By Gretchen Treadwell

Vibes between retailer and manufacturer are flowing smoothly at Powder Pursuits in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Owner Chris Smith says by the end of August all of his shipments were arriving as expected.

"I haven’t had anyone call and say it isn’t coming," says Smith positively. Boards already on the floor by September for 1998/99 season included Burton, Lib Tech, Salomon, Santa Cruz, and K2. Softgoods were a little less complete, but not late, and consisted of Burton and Bonfire.

Shipments at Kung Fu Snowboard and Wakeboard in Glendale, Arizona seem to be on the right track. Co-owner Joe Dunnigan says the shop received both softgoods and hardgoods from Santa Cruz, arriving even earlier than they expected.

"They were ready early," says a pleased Dunnigan, "so our rep called to see if we wanted an early shipment."

Dunnigan says the shop also received softgoods from Dub, and planned on seeing Northwave and Drake in early September. He says he usually pinpoints September 1 as the delivery date, but actually plans for arrivals late in the month.

Kung Fu doesn’t start selling until later in the season, but Dunnigan also operates an online shop, Big Deal Boarding out of Phoenix, which brings in profits a lot sooner.

In Reno, Nevada, Boardriders Club didn’t expect shipments until mid September. Hardgoods constitute less than ten percent of the shop’s total product, so Owner Roger Ballingham says the softgoods deliveries should be consistent with anticipated arrival dates.

"We’ll carry Lib Tech and Gnu this year due to the recent purchase by

Quiksilver, but since we’re in a mall and don’t do any rentals, we’ll

only buy and sell about a dozen boards," says Ballingham.

Shipments at Out of Bounds Board Shop in Carson City, Nevada were not expected to be complete until October 31. According to Owner Eric Robie the shop usually receives hardgoods before softgoods, with sales picking up for the season by mid October.

At the end of August, Out of Bounds had already received 40 percent of its Burton line and 50 percent of K2.

"These shipments were early," says Robie. "This is good."

Consumers in the Denver metro area were off to an early start if they did any of their ’98/99 shopping at B.C. Surf and Sport in Littleton, Colorado.

Manager Dave Griffin says not all orders were complete by the end of the summer but the shop had a large percentage of them. It had received both hard- and softgoods from Burton, including bags. They also had an impressive number of Billabong jackets. Board shipments included Burton, Never Summer, Lib Tech, Gnu, Ride, K2, and Salomon.

Some of these lines were already filled, while more shipments were still

expected from manufacturers like Never Summer and Burton.

"We generally tell people mid August is when stuff starts to trickle in,

with hopes to have it filled by mid September at best," says Griffin. By the end of August, the shop had already sold a bunch of boards and bindings. "It’s kind of a race to get it out the second it gets here," he says.