Years ago when we said that Burton would “advertise on the side of a garbage truck if they thought there was a snowboard in it,” we were only joking. Coming this fall to Huntington Beach.
[Link: Active Ride Shop]
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Okay, so a kid uploads a video of some skating to a NERD song and wins this Active Ride Shop Contest. They get a autographed copy of NERD Seeing Sounds. That’s pretty hype. . . but what the hell are they going to do with an engraved Microsoft Zune? Aside from spending the rest of the summer explaining to everyone that “it’s kind of alike an iPod only it totally sucks.”
[Link: Active Ride Shop]
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Any wonder why core retailers are getting a little more worried everyday with the “vertical integration” sweeping the industry? Here’s more fuel for the fire. Volcom has just “agreed to acquire the retail operations of Laguna Surf & Sport“ including its two locations in Laguna Beach and Aliso Viejo.”
Laguna Surf & Sport has been a landmark on the Southern California surf and skate scene for many years and this acquisition further demonstrates our dedication to core retail and its importance to Volcom,” said Richard Woolcott, chairman and chief executive officer of Volcom. “It’s great to now be more strongly aligned with one of our longest standing accounts and we look forward to working together even more closely in the years to come.”
Great for Volcom (the stock is up 64 cents on the news), bad for competing Ma and Pa retailers.
[Link: BusinessWire]
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Every time we read notes from the analysts we’re haunted by something Bob McKnight said, “Analysts are just one letter away.” So with that, here’s what Piper Jaffray is saying about Zumiez.
We are upgrading ZUMZ from Neutral to Buy given our belief that shares have over corrected based on current macroeconomic concerns, irrespective of underlying med- to long-term fundamental growth potential. We believe ZUMZ occupies a unique market niche in the active lifestyle category where demand trends remain relatively firm, evidenced by continued above average comp sales growth rates relative to the peer group. At 300 stores, ZUMZ maintains 20%-plus sq ft growth potential for at least 3-4 years and while we are revising estimates downward and new store contribution remains inferior to historic levels, we think shares reflect these risks.”
If we bought action sports stocks, we’d think about it. What with fashion retail being so hot these days.
[Link: Street Insider]
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Australia’s Couriermail looks into the back story of The Brothers Neilsen chain of surf shop and what could drive a successful business into collapse. While the brothers aren’t really talking, others seem to point to the vertical integration of the action sports fashion world.
“You could call it the perfect storm,” the former international surfing champion [Paul Neilsen] said of the factors that combined to sink the multimillion-dollar Queensland business. “I don’t want to comment further about it, except that I’m not blaming anyone,” said the 56-year-old Godl Coast company director.
According to an industry insider and former shop owner, vertical integration (control from manufacture to retail) by leading surf brands such as Quiksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl is “putting the squeeze” on smaller independent operators.
And from the retailers’ perspective we know exactly what this “industry insider” is talking about.
[Link: Couriermail.com.au]
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Surfer Kyle Knox will be signing Hill Family Barrel Blend wine bottles for six hours on Saturday July 12, 2008 at the Carlsbad, California Costco. Apparently, his image is being used on the bottle.
This wine celebrates collaboration between Hill Family Estate and professional surfer Kyle Knox. This wine is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
Barrel blend, get it?
[Link: Hill Family Estate]
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Steve & Barry’s LLC, the 276-store Port Washington, NY-based clothing chain that recently signed a clothing deal with big wave surfer Laird Hamilton, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today according to a story on NBCSanDiego.com.
The company announced that it was considering a plan to sell all or some of its assets to repay outstanding debt, and was eliminating 172 corporate and field staff positions immediately. The parent company and 63 of its affiliates filed for protection from its creditors in the U.S. bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York. . . .”The generally poor environment for apparel retailers has reduced funding to our suppliers, landlords and to our company,” Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, co-founders and co-CEOs, said in a statement. “It has become increasingly difficult for us to continue operating normally under these circumstances.”
Somehow, we’re not surprised.
[Link: NBCSanDiego.com]
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Hermosa Beach’s Spyder Surf has begun communicating with their customers via text message using technology from Sumotext, according to a story in the Easy Reader.
“This is a way to reach our customers right where they’re at. We’ve had huge success with spydersurf.com and other ways of spreading the word about Spyder Surf like newspaper advertising.” Spyder’s Richard O’Reilly said. “But, people don’t usually take their computers down to the beach or to the mountains for snowboarding. The Sumotext system allows us to reach them with messages they want to hear at the time they’re at the beach, skateboarding, or snowboarding.”
Kind of makes it sound like O’Reilly’s never heard of Twitter. If you’d like to check out what Spyder is doing just text SPYDER to 76704 and you’ll be signed up.
[Link: Easy Reader]
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In a pre-recorded call today Zumiez Inc reported a “wider-than-expected 3.4 percent fall in June sales at stores open at least a year.” This sent the stock down eight percent.
Footwear and skate hard goods posted positive comps for the month, offset by negative comps in accessories, juniors, men’s and boys apparel,” Zumiez CFO Trevor Lang said in a pre-recorded call.
The good news: total sales were up 10.2 percent to $34.7 million.
[Link: Reuters]
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San Francisco’s Aqua Surf Shop presents Colors of Eden: A fashion show and benefit for the Edgewood Center for Children and Familes, Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 111 Minna Gallery. Featuring: nikita, element, matix, obey, insight, volcom, L’space and Vitamin A. Live performance by The Botticellis. All the details after the jump
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