February 29, 2000

Midwest Report

By Casey Macker

The first products of the ’99/00 season to arrive at CD Sports in Fort Worth, Texas were sent by Salomon, K2, and Drake/Northwave. Owner Jared Shope says he’s pleased with the early arrivals: "It makes a big difference when high-demand lines are shipped on time."

However, products from Ride have been slow in arriving, a delay he attributes–perhaps wrongly–with Ride’s merger with K2. "Some of the recent buyouts are slowing things down and putting a kink in the shipping of certain brands," says Shope

K2’s wide boards and Salomon boots have so far led the sales at CD Sports.

Kelly Combs, buyer for Mountain Mania in Rapid City, South Dakota, says that he’s been pushing Nidecker products. "Not only because of the quality, but for the company’s quick response to shipping needs," he says. "Nidecker was right on this year–quicker than anyone."

He adds that although there’ve been some setbacks, products from Forum and Mervin Manufacturing were among the first to arrive. "Mervin Manufacturing had a shuffle in staffing–that kind of slowed things down–but they picked up the slack," he notes.

Up to this point, boards from Nidecker, Gnu, and Lib Tech have left Mountain Mania the fastest.

Over in Holland, Michigan, Reliable Sports and Ski Haus Manager Preston Klomparsens says products from Burton, Colombia, and Rip Curl were the first to arrive. "Everything is going according to schedule," he says. The Burton Canyon has been by far his top-selling snowboard.

In Naperville, Illinois, RQ Boardshop Owner Shak Wazir also says that Burton has been on time this year, along with Four Star Distribution and M3.

"We received all our Burton orders in July, which was nice because it was in the shop in time for back-to-school," says Wazir.

As of now, all of RQ Boardshop’s orders have arrived and are either on the floor or in stock. Burton’s Custom and Canyon, Forum’s Peter Line 154 and Devun Walsh 153, and the 154s and 157s from M3 have brought in the most sales so far.

At Bahnsen’s Ski and Sport in Omaha, Nebraska, Ride, Burton, and Salomon were the first three products to hit the floor this fall. Manager Chris Cavanaugh says his shop hasn’t had any problems with hardgoods being shipped. "The only problem we had was with the Burton Backhill line, and that was only because the company didn’t anticipate sales to be this high," says Cavanaugh.

Softgood shipments, however, have been taking a little longer, and the shop has only received about half of its softgood orders.

Forum’s Jeremy Jones and Peter Line boards, and clothing from Dragon and Burton have so far been leading sales at Bahnsen’s.