This issue of Sports News looks at the backgrounds of several sports specialty store owners. Two themes common in most of their stories: spotting an opportunity and having some lean years in the beginning.
She didn't have a retail background; she had been a dental office manager, ran a financial consulting business with her husband, worked for the school district, and had been a stay-at-home mother.
Wright used her contacts at the school district to reinforce the store's family-friendly image. "We want people to know this is a healthy atmosphere; we're not all sitting around selling dope. Everybody knows it's a family store; my oldest son is here all the time, and my younger kids work here part-time." (1)
She has a buy-back program where outgrown boards and boots can be traded in each season for something in a bigger size.
In 1974, using $10,000 from savings and another $10,000 borrowed from friends, they opened a store. "We were so poor, that when my kids' school would ask me to bring in the juice for snack time, I couldn't. I couldn't afford it. But we loved every second of what we were doing."
Dick continued to work as a lighting fixture salesman, while Mary Ellen ran the store. At night he would assemble and repair bikes. It took about five years for the business to build up.
They opened a second store in 1988 to give Lisa, their oldest daughter, and her husband something to manage. Said Lisa, "For my 13th birthday I got my own bicycle tool kit. I was so excited because my parents paid me $1 a bike for repairs. Other kids would watch TV after school, but I had a blast in the back of the shop fixing bikes."
In 1992 another store was opened for Lisa's sister and brother to run. The stores also carry cycling accessories, skis, and ski rentals. Mary Ellen and Dick sold their home and now live in an apartment above one of their stores. Noted Dick, "We've taken our hobbies (bicycling and skiing) and made them our life."
Kegel was a college student hired as a bike mechanic. By 1974 he had dropped out of school to work in the store full-time.
The store began as a bike shop, but cross-country skiing was added the first year. This proved to be a wise decision because the cycling business had dropped off considerably by 1976. The public was no longer interested in highly specialized road bikes.
Tamel was being advised by his accountant to close the store. Kegel decided to stick around (even though he was being paid next to nothing to work there) figuring it was comparable to a college education. In 1979, Tamel gave Kegel 49% of the business in exchange for $5,000, which Kegel had to borrow.
In the 1980s they expanded the business to four stores, using money from bank loans and home mortgages. They hit another financial crisis during the winter of 1985-86 when there wasn't much snow. Luckily mountain biking was starting another cycling boom and the store switched focus again. By 1996, bikes accounted for 80% of sales and skis 20%.
In 1989 Kegel bought out Tamel. At that time the company had 50 employees and was doing $4 million a year in sales. In 1995 he opened a fifth store and sales were projected to be $9 million in 1996. (3)
The Derrs visited friends in Austin and saw a need for a store like Ofelia's. In 1990 they sold the California store and relocated. They went into partnership with Steve Potter, a friend and advertising professional. Said Dennis, ''We really bootstrapped it. This whole business was started with $30,000 we borrowed from my old man and some savings Steve scraped together. We were really undercapitalized to start.'' (4)
Initially they all worked outside jobs. ''We were profitable, but we had horrible cash flow.'' After three years, they were able to open a store in Houston, followed by another store in Austin a year later. Revenues in 1996 were projected to be $1.2 million. The biggest financial challenge has been the high rents which accompany their stores' prime locations.
His father encouraged him to put some products in the store to see if they would sell. Slowly business began to grow. Even though this wasn't a stand-alone skate shop, "we were able to overcome the obstacles so that the skaters thought--'This is a cool shop,' or whatever." Finally, when Uyehara was in his mid-twenties, he decided to open up a separate skateboard store.
The store is in a good location: in Haight-Ashbury, one block from Golden Gate Park. Much of its business comes from visitors from surrounding communities and from foreign tourists.
Astephen, who had a degree in fashion merchandising and worked with DeLong at the Vail Associates shop, found a financial backer. Assuming they would receive $80,000, DeLong and Astephen bought $65,000 in merchandise and lined up retail space.
The financial backer reneged. DeLong and Astephen drew up a business plan and received a loan from a local bank. Said DeLong, "It came down to the wire.... It was an emotional roller coaster." At the time, Astephen was 22 and DeLong was 25.
They generated publicity for the shop by lining up the support of local pro snowboarders. They worked in the store themselves, which gave them day-to-day feedback and helped them find ways to keep these same customers coming in during the off-season.
Working temporary jobs, they lived in a garage. Told that the space was to be used for commercial purposes, they decided to set up a snowboard shop and live in the back. "We had three snowboards on display. One was for sale, one was for rent, and one was Jim's. We got some T-shirts, some stickers," said Reichow. (7) The shop was open in the afternoons, and they spent the rest of their time working odd jobs such as cleaning houses, driving taxis, and working in restaurants.
Rentals and repairs became a big part of their business. They also started selling skateboard merchandise since no one else in the area was carrying it. It took two years before the shop broke even and about four to five years before it generated enough money to support them. "Since day one we would never had made it if we didn't live in the store. We probably would be two years behind at best. All the money we saved from living cheap, we put into the store," said Slanets.
Now they have also become a clothes shop to generate sales when there is no snow. Noted Reichow, "There is nowhere else in town to buy funky clothes. A lot of kids come in to buy back-to-school clothes."
In the early 1990s he went back to Venice Beach for a visit and noticed there were few inline shops there, so he started one and commuted between California and Minnesota. "In the '70's, I took the Venice scene and brought it [to Minneapolis]. In the '90's, it was just the opposite, taking what was happening in Minneapolis and bringing it to Venice." Within eighteen months of setting up the store, other shops moved into the area, so he sold his. (8)
Located down the street from the Rollerblade company, Rolling Soles has had an inside track on new products. The store has been in the same location for fifteen years and has many regular customers. But it has also felt competition from big box stores, which attract customers by offering deep discounts on a few products, thus giving the impression "that they're cheaper on everything else in the store," which Sansby says isn't the case. (9)
- As the market for skates has softened, Sansby has added skate clothing. He has also tried to create an identify for his store with quality service, event sponsorship, and a specially outfitted school bus that visits area schools to teach kids how to skate.