By Anthony Harubin

November 1, 1998

Fluid Sports is located to the east of Vancouver in the town of Langley, British Columbia. Tyler Doud, co-owner of the shop, reports that sales have been brisk since August. The products that arrived in the store are Burton, Morrow, Ride, Salomon, Westbeach, Bonfire, and Concept. "This year everybody shipped on time but nobody has sent complete orders, just partial shipments," laments Doud.

Mark Senecal, owner of Senecal Snowboard Shop in Newmarket, Ontario, has sold 80 boards since opening his doors in August after hibernating for the summer. "The companies that shipped punctually are Ride, K2, Santa Cruz, Scott, Flow bindings, and Gen-X products. I'm still waiting for Rossignol and Volant," Senecal says. "My orders have been complete except for a few bindings and boot sizes."

At Vertical Snowboard in Victoriaville, Quebec, Gilles Montcalm is the man. Talking to the co-owner of this store is like drinking a double-espresso; he gets you all wired about his shop and its new premises that are now under construction. "Once we've finished building, you're going to see the nicest shop in Canada," boasts Montcalm. So far this store has sold out of Forum boards and the Burton stock is going fast. Montcalm received Sims, Ride, Salomon, Burton, and Forum on time with partial deliveries from everybody.

Sheldon Dlugos owns Dunas Snow and Skate in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan along with two other stores. He received his Forum boards on time and sold them all before the Limited, Joyride, and World Industries boards arrived. In the five years that Dlugos has been in business he has never seen enthusiasm for a product such as he's seen with Forum. "Not that I have anything to complain about, but the other companies spoke to me recently and said they were going to ship incomplete orders but I prefer to receive all of my stock in one shot," Dlugos explains.

Located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta, Easy Rider carries K2, Sims, Burton, and Salomon. "K2 and Salomon were late shipping, and Option hasn't even arrived yet," explains full-time Employee Ian Jackson. He reports that 99 percent of the shop's orders are complete, although bindings and boots are a little bit late.

Jason Corbett is in charge of the snow and skateboards at So Hip It Hurts in Toronto, Ontario. "So far Palmer, Vision, Forum, and World Industries have shipped on time. The only culprit is Salomon," says Corbett. The orders were also sent pretty much complete except for Palmer, which was missing a few bindings. Boots and bindings of other brands have not come in yet, except for World Industries.