The Board Retailers Association held its fifth annual Retail Summit at the Hilton Caribe hotel in San Juan Puerto Rico this past week, and attracted about 60 retailers, industry executives, media representatives, and other attendees.

With the nation’s economic news uniformly bad and competition on the rise from both non-endemic and endemic sources, retail attendees were clearly worried when they gathered that first night in Puerto Rico. Could the summit reveal a new path to follow—or at least allay some of  these fears, that feeling that each shop was fighting a battle alone? After all, those goals were at the foundation of this retail trade association since day one.

I met Roy Turner March 11, 2002, at Surf Expo’s back-to-school show in Anaheim California. I forget who introduced us, but I remember that person telling me that Turner was on to something new and unique in the action-sports market: a retail trade group called the Surf Retailers Association dedicated to giving shops a cohesive voice in the marketplace. It seemed a radical concept at the time. After all, not many shop owners hung out together. They certainly didn’t seem to share business tips or create consensus very often.

Now, seven years after its inception and five years after its successful launch, a lot has changed. The Board Retailers Association (the name was changed to reflect the broad range of stores involved) encompasses more than 1,200 storefronts. In the meeting rooms of the Hotel Caribe and throughout the summit it was clear that many of the original goals of the group had been met."We have gone further in 5 years than I ever dreamed we would or could," says current BRA President Mike Duncan.

Retailers, typically with decades of experience behind them, were talking—sometimes lamenting—together, sharing ideas about buyer management, visual merchandising, product assortment, margins, sales, database management, e-marketing, and just about every other issue faced between the four walls of a shop.

These casual, but often quite deep, conversations formed the largest and most important leg of the BRA Summit tripod. But there were other reasons to attend as well. BRA Executive Director Melissa Clary did an excellent job of organizing a variety of well-attended seminars.



None were better than Dick Baker’s second day comments on the state of the market. Acting as the Executive Director of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association for the past eight years, Baker has given dozens of these talks about the industry, but what he had to say this go around seemed especially well received. He referenced a recent Piper Jaffray report that asserts we are already in the midst of a discretionary recession.

“To cut to the chase, the bottom line is that spending remains very constrained,” says Baker. “The only bright side is that surf and skate are doing better than traditional retail because there’s a lifestyle underpinning the market that’s not going anywhere.”

But Baker says there’s no magic pill for our current economic woes: “This is something we’re in for, and it could go into ’09 easily.”

Baker says the industry has weathered these business cycles before, but he notes that this time it’s different. “We’ve gone in and out of fashion before, but back then it was a trend, now it’s a lifestyle,” he says. “Plus, there’s the entire global aspect to all this. But at the very heart of the industry, and I know some would argue this point with me, is the absolute respect and care the big brands have shown towards the specialty retailer.”

Baker used the example of the urban apparel boom and bust of the early 1990s. “Overnight the urban brands almost ran from their specialty base to the mall stores,” says Baker. When that trend faded and mall store assortments changed, those urban brands had nowhere to turn. “Today’s surf industry doesn’t even compare to any other category. The lifestyle is real and it’s spreading.”

Dick Baker


Baker also talked about the differences between big and small brands, noting that middle tier brands selling between $20 to $60 million are almost nonexistent now.

The choice appears to be between the uber-brands (that will go direct both online and with their own stores) and the small brands that are under capitalized and often have trouble shipping. However Baker says a quiet infusion of capital over the next 18 months may give smaller brands the legs the need to compete. “But the marketing spend will continue to separate the larger brands from the small brands,” he says. Because of this, allowing the large brands an appropriate percentage of business will continue to be very important.

He also urged the audience to reevaluate and reenergize their business. “The shopping experience at specialty retail has been the same for the last 30 years,” he says, saying that both the Apple stores and the local farmer’s markets have caught his eye with their unique shopping environments.

Other day two presentations included talks from Global Wave Ventures, ActionWatch, and 3point5, a new online retail training program that recently entered into partnership with the BRA.

Dave Stockholm of 3point5.com


But all work and no play makes us all look like Jack Nicholson after a long winter at the Overlook Hotel. That’s where the third leg of the BRA Summit tripod enters the picture: the fun stuff.

