photo courtesty garrettperry.com
Name of the shop? Cal Surf
Name of person answering the questions? Scott
How long has the shop been around for?
Open since April Fool’s Day 1988. Success mean’s different things to different people. Our success is surviving in an age of over distribution, where many of the vendors do not protect their own brands. They don’t care how their brand is sold/positioned or what type of business is selling their product. We consider ourselves successful because we have survived in spite of that fact. We are partnering with more brands that value their relationship with their retailers and believe that healthy growth does not come at the expense of their retailers. Sell to the right shops, not every shop. Sell to shops that can educate the consumer, heat mold boots, differentiate cambers/rockers/etc. We believe snowboarders should determine the future of snowboarding and we listen to snowboarders when making decisions. Our customers are our peers, so business decisions can be pretty natural as we order what snowboarders want to ride and support.
What is your local mountain? (when does it open usually?)
Hyland Hills. Opens early December.
Who’s on your shop team?
Joe Sexton, Zac Marben, Jonas, Jordan and Tara Michilot, Ricky Tucker, Dan “Danimals” Liedahl, Micah McGinnity, Nick Buchner, Danny Faye, Justin Hovde, Jamie Thomas, Dom Pomeroy, Matt Seifert, John Hodge…House of 1817 represent!
What rider has influenced snowboarding the most in your area?
Micah McGinnity. Some may disagree, but he was the 1st to film locally with Mack Dawg and the Twin Cities have been a filming destination ever since. With all of the Uber Pros hitting up the local spots, it makes the local rippers step their game up and get creative.
Do you have any good shoplifter stories?
We have 2 floors in our store and typically our snowboard hard goods occupy our 2nd floor. We were very busy one day pre-season and a guy decided he wanted to score some boots. He tries a on some boots and as our shop guy goes to help another customer, he walks down the stairs and out the front door. Of course before the guy is out the door, our guy call s down and lets us know what is going on. It hasn’t snowed yet, so this guy is trying to scoot down the sidewalk in street clothes with boots on and attempting to look natural. A couple guys from the shop take after this guy and he starts to run. The thing is our staff is in skate shoes and this guy is trying to run away in boots. It was classic. We are laughing our asses off as this guy is trying to stay ahead of us. Need less to say we got the boots back and set the dude off in his socks.
bonus question:
Who is the most under rated local rider?
Danimals
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that's in the running with Coastal Riders for best shoplifter story thus far.
roll over to Cal Surf grab a dino, a think thank flick, and some more insider info.
Cal Surf
1715 W. Lake St.
Minneapolis, MN
(612) 822-6840
www.cal-surf.com
