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| auragreg |
 Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:36 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 2382
Location: Highland, Michigan, USA, Earth
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Well ... after almost 2 and a half years of trying. It looks like we're going to close up shop. And I am going back to my old job.
Looking back, I would have done many things differently. But I can't change that now. The economy in Michigan, high rent, and the lack of snow 2 years in a row really shafted us from the start. Seems we could never catch up.
So it seems Bankruptcy is in the horizon.
And I just found out yesterday that my dad has lymphoma after being cancer-free for 6 years.
Sometimes when it rains it pours .....
Anyone have any advise for closing the doors? How did you clearance out product? |
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| Cappy |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:54 pm |
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Joined: 13 Sep 2005
Posts: 11580
Location: Cloud cuckoo land
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Bummer to hear. 
Don�t have any advise, but i send some good vibes for your dad!
Spend the overtime you might will have, with your dad. Maybe it helps him a bit more. |
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| Sticky |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 1:57 pm |
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Joined: 10 May 2005
Posts: 1957
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| sorry to hear that Greg. My heart goes out to you and your family. |
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| KidsonWheels |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 7:41 pm |
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Joined: 14 May 2006
Posts: 2825
Location: DullYouth
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(((((((((((((((VIBES)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Whats a you a insurance a like eh?
I hope everything works out for you and your family |
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| brianzig |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:47 pm |
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Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 342
Location: South Carolina
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 Shocked. Man Greg, I'm sorry to hear that. Both the shop and your dad are a double whammy. Really, seriously, bummed for you, and wishing you the best wholeheartedly. More important, I hope your dad is feeling the good vibes.
I won't spout any "closes a door, opens a window" silver lining stuff. I'm sure you are bummed. As a shop owner, we eat and breath this stuff so it's hard to imagine a life outside of it. It just sucks. You still going to be around here?
I've said it before that we were kind of living the same path...I gotta be honest, you've kind of freaked me out wondering if I'll make it or not. |
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| brianzig |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:16 pm |
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Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 342
Location: South Carolina
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After checking out your site (nice board artwork by the way) I see that you have an ebay store. I'd suggest putting the inventory on eBay at auction with a Buy It Now set at what you'd like to get. You might get lucky. Piecing it out will bring more money, but more headaches and time over putting together bulk lots. That's after having a clearance sale locally and trying to get as much of it sold as possible before the auction block and ebay fees.
Another option, and I'm sure you've already thought through all these, but what about just scaling back the operation. Move into a lower rent building, cutting hours back to save on payroll, and getting your old job back. Just a thought. It is possible because that's what we do. I have a main street shop(low rent), pay an incredible, worth his weight in gold college student to run things during the day, and I work nights and weekends (for free). All while still working my full time day job to make it all possible and make ends meet at home. Been doing it for a year and keeping our overhead as low as possible. We also started doing ebay auctions on slow moving stock and it helps when you have a slow day to have that auction money coming in.
Just a thought. |
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| CH3NO2JAY |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:24 pm |
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Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 7303
Location: Chicago
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| Positive vibes for your father... |
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| skateight |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 12:05 am |
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ORDER OF THE SKULL
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 2857
Location: Earth
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| Sorry to hear that, hope things get better. |
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| auragreg |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 10:29 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 2382
Location: Highland, Michigan, USA, Earth
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brianzig wrote: Shocked. Man Greg, I'm sorry to hear that. Both the shop and your dad are a double whammy. Really, seriously, bummed for you, and wishing you the best wholeheartedly. More important, I hope your dad is feeling the good vibes.
I won't spout any "closes a door, opens a window" silver lining stuff. I'm sure you are bummed. As a shop owner, we eat and breath this stuff so it's hard to imagine a life outside of it. It just sucks. You still going to be around here?
I've said it before that we were kind of living the same path...I gotta be honest, you've kind of freaked me out wondering if I'll make it or not.
