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The Secrets Of Visual Merchandising

How your store looks is sometimes more important that what you are selling. We’ll explore the basics on merchandising your store from a visual perspective and also discuss how to build a formula to keep your store fresh and exciting to your frequent shoppers as well as your new guests.
10/06/2008

ZJ Boarding House Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary

Santa Monica's ZJ Boarding House celebrates twenty years of being in business with a carnival/concert/barbecue and a good portion of the industry turns out to help them celebrate.
09/29/2008

Surf Expo September Post-Show Recap

Retail shop and booth counts up at Surf Expo; attendance dips slightly due to weather and economy.
09/29/2008

The Girls Of Surf Expo

All the latest swimwear fashions, modeled at Surf Expo's Fashion Shows and at the swank Peabody Hotel.
09/25/2008

Fate Of Trestles Now In Hands Of U.S. Federal Government (Gulp!)

Thousands stand together in oppostiion to the 241 Toll Road extension during the U.S. Department Of Commerce public comment meeting at the Del Mar fairgrounds. But support and involvement from the surf industry was suprisingly muted at the hearing. So what gives?
09/24/2008

New Faces: Kane'ohe Bamboo Provisions

Building their company philosophy around the belief that the natural beauty of the Hawaiian Islands is as irreplaceable as it is inspiring, Kane'ohe Founders Bryan and Kyle Harris built a brand that would embody island beauty, luxury, and environmental responsibility.
09/13/2008

Volcom’s Atomic Jigsaw On A Stick

“This was the best am contest ever. No, seriously, write that down: best ever.” Well. .. okay! That's cool.
09/13/2008

5th Annual WakeAwards Bash Goes Off At Surf Expo

WakeBoarding, the world's number one wake sports magazine, hosted the 5th Annual Wake Awards presented by Rockstar Energy Drink, on September 12 in Orlando, Florida during Surf Expo.
09/12/2008

Surf Expo Staff Anticipates Solid Show

After a few nervous days carefully monitoring weather reports, the skies over Orlando are clear and this show is shaping up to be on par with Surf Expo's largest September show ever.
09/11/2008

Surf Expo Golf Tournament

Fourteen fearless foursomes braved the fickle Central Florida elements during the annual Surf Expo Golf Tournament at Shingle Creek Golf Course.
09/11/2008

Liquid Nation Ball 5 Raises Funds for 14 Surf-Related Humanitarian Organizations

Surf industry business executives, professional surfers, and La Jolla VIPs gathered at the ocean-front home of Fernando and Vicky Aguerre in La Jolla, Calif. to help raise funds for 14 surf-related humanitarian organizations and honor the first ever SIMA Humanitarian of the year, Dr. Dave Jenkins, CEO of SurfAid International.
09/10/2008

Catching Up With: Origin Skate Trucks

Origin Skate Trucks was started by Richard Wooten and Todd Palmer with a new design on a truck, a truck the owners says is designed for performance because it has a 40% larger grinding surface and weighs the same as a standard Indy truck.
09/08/2008



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Travels With Fish: Ocean City, Maryland

By Steven Fisher, Surf Expo Boardsports Buyer Relations Manager

I got up early this morning for the drive to Ocean City, Maryland. The surf was small and choppy in VB. It’s a decent drive to Ocean City up the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland, and I took the route featuring one of the seven modern engineering wonders of the world: the 17-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Neat!

K-Coast
I pulled into K-Coast and met with Fletcher Birch and Alana McGeehan. They’ve added some square footage since the last time I’ve been here—the store is huge and it’s rocking! Seriously, where do I start?

Each department is massive. The town saw a winter that ran a bit too long, but now that summer is here business has picked up. Guys’ boardies are doing well. Sandals are killing it and juniors’ dresses are flying off the racks. I see it in the store and on the streets: sundresses are everywhere in Ocean City. Overall board sales are slower than usual, but the surf has been flat for so long. The trend in paddleboarding is growing, though. The board brands that stand out are JS, T. Patterson, and Firewire. The hot apparel brands at K-Coast are Billabong and Volcom—both for guys and gals. Matix, Obey, and RVCA round out the good stuff. What concerns does Fletcher have for the store’s short-term growth, “Staying in stock and meeting customer’s needs—honestly.” Not a bad problem to have!


Chaucey’s Surf Shop
Chauncey’s Surf Shop is up next with a quick Q&A with Chauncey Rhodes. He’s got two stores in Ocean City. Tees, swim, hardgoods, and boards are the ticket to sales at this small store. Board sales have picked up since July 4th, as last week’s swells stacked the horizon. The long winter seemed to drag on and pulled the business with it, but “summer’s here and it’s good so far,” says Rhodes. Chauncey’s worried about what the economy has in store, but also looks to what he called “clueless pseudo surf brands” like Hollister for an erosion in sales. “I’m a little angry at how many people wear that and think its ‘surf,’” he says.

I also met with Head Buyer Bianca Miller at the big store. She echoed what I’ve heard about the trend the town is seeing in junior’s fashions. “Junior’s dresses are killing it,” she says. “Sunglasses, too, like those from Von Zipper and Electric.”

