By Aaron Checkwood

February 29, 2000

According to Active Rideshop Manager Corbin Higgins, "Everything is on time in mass quantities. Nobody’s late, but we’re still getting stuff in."

The first three brands to arrive in the Temecula, California shop were Burton, Lib Tech, and Four Star (Forum, Special Blend, and Foursquare). Of those, Higgins says the early season best sellers have been Four Star and Burton goods. He says name is definitely one of the reasons they’re selling so well.

In Larkspur, California, Owner Tom Lloyd of Boardsports has to finish out his windsurf season before he gets the snowboard season rolling.

Even though he’s received Burton, Ride, and K2, Lloyd prefers his orders to come in right about the time he holds the season’s first snowboard swap meet at his shop in the middle of October. As for the sales, Burton Chargers and Motions have been the best sellers so far.

Nobody was early or late–although he did say his shop, as well as others, had problems with Airwalk merchandise (specifically a certain size boot) not showing up or being found through tracking.

At O’Neill Surf Shop in Santa Cruz, Snowboard Manager Andrew Walford is transforming the snowboard section of the shop for winter sales. Walford says the earliest companies received were, in order, Burton, Vans, and Roxy.

He has no complaints about shipping and compares it to last year by saying, "The shipping this year is a little more on top of it." Even though sales don’t hit until late October and November, he says Burton is tops in early season hard- and softgoods sales.

Owner Todd Roberts of ZJ’s Boarding House says his first three deliveries (in order) were K2, Burton, and Salomon. A couple surprises were some late shipping from Mervin and Flow.

As for early season sales, Burton and K2 were doing the best for him. "The Burton catalog drives people in here with lists," says Roberts, who sees customers putting sticky notes on the photos of products they want.

In Roberts’ store, Burton has been known to sell out by Christmas. As a result, he gets hounded until the shipments come in and then sells them as soon as they get there. Other products selling well at ZJ’s include an early response to step-ins and kids looking for the Four Star products.

At the Rancho Boardride Company in San Marcos, California, Manager Steven Clare says he’s already sold through the Four Star T-shirts with no chance to reorder.

Four Star, Drake/Northwave, and K2 were the first to arrive with everyone pretty much on time, says Clare. The best hardgood sellers so far has been both the Drake bindings and K2 boards, while the best-selling softgoods were the T-shirts from Four Star.