I'd love nothing more than to see every retail empire burn to the ground…
I’m a nightmare of a consumer. Buy my clothes at Ross or Costco, bargain shop for hard goods, haggle ruthlessly on big ticket items. I view every dollar I spend above cost as money wasted, and I’ll be damned before I let some middle man swine swindle me with a keystone product.
By and large I fucking loathe the merchant class. No pride, no point, only there to stand between you and the manufacturer, vultures looking to wet their beaks by disrupting the supply chain. A pre-internet necessity, the modern surf shop serves no real point.
Better boards can be had buying straight from the shaper, making sure the most money possible actually lands in the hands of someone of worth. Surf apparel is boring and ill-fitting and overpriced and, apparently, made by actual slaves.
Fuck ’em all, I’d love nothing more than to see every retail empire burn to the ground.
Derek sent me a great interview today, some guy named Anthony Wilson, owner of a chain of shops, whining about online competition. Too funny.
Wilson is very concerned about what he sees as unfair treatment of “core”shops. He likes the word “core,” uses it a few times over the course of the interview. What exactly “core” means is vague. I’d expect it to refer to surfing, since he’s bitching about the business practices of surf brands.
Not so much. He’s knuckle deep in two chains, Stormriders and Saltwater Wine, one of which has nothing to with the grand practice of wave sliding. Zero. Stormriders is about “Skate+Clothing+Scooter+Footwear+Eyewear.”
So it’s a mall shop. No different than PacSun, a gross chain staffed by sullen teens, focusing on high margin garbage. No point to it, if it died tomorrow the world wouldn’t notice.
Oh my, I so hope it will.
Because the self righteous nonsense this bozo spews gets me riled.
You know, brand websites should be a tool for us retailers to use but for the most part, there’s no way. Why would we refer a customer to a brand website when there is a banner ad for 40% off sitewide or a gift with purchase, or a pop up encouraging them to sign up for a newsletter and get a free voucher?
It’s the same with surfboard manufacturers. Their websites hold a wealth of information on the models, volumes and dimensions and should be a selling tool for us in store. But now there’s “buy now” and “build your own” buttons everywhere. Of course we aren’t going to refer anyone to their sites or social media networks.
Which is great, and might be reasonable, if he had anything to back it up. Better to ask, “Why should a consumer spend time and money with us, when there’s a better alternative elsewhere?”
But that won’t happen, merchant-leech mindset is too strong, he wants to have his cake and eat it too.
Don’t compete with us for our customers online, actually, don’t compete with us full stop. Give us tools. Give us segmented product that allows us to differentiate. Give us first release product for 6 or 12 months. Rather than just asking us to repost brand content and linking to brand social media accounts, how about it goes both ways? How about posting some of our content and sharing some of those customers with us?
Too funny. “Support my obsolete business model, please! Capitalism is great when it benefits me, but I shouldn’t have to actually compete!”
The bozo is looking the wrong way. Should be thinking about what he can offer the consumer, rather than what he can snatch from the supplier.
Because as stupid and meaningless as the term “core” is, there are actual shops that fit the definition. I was recently back in Hermosa Beach, swung by ET Surf. So happy to see they’re the same cavernous place they’ve always been, oodles of surfboards and wetsuits, the best selection of skate gear in the South Bay. Actually bought some stuff from them, rather than just shoot the shit with the employees I knew and bounce empty handed. The place has heart and soul and an actual stake in the game.
Unlike Stormriders, a brick and mortar with a me-too mentality, trying desperately to earn a buck from an industry in decline. Or Saltwater Wine, which my online investigations point to being more of the same, albeit with a slightly moister spin.
Wilson’s biggest gripe is with SurfStitch.
SurfStitch keep talking about “online shopping habits are changing and consumers are buying based on content and engagement rather than just on product and price” but I think that’s all bull. The only way they compete is on price.
Right now, they are the single biggest threat to core retail. They have been non-stop promotional since Black Friday/Cyber Monday.
Last week, they had another 50% off sale that has been extended for the fourth or fifth time or take an extra 25% off sale items or something. It’s all churn and burn, there’s no story telling or brand building going on. We see it playing out in-store all the time with customers wanting us to price match or even honor a free voucher SurfStitch has given away.
Ha! Stupid customers, why aren’t they willing to overpay for product? It’s almost as if they have an existence beyond being enriching the entrepreneurial (gag) type.
Fortunately, I can take solace in the knowledge that all his moaning is for naught. His business model only really works when surfing’s riding the crest of the hot fad wave, which, currently, it most definitely is not.
Hopefully we’ll get lucky, the die-off will continue, and everyone can move on to a better and brighter future.
Which consists of driving to the shitty light industrial part of town to order your board from a wild-eyed lunatic who’s spent the last few decades marinating in resin fumes, and ordering your gear online from independent companies that put a premium quality rather than shareholder happiness.
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for a surf shop, Mollusk is a terrific art gallery
Would you rather have mom-and-pop shops like E.T. and Mitch’s in La Jolla or a thousand Rip Curl shops that look exactly the same and siphon money overseas to giant a corporation? Besides online shopping, those are pretty much your options.
