What would skateboarding look like, if the independent, brick-and-mortar skateboard retailer ceases to exist?
Call me old-fashioned, but I believe “the marketplace” depends on the existence of a real “place.” Most folks like to visit a real live place, at least some of the time, to check out the real live things that they’re thinking about really buying with their real money. Hi-res 3D holography over the Internet may arrive sooner than we think, but even that will not completely substitute for seeing, touching and holding the thing itself, in the company of live human salespeople who can respond to questions and let you walk out the door with the product in your hands. If it were impossible to go to any real “place” to see, touch, and hold a product before deciding whether to purchase… well, that would just suck for all of us, including web sellers, regardless of the type of product.
Similarly, large chain stores that push mainly their own in-house brands won’t be able to completely take over anytime soon. They face their own type of glass ceiling: the larger they get, the more they have to dumb things down to appeal to an ever-bigger lowest common denominator. That naturally threatens street cred with “core customers,” and the whole thing is at risk of crashing down. It’s a Catch-22 situation for them, and fortunately it helps protect the integrity of the marketplace for the rest of us.
Most importantly, large retail chains depend on the model of herding customers like sheep, and you can’t herd all of the people all of the time. A certain slice of the populace will always want more variety, higher quality, better customer service, etc. That’s where smaller, more specialized, more personalized shops come in. In one form or another, they’ll always be around, just like the manufacturers who value quality over quantity.
In your estimation, how is the average independent skate shop doing these days?
I don’t have up-to-date statistics at hand, but independent shops are obviously facing a host of modern challenges from big online dealers and chain stores. However, an old opportunity persists on the flip side of those challenges. Independent skate shops are still well positioned to offer more variety, higher quality, and better, more personalized customer service. Plenty of customers are still willing to go out of their way and pay a bit more for that. The unthinking herd will never absorb 100% of us.
How important is price when it comes to choosing where to shop?
That obviously varies widely depending on the buyer’s priorities, the particular product, and the state of the economy. In general, it’s a safe bet that more discriminating buyers look for a good balance among quality, price, and customer service.
What’s the best skate shop that you walked in to in the last year, and what made it so good?
I don’t bust out of my workaholic bubble often enough to visit very many real live skateshops. It’s sad, I know. Last spring I visited the Edge Boardshop in Dana Point, California. The owner, Mike Bornstein, displays a lot of the modern brands in a stylish, elegant environment. And he knows his shit. Well, mostly – he still insists on carrying other brands besides Seismic.
Describe the worst skateshop experience that you’ve suffered in the last few years.
We’ve all been to shortboard lifestyle shops that carry just a few token longboards and sneer at you if you don’t fit the right profile. In middle November I visited a shop like that in Lisbon, Portugal, to check out sales opportunities. The owner literally looked me up and down with disdain. I simply gave him my card and said, “Within a year you’ll want to carry high-end longboard products. I have to go now, but feel free to contact me when you’re ready.” He was floored.
Lastly, what is the “secret for success” for the independent retailer?
At risk of sounding like a broken record player, I think the keys to success are tried-and-true Old School values: good variety, high quality, reasonable prices, and outstanding customer service. The big online dealers and chain stores usually falter on customer service or variety, especially when it comes to the more specialized high-end stuff.
An independent shop can’t go wrong hiring and training salespeople who are educated, who communicate well, and who give a damn. Customers need solid, trustworthy help navigating the murky waters of the modern longboard marketplace. They’ll keep coming back if salespeople can explain not just what works well, but why, as well as a little bit about how modern functional designs evolved from what came before. They’ll keep coming back if sales staff is both reasonably brand-neutral and prepared to gently guide more caring customers away from the mediocre copycat stuff.
