April 27, 2000

Who didn�t hear about �the bus incident� at the trade show? But did anyone hear about the other bus? Yes, there was more than one bus at SIA this year, and now the innocent bus, also known as Yellow Bus Snowboards, is suffering from mistaken identity.

"At first, while we were at the show, we laughed at how people thought the shut-down bus was ours," says Jaime Chriswisser, the president of Yellow Bus snowboards.

But on Chriswisser�s first day back from the trade show, he received a fax from one of his more conservative Japanese distributors, who stated that they were upset about the bus being evicted. By the time Chriswisser cleared up the misunderstanding with Japan, he began receiving calls from within the U.S. Yellow Buses� Northwest rep reported he had heard the same story rumored from over 30 retailers at a trade show in Seattle. The rep also reported sales were off from the previous year when they should have doubled.

"Luckily Californians don�t get bent out of shape over these things, or my company would be devastated," says Chriswisser. However, he adds that some of the more conservative stores nationwide that Yellow Bus sold to in the past are not buying this year. "We aren�t laughing anymore."

For more information on Yellow Bus, call (503) 434-8920.