Dude - I don't want to freak anyone out. Circumstances for each shop are so different. If you want any advise about what I think I did right or wrong, shoot me a PM - or we'll keep that http://www.skullandbonesskateboards.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=72850 other topic going. I am totally open to give anyone my honest opinion about opening a skate shop. I give so much respect for anyone that gives it a go. There are so many factors that go into making a shop stay alive. So many more than the outsider would know.
I can;t even explain what it feels like. I went through a divorce years ago, it feel similar, but different. At least then I was getting out of somthing bad.
Like I said before in a different topic - there were things that I would definately do different. Rent is really killing us. $2,100 a month! And that's cheap for our main street area!! I would love to move, but we signed a three year lease and am now so far behind that I doubt anyone would lease to us with our current history. I feel like if we could hold on for one more year things would be OK. But we're just not able to do it financially.
I talked with my old boss and am getting my job back - luckily I left on good terms. I'm cutting hours back at the shop and will have one of my team guys run it for a few hours while I'm working. Then I'll work nights and saturday until we close. Seems a lot of shop owners do that. I should have started that sooner - but really didnt want to go back to work. I am NOT a morning person.
Ebay is great - but my problem is most of the inventory that is sitting is snowboard related. And that's what got us in this mess. No snow = no snowboard sales. So I'm not really sure how well snow stuff will sell on ebay in the summer.
I'll still be around here. And in no way giving up skating. Opening the shop is one of the best things I've done and has hooked me up with new friends that I can skate with. My shop team has been shooting for our next video, so I'm going to try to keep my word to finish it. Which leads me to my next idea ...
Since the shop was only in my name, if we can't keep our current LLC, my wife and I are thinking of starting a board company under her name. I know it's a tough go, but I can keep my shop team intact and possibly get local shops to sell my boards. I'm the vice chairman for the local skate park fundraising group and I think I'll have a good following. I can screen them myself (once I learn) and keep the overhead and quantities low. There I go dreaming again.
Thanks for all the good vibes guys. I really do apprecaite it. It's been tough. I havent even told my parents yet that we're closing because of all that they are going through. They have been a huge source of inspiration and support for the shop. |
_________________
I was born to love you. I was born to lick your face. I was born to rub you. But you were born to rub me first.
Support skateboard art/artists: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BurbSkateboards |
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| oldskoolrulz |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 9:41 pm |
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Joined: 05 Sep 2002
Posts: 706
Location: here and yonder
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sux to hear you're going thru what i just went through, i also just shut the doors on my shop, i bought the place 4 years ago and it's was a decent ride until the last year or so. i also had a skatepark associated with my gig, and it held it's own until the concrete started popping up all around me, slowly took my park customers away as it's pretty tough to compete with free...
not sure what i could've done different to make it all a success, the more i look back on it the more i see the previous owner saw where the industry was heading and got out at the right time. online/ebay sales, mall stores, other local core shops popping up here and there make it extremely tough to stay afloat in today's skateboard market, and to top it off the big companies could give a rat's ass about the core shop anymore. the whole blank/shop deck fiasco proved that, well f**k the industry and their bs, one of the bright points to me closing up was the fact i was no longer supporting that bunch of cry baby pansy-ass mofo's...wow, do i sound bitter or what? 
your biggest concern at this point should be your dad, that's tough stuff to be going thru and from my experience the skate shop deal pales in comparison, i lost my dad almost 6 years ago and i can tell you i'd rather close down a dozen f'in businesses than to go thru that again. be there for him as that's about all you can do, cherish the moments you guys still have, i know the shop thing is a major bummer but taking care of pop will hopefully help steer away some of the negativity from dealing with the biz...
in regards to the closeout sale, that's exactly what i did, announced it about a month out and got rid of 75-80% of everything i had. still have a few things left to ebay this summer as i still owe some creditors some $, it will take me 3-5 years to pay off my assumed debt but hey no regrets right?  and if i were you i'd hold the snowboard gear till fall, heck that's only 3 months away, i'm sure you could use the money now but don't give that shit away...
best of luck, positive vibes going out for your dad!
greg (osr) |
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