, 2009
Seems like only yesterday we were hanging out with Wing in Mammoth or at Jimmy Buffett. Has it really been 20 years already?
[Link: Wahoo’s via etnies]
by The Editors on February 9, 2009
A Gold Coast Australia Billabong retail store was robbed by a man wielding a syringe, according to a story on Goldcoast.com.au.
The man allegedly held the Ashmore Billabong store employee at syringe point on Saturday morning before taking an unknown amount of clothing and leaving.
All the man took were some children’s clothing.
[Link: Goldcoast.com.au]
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. 