After a long bus ride to the northeast corner of the island, attendees were treated two hours sailing in a catamaran, followed by dinner at Revealing Rainforest. While the zip line turned out to be rather tame, simply walking through the forest at night down a torch lit path and hearing the volume of the birds and frogs and other forest critters was memorable.

Rip Curl's Paul Harvey, Quiksilver's Tom Holbrook, and GSI's Mark Kelly


After a morning spent working or swimming or eating or walking (Bobbie Abdulfattah of Jack’s and Deepak Nachnani of Coastal Edge get the award for most miles logged), the group reconvened on Day Three for a lively panel discussion moderated by Propaganda’s Vipe Desai, where Rip Curl’s Paul Harvey, Quiksilver’s Tom Holbrook, and GSI’s Mark Kelly addressed the current landscape of surf retail. (Check back for video highlights.)

This was followed by Ed Wray, SIA’s eastern sales and marketing manger, who talked about the current health of the snowboarding industry. SIA’s reports show, no surprise, a dip in snowboard sales at specialty retail despite what’s been viewed as a good-snow winter.

Glen Brumage of IASC followed with his analysis of the skate market. While most sales remain in skate shops, Brumage noted that online ordering is slowly ticking up. He also added his voice to the common refrain that shops have no chance of succeeding in this market without some sort of online presence.

The surprise hit of Day Three came after lunch when BRA Chairman and ZJ Boardinghouse Co-Owner Todd Roberts led the group through an interactive discussion on merchandising skate decks. The quality of ideas—and how quickly they were generated—underscored the depth of retail experience in the room. It’s likely exercises such as these will become a regular part of the BRA Summit curriculum.

Pete Kelly, Tod Swank, and Andy Tompkins during the interactive discussion.

The group was ready to move after sitting through the morning, and the tour of Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan was a fun distraction—despite the frequent rain showers. Old San Juan, with its colonial charm and cobbled streets, also has a variety of excellent restaurants and dinner at Marmalade was incredible. So much so that the group was ready to head back to the hotel after dessert, but once the alcohol began to flow the conversation moved to the Jacuzzi. Things get hazy after that.

No surprise, the energy level on the last day was flagging, but the passion and energy Actions Sport Environmental Coalition (ASCE) Founder Frank Scura got the attendees past the finish line with enthusiasm. “We couldn't have asked for a more epic experience and we are excited about our momentum as an industry united!” says Scura.

So was there a new, clear directive formed out of the summit? Perhaps not, but there did seem to be a new level of determination and a new, more-positive tone about business moving forward.

I’m so glad that I decided to attend this year as this experience was truly educational, enlightening and, most importantly, an opportunity to be with old friends and make many new friendships,” says Mark Richard of Val Surf in California. “I would have to say that it wasn’t necessarily the introduction of new ideas or topics that was most important as much as it was the depth of which was covered by the presenters and participants.

“We have always been very aware and respectful of the fresh, youthful input in going forward in this industry and the B.R.A. Summit was a perfect forum for this,” continues Richards. “Listening to the different twists and spins on some of the more featured areas that were addressed over the course of the conference allows for this information to be taken home and implemented back at the stores. This was most definitely a very informative and rewarding experience and one that I found to be most valuable in moving on in a positive way during these tough times.”

According to Scott Oreschnick of Cal Surf in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “It is great—or not so great—to hear that many of us are experiencing the same hard times and that I (we) didn’t suddenly forget how to do our jobs. I learn something new every day I’m involved with this industry; from my customers, my vendors, and from all of you. I am grateful to have BRA as a resource and hope to strengthen our relationships and our ability to protect our lifestyle.”

It’s been seven years since Roy Turner came up with the idea of a trade association for specialty boardsports retailers. While he’s moved on to Surf Expo and left the organization in the able hands of President Mike Duncan, Executive Director Melissa Clary, and the rest of the board of directors, the underlying spirit of the association continues to grow and spread.

“It is not very often in life that you find a group of individuals with common beliefs, values and interests that are willing to share with one another,” says Turner. “The BRA conference this past weekend is a great example of how special our industry and those involved with it are. In a world where many are often too busy to get through the day, you all took the time this weekend to take a breath and share ideas. For that I congratulate all of you.”

null