Skate is a strong category here with longboard sales doing very well, thank you. Bianca is shooting out orders as fast as the vendors can ship. “As soon as one order comes in, I’m calling to get the next ready to go.”

She says tourists are coming to OC. “Ocean City is a destination spot, so that helps. I’m seeing more long weekend trips where tourists can drive instead of fly.” More traffic seems to be flowing from the north, as well, from New Jersey and New York. My ol’ pal Blair Rhodes, Chauncey’s brother, agrees, “We’re a half a tank of gas from anywhere.”



Water Ways
Across the parking lot from Chauncey’s is a little jet-ski and wake shop called Water Ways, where I chatted with Brian Cree and Brittany Sands. They’re actually moving out of this store at the end of the month to open a new store on Fleming Island, Florida, near Jacksonville. They want to move away from the jet ski business and concentrate on wake and add more apparel and skate—good call! They definitely have September Surf Expo on the calendar—another good call!

Look for the shop to open on August 1. It’s called Pirate Wake & Skate, Brian and Brittany would love to see you!

I also made a pit stop by Endless Summer and Cloudbreak to make conversation with the staff. The skate park next to Cloudbreak is helping business and they’re doing great with Lost, Plan B, and Element.



Billabong
Last up for the day is the Billabong store on 78th street. This was a satellite K-Coast up until this year, and Fletcher Birch says the partnership has been great. At the store I met with Lindsey Encarnacion and Jenna Gurtshaw. They tell measles of junior swim are amazing, “Way beyond our expectation,” says Gurtshaw. So are the sales in juniors dresses. (See a trend here?) “We’re selling out in a matter of days,” she says. Flip flops are good, as are men’s boardshorts and tees. If anything is slow here, it’s kids apparel. I guess it’s hard to get to the kids department when all the gals are rushing to the dress racks!


In Rehoboth, Delaware tomorrow. Check back in for more fun!



Fish

 

 

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Author: Sean Obrien
 
 
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K-Coast, Gary Husband , 7/18/2008 8:07:59 AM
K-Coast rocks.
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  press releases
 

Halloween Wakeboard Day With Keith Lyman at the Carlsbad Lagoon

Wakesports will host a Halloween costume party at the Carlsbad Lagoon on Saturday, October 18th. The fun will kick off around noon and continue until sunset. Liquid Force is flying professional wakeboarder Keith Lyman out to join in the festivities.
10/10/2008

Buckle, Inc. Reports Comp Store Sales Up 19.7%

The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE: BKE) announced today that comparable store net sales, for stores open at least one year, for the five-week period ended October 4, 2008, increased 19.7 percent from comparable store net sales for the five-week period ended October 6, 2007.
10/10/2008

C4 Waterman Team to Go Big at Battle of the Paddle

C4 Waterman and their distributor, Boardworks, have rallied a red-hot team of stand up paddle (SUP) racers for this Saturday's $25,000 Battle of the Paddle at Doheny State Beach, Dana Point, California.
10/10/2008

Rip Curl promotes Brian Bosson to VP of Merchandising Operations

Rip Curl is excited to announce the promotion of Brian Bosson to Vice President of Merchandising Operations. In his new role, Bosson will expand his responsibilities overseeing the Tech Product Division into the production and development business.
10/10/2008

Bikini Flavors Gives Conservation a High Fashion Makeover

Bikini Flavors is proud to announce its partnership with the Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC).
10/10/2008

Steamer Lane Prepares For Oakley Pro Junior Series Finale

The nation's top professional junior surfers will compete at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Grade-3 North America Oakley Pro Junior Championships at the 2008 O'Neill Cold Water Classic at Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, Calif. Oct. 21-26.
10/10/2008

Zumiez Total Net Sales Up 4.8% While Comp Store Sales Dip

Zumiez Inc. today announced that total net sales for the five-week period ended October 4, 2008 increased 4.8% to $33.6 million, compared to $32.1 million for the five-week period ended October 6, 2007.
10/10/2008

Jetpilot Announces Website Launch

The Web site is designed with efficiency and clarity in mind. The goal was simple: Create a window into the world of Jetpilot and what the brand is all about.
10/06/2008

Grenade Launches Footwear Collection

Grenade Footwear was designed to cover our feet when the days grew colder and so we could stop rummaging through the bins at Goodwill for the next good pair to skate.
10/06/2008

Furl TV To Conquer Colorado On Comcast

Exciting new Fall snowboard series “The Adventures of Danny & The Dingo” and “Standard Snowboard Show” perfect for new market.
10/06/2008

Sign Up For SIMA's HR Boot Camp Today

Registration open for 4th event in SIMA’s new educational Coot Camp Series: HR Boot Camp.
10/06/2008

DC Supports "Movember" With Limited Edition Sandal Release

For the second consecutive year DC is proud to support Movember, an annual charity ‘mo’-vement committed to changing the way men think about, discuss and treat their own health issues.
10/06/2008



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