Name of the shop? Fat Trax
Name of person answering the questions? Mike Lee
How long has the shop been around for?
The first Fat-Trax openend up in 1992 up in Easthampton Ma. That location is strictly snow and is open September through April. The East Longmeadow location opened in 1998. That location is open year round with snow, skate and BMX. The one and only way we've survived this long is due to the fact we give a shit. We dont stock our shelves with cheap garbage and fuzzy fleece's. We take pride in supporting the little guys, while still keepin it real with some bigger companies. I’m also pretty excited that we (I) was the first New England shop to actually tell a certain company we weren't interested in carrying their product anymore. With all that being said, it IS getting harder and harder to keep the dream alive with the friggin' internet and mall chain stores shit staining our industry. Only time will tell.
What is you’re local mountain?
Our local mountain is this little gem located 40 south of us in Connecticut. Its called Ski-Sundown. Sunday nights are the 1 day a week when we meet up with the dudes from the other shop and all get to ride together and rage from like 6-10 at night. Its the kind of hill where you can just do laps under the lights and take bar breaks after every 3 runs and smile just as much as if we we're up at our 2nd favorite hill, Mt. Snow.
What rider has influenced snowboarding the most in your area?
Man, that’s an easy one. That would be Scotty Stevens. Scott has single handedly changed snowboarding world wide. His style of riding proves that you don't need a massive budget or helicopter to have a good time and turn heads in the process. Scott has lots of fans around here. I'm definitely one of them.
Who’s on your shop team?
First and foremost, Chris Beresford. Chris has been down with us since day one. Obviously his schedule keeps him on the road filming or at High Cascade coaching, but when he's home he spends plenty of time hanging out or filling some hours at the shop, or golfing with myself, Stevens and Anderson. Then there is Mr. Austen Granger. He's been under our wing since the beginning. He also started out as an employee then flew the coop to Salt Lake City. Whenever he's home he spends plenty of time at the shop. The next OG would be Chris Grenier. Grendy’s been a part of the fam for like 7 or 8 years now. He's another one who's making a HUGE name for him self in snowboarding. Whether he's on the snow or his skateboard or even the golf course, he keeps ya laughing your ass off and asking yourself, "How the hell did he do that?". Next in line is Ben Bogart. This little powerhouse was recruited this past winter and is totally down on reppin’ the shop. He's a character for sure. We had him out here for the Think Thank premier a few weeks ago. The kids were super excited to finally meet that guy. Last but not least is our good pal Bode Merrill. He's one of the world’s best snowboarders for sure and is super down for the shop. Basically our "team" is a bunch of dudes that are already really good friends and on the up and up with their snowboard careers. Im just pumped they run our stickers and sweatshirts. We're all pretty excited to know these guys.
Is there any local brands from your area that people should be on the look out for?
Another easy one. Chris Beresford’s little brain-child. Dangshades.com, Chris has been super excited about sunglasses for many, many, years. He finally took it upon himself to start a little sunglass brand called Dang. I’m sure if you've seen any pics or edits of Chris he's probably running some of his own shades or hat's. Or if you've been to Hood you've run across his portable mini-shop at the staff sales. His blog is pretty legit and it has a store too. Check it out.
Thanks for reading my ramblings. In closing, the snowboard world would be a much more enjoyable place if everyone looked at snowboarding like DWD and Burtner see it.
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thanks Mike!
since these questions were so easy we'll be throwing in a few algebra questions for Mike next time.
in the mean time, go by and test Mike with a few questions of your own.
Fat Trax
612 North Main St.
East Longmeadow, MA
(413) 781-5142
http://fat-trax.com/blog1/
