It’s almost the Holiday and the industry is just now starting to show the signs of life. Everyone I speak to is on a downslide and Bush says we are not in a recession? Tell me, will you be spending as much as last year on your christmas gifts and holiday events? Most every person to date has said they will be spending less than last year to include my family as well. It would seem that since the malls, Nasdaq, specialty shops and even the corporate chain stores are below retail sales levels  by 20 – 45% depending on where you reside, that it is a nationwide statement in regard to the economy. Online sales have jumped by nearly 70% making most retailers who are on top of their stores a bit sketchy on large scale orders for the holidays. Don’t get me wrong I’m no expert but every indication of economic factors indicates a recession is here!

Under these factors familiy owned retailers are under a big time crunch to produce revenue from smaller and smaller pieces of the pie. It seems everyday there is a new shop opening with all the thoughts of the american dream, only to have them dashed by factors like: Rep favorites, over ordering, poor marketing, or just not enough Pie to go around for us all to survive. In the SJ area alone we have over 10 retailers all looking to sell their products to the ever growing customer base. That would be great except for the fact of the online retailers who have very little or no overhead at all have their pricing so low it is hard to effectively compete.  Since I have been open I have seen over 3 other shops open then close abruptly due to lack of business. When cut the pie up, is there enough for everyone to survive? That’s a hard question to answer for most retailers unless you have reputation. Effective marketing, community involvement, or just plain advertising, what works best?????? (of course I left a few factors out but I can not give you everything that makes Bordz sucessful)

Online stores like: www.bordzonline.com were developed to assist the retail shop make ends meat and produce additional revenue for better selection and pricing from wholesalers. This is where it is important to understand where your team has a responsibility to you as an owner. Most do not however, so My job is to teach them and grow together as a family, not as a shop and it’s team. Everyone has a job, and as a unit it all works effectively to assist the shop survive in good times and grow in the bad ones. Seems backwards hunh? But if you really search the meaning of that you mightb see what I am driving at as a theme for this blog.

It is truly amazing that other shop managers come to my shop to speak with me about skateboarding, the status of the industry, and why we are still growing. Yep, guess they need some insight, I’m glad to help guys, even though you are backed by almost 20 million in assets? I have 100 bucks in the bank with everything on the line for success. I bet you can never say the same for your situation. But on the flip side, I have the dedication, perserverence, and gift of uniqueness that sets Bordz apart from your store, no I do not have the walk by traffic, but what I do have is the most loyal, dedicated and friendly customers coming to my store almost everyday for the best service in the industry! Next time you can say all that and still remeber your customers name, come talk to me but until then, keep practicing it takes over 30 years of dealing with people to learn what I know and put to practice everyday at Bordz Skate Shop in Galloway, NJ.

This article is dedicated to each and every customer whether or not you bought from Bordz who has walked into Bordz and said hello to me. Thanks for the great years past and ones of the future together. Skateboarding is a mult-billion dollar sport with over 2000 vendors and even more retailers who sell the products, it’s going nowhere but up! As they used to say when I was younger:

SKATE OR DIE