Ha! What an idiot. I get all my Hollister stuff online anyway…
Gee rory , ET Hermosa , all bds are on consignment as they have all the big brands needing rack space , so Firewire ( you know that Asian Co that distributes Asian poputs is is owned by old baldy , bad example?
Some of the non-surf brands that were supplying Surfstitch have already pulled out because their business model is bad for their brands and other smaller retailers. even though I’m personally not a fan of Anthony Wilson he’s on the money with a lot of it (not all). Small bricks and mortar is seen as a very important part of things for apparel and footwear brands outside of surf. It’s pretty well established that people prefer to see and feel a product and once they want it they don’t want to wait. That’s the majority though and there are of course plenty or Rorys out there. As far as surfstitch goes, the surf brands still haven’t learnt their lesson and can’t help themselves. Any sale is still too tempting regardless of how bad it is for their brands long term. The old men running the brands have the same conversations with each other justify the same things to themselves over and over just as they’ve always done. They’re like dinosaurs still standing up who haven’t realised they’re already dead.
Is that you Brett? It’s Ben from Sydney. Hows SA?
Oh hey Ben. Yes it’s Brett here. Miss you.
Surf apparel is only ill-fitting if you’re fat.
zing!
Nobody ever accused the surf industry of being economically sound. The funny part is that the brands actually do want their brick and mortar outlets to succeed, but even they have a hard time justifying the surf shop’s existence anymore. Personally, the only time I try to go to a shop is labor day or memorial day weekends – great sales.
Actually ET did a full remodel after taking over the next door auto repair shop. Still core. Still cavernous. But bigger and newer. Great photo EOS…
Spot on article. With all the slave workers in India, Bangladesh and other financially poor countries, where most clothing is assembled with GMO cotton at the expense of someone else, is a relief to see big brands go down. Same thing with the guys making boards in China.
and Thailand?
Evolve or die. I’m not sure how much more succinct the message could be, yet still they don’t get it.
Where am I supposed to try on my wetsuit or feel up a board before I go back home and order online?
I think we have six surf shops in our town. Only three out of the six shop’s owners actually surf. Only two shops carry local shapers. One out of eight shapers surf at a high level. And he is in his 60’s. Go figure.
Sounds about right for the global average, except maybe only one in twenty ‘shapers’ surf at a high level now that every kid with a planer is a ‘shaper.’
It is a small world now, no reason you can’t get it from the source or a shop. It comes down to the (customer) experience, service, product and people. At the end of the day retail is not what it use to be but the shops with the right mix will continue to do well.
Excellent post, Rory. I agree with everything you are saying about this guy being a whiny, deluded dinosaur; one subject I think is more interesting that you brought up, is the concept of being “core.” We hear a lot of brands either championing such idea, and claiming, hollowly, to represent it. I guess my question for you would be, what would you consider to compose being core? Is there really any such brand or company in the world of surfing that could justify such a distinction?
Agree great post this one.
Maybe the problem is this – no one is probably core anything anymore!! If the big brands just stuck to what they were good at like making the best wetsuit and that’s it then 1) maybe they would be seen as core and 2) maybe they would largely still be solvent rather than for the most – fucked!!!
That is pretty much my thinking on the matter, that no company can be core. To me, I guess I think of being core not as being an entity as something that is merely cool, does neat things, or make good products, but is an entity that is a driving force. Neither the big, exploitative, brands, who can’t credibly assert their essence to the industry (with all their bankruptcies) or that their businesses represent anything but corporate greed (which in itself is THE goal), nor the other smaller companies, who individually don’t have the influence to cause real change within the industry, are… of course, I’ve thought way too much about this and haven’t come up with much…
yep “Core” to me would be the – essence, driving force etc etc behind the sport… and you’re right no one stacks up to this these days ( if ever) and will anyone ever???
apple?
yes to Computers – do we have the surfing Apple tho??
the core is the part that you throw away when you’re eating a fruit
I’d say most of the brands who’ve had any level of success all started with ‘core’ concepts.
It wasn’t until they started to grow that they realized they couldn’t keep up and started to sell themselves out, cheap out on quality, file for bankruptcy, etc – in turn, pissing off their customers.
But they’re all doing it. From both the brick and mortar shop to the online retailer. And to quote Rory, “The bozo is looking the wrong way.”
He’s got the biggest problem with SurfStitch, yet it’s SurfStitch that probably owns the majority of the brands he’s selling – talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
On the other [non-bitten] hand, allowing a company like SurfStitch to have control over these brands; as well as, sell their products at dramatically lower costs is creating a bit of a monopoly which could become annoying for brands, retailers, and consumers alike.
One more. 1981, give or take. Burn the rest down, but spare ET.
I’m a Spyder guy…
This is the best surf related article ever written. Well done Rory Parker!
Love this joint. Worked the counter for four or five years, possibly assembed a skateboard or two for young Rory. Hold on, he was minus 10 years old when I was there, never mind.
The problem with most brick in mortar stores is that they stock only the big brands that also have a shop across the street from them or a massive online presence. The only shops that seem to be doing well are the ones that are doing something unique like not focusing on Quicksilver (who will probably just scrub their debt to the shop by going bankrupt again) or have been around forever like E.T.