What core shops should I go to? I have already been told to go to Milo and World Boards and some other places. I'm trying to sell what? I don't care how big or small a shop is. I believe any store I walk into should provide a level of service for the price I am paying. In 25 years of going to shops, my experiences are most shops don't provide the service I expect. The service I am looking for is a friendly greeting, knowledge of the products they sell, knowledge of the sport they are selling, knowledge of the local area, technical service such as tuning and any other perks that might entice me into the store (free coffee!). For many snowboarders and skateboarders, they enjoy the level of service they receive. It may be they like the atmosphere of the shop, or they like the logo or they are getting a bro discount or they know they have status at school if they go to that shop. Take a good look at me, I'm not that cool looking. But even 25 years ago or more, going into the skate shop was not easy. Even as a shop owner (Sessions Denver 1986-1990), I know we were guilty of not providing appropriate service. If some kid wanted Sex Wax, we would laugh them out of the shop. That kid grows into a consumer and if his experience was not pleasant, maybe he quits skating and it chips away at "the little guy" you are holding so dear to your heart. Sessions was pretty much the first core snowboard shop in the US. We were the little guy.

I zeroed in on service because price has driven board sports sales for the better part of two decades. Consumers are shameless in their lack of loyalty to shops, brands and products. Price has turned everything upside down. As retailers feel more and more pressure to meet price demands from the competition and economy, they clamor about service and how service will differentiate the good shops from the bad. Yet the knowledge of snowboards, in particular, is pathetic. Zumiez and other chain or box stores is guilty as you charge, so I'm not favoring the big discounters over "the little, core guy". I'm merely saying all shops are lacking service for their FORTY PERCENT margin. Sure, by the time cost of goods sold are factored in, the shop's margin gets chipped away, but the sheer volume of dollars traded in the name of margin is astonishing. I'm curious to know why you think I am trying to undermine small shops? I have nothing to gain by saying what I said. I am looking for shops to become more knowledgeable about the products they act so fucking cool about. I am looking for the 19 year old kid to greet me as if I am actually an equal human being, not some Barney who's money looks and feels dirty and only hipsters should be cool enough to shop here. I'm looking for one person on the sales floor to accurately tell me what base material is and what the difference between sintered and extruded is and how the board is laid up. If I am dropping $500 on a product, I think the pierced, tatooed hipster should know more about it than the square looking 45 year old. And the hipster should suck it up and be nice, that's part of SERVICE. I am glad the anonymous person posting has such wonderful experiences at shops that they border euphoria. That means SOMEONE besides me is getting the service I am looking for. And Mr Anonymous may have extremely low standards for sales staff to meet. That's okay. But when you mix price, service and vendor relations, you end up with the mess the snowboard/skate/boardsport industry finds itself in today. 

Remember, price seems to drive any loyalty to shit, so consumers begin a frenzied hunt for the best possible price, service becomes secondary. When they start driving around looking for the best price, their exposure to products becomes limited to the range any store carries. Obviously you totally misunderstood what I said about Burton. Retailers have walked in lock step with Burton for over 20 years. As the retailers realized Burton was emerging as the market leader, Burton capitalized by pressuring retailers to expand Burton's market share in each shop. Retailers began to shut off smaller companies (hey, remember you are for the little guy) because they couldn't offer the deep discounts, POP, POS, co op dollars, markdown money, advertising, warranty, customer relations, team and general exposure that Burton was providing. If the little guy retailer won't support the little guy company, doesn't the little guy retailer set himself up to be trapped by brands like Burton? Now that Burton's tactics are beginning to show signs of wear and many retailers have decided to shift their buys to other brands (too little, too late), but they still hang on to Burton as their holy grail, they just buy a little bit less. So the consumer who is fixated on price continues to run into the same brand, shop after shop and the rare alternatives they find are not positioned in shops as viable alternatives to Burton. Many shops bring in a small quantity from small brands, just to have something different. But they know the bulk of their buy and sales are with Burton. So in my estimation, the little guy retailers are somewhat fucked because they want the easy sales and they don't want to take risk with brands that aren't known turn key brands like Burton. In the long run the retailer pigeon holes themselves with Burton, the consumer just shops price with multiple shops and one brand and the retailer whines like a baby because their lives are so difficult. All I am saying here is the retailer ought to focus more on the value of the customer, not their relationship with a rep or a brand or what price they need to drop their shit on. If retailers valued the individual customer just little more, they might see value in a smaller brand, or that price is imaginary and price is all about perception. I'm willing to pay full retail for many products. But as soon as a store wants to treat me other than as the most important customer, I will choose to spend my money where they will treat me as important to their business. 

I also think many retailers are uptight about on line sales. Sure, they are competing with each other, but I think there is a new customer emerging and retailers don't know or understand that customer. There are people who have become comfortable doing their own research on products and then buying those products on line. On line retailers have gone out of their way to create that customer experience that nobody in the 80s and 90s ever thought could be created. Once companies like Zappos began making the on line buy an easy one with free shipping, quick turn around, no questions asked returns, etc; customers started buying things like shoes, music, movies and other products on line. Bigger ticket items have slowly worked their way into the on line sales world. Now there are consumers who don't want to go to a store when they can stay home and have the product within a week. When you go to 5 stores and none of them can tell you much about the $500 board you are interested in other than "it's dope, those graphics are sick" or "that board has so much pop when I ollie" or "sintered is better, I don't know the science, but sintered is just faster and holds wax better, I don't know why, but it is".....I'm sorry that's not good enough for some people and they would rather point and click and wait and there isn't jack shit any gnarly, core, cool guy retailer can do about it. Except maybe recapture that customer with a great in store experience that gets them to think twice about the lonely shopping experience from their computer.

I'll admit self absorbed attitude (narcissism), who the hell isn't just a little bit? I don't know about you and your "ethos of snowboard culture", but I've been snowboarding since 1976, owned my own retail shop, worked for numerous companies, put on events, taught snowboarding and have been a general pain in the industry's ass for a really long time. And it's all because I really care about snowboarding, probably more than most "little guy retailers" and "big guy companies". I'd like to see snowboarding continue to grow and flourish, mainly because it makes everything easier and better, from the products to when and where we can go to snowboard. I remember spending hours and hours modifying my boards so they would work. I remember spending hours and hours hiking so I could ride down. Now there are companies that make boards that don't need modification and resorts that let me ride their lifts. This is all good stuff. I'd like to preserve all of that and if retailers and companies are dipshits who don't treat the customer right, the customer will quit snowboarding, switch to skiing and bail out on the industry. That's cool for narrow minded people who think snowboarding is better off as a small industry with only core people doing it. But that just won't work because all those little guy shops and companies will disappear. I have plenty of boards to last me a while and I know how to hike and still do a lot of it, but it sure is a luxury having access to a variety of products and places to use them. 

So what did bullshit say when you called?

Great Piece.  I couldn't agree more with the service from retailers.  I don't go to shops to get vibed and hear how rad you surf or snowboard.  I go to shops because I need product or some info.  MBSS great shop and on the surf side Josh at Cleanline in seaside great knowledge on products.