Tim Rigby, owner of Ohio Surf and Skate in Willoughby, Ohio, says he tries to keep prices ten to fifteen percent below keystone in his store because of local competition. But in the store, clothing usually carries the highest margins of any snowboard products. "Burton and Bonfire offer the best margins," he says.

Although his region has had two bad winters in a row and board sales were off last year, clothing and boots sales were up. Overall, he says ordering will be conservative for the upcoming season: "We’re not ordering as much next year."

At Phase II in Brookfield, Wisconsin, product selection definitely helped margins and sell-through. According to Manager Al Hildenbrand, Type A and Forum Snowboards sold well because Phase II was the only local shop that carried them. "Around here, everyone plays ‘let’s make a deal,’" he says. This leads to a lot of prices being reduced from suggested retail.

Other products that held margin were Preston bindings, and Special Blend and World Industries clothing. He says the sell-through definitely affected the shop’s ordering: "We went with the strong products for the next year."

Boots offered the best margins at The Ski Hut in Duluth, Minnesota, says Owner Scott Neustel: "A lot of people were buying boots last year." Heelside and Burton did the best in the shop, and we ordered more soft boots for next year, and are going heavier into Clicker and Burton step-in systems.

"We’re going with less brands and concentrating on the good ones," he adds, like Burton and K2. "They might not offer the best margins, but they stand by their products the best." He says this is particularly important in his area of the country where a lot of riding is done in super-cold weather. "We see a lot of product warranties [claims]," Neustel says.

On the apparel side, Black Dot is a big winner in The Ski Hut, and Burton is next.

At the Alpine Shop in St. Louis, Missouri, Russell "Holly" Hollenbeck says that Heelside boots offer the best margins. Of course he might be a little biased–both of his sons work for the company.

Holly says that Salomon boots offer better margins than the shop’s other brands and have been the hottest seller in his store. For boards, he has invested in closeouts: "The kids come in and ask for the cheapest boards we have," he says. "We live in St. Louis, and the local mountain was only open a couple of weeks last year. It’s hard for anybody to invest in a 500-dollar board for a couple of day’s riding."

But the store is committed to the sport. Alpine plans to double in size because it recently took over the rest of the 30,000-square-foot building, and will increase the snowboard section by a third.

Bill Skaff, owner of Sunrise Sports in Flint, Michigan, says the products in his store that get the biggest margins are not always the biggest sellers. In fact, Burton offers the best margins, but Skaff bought some closeout Nale boards last season that he sold at a 60-percent margin.

"We get a lot of offers for closeout products that would have great margins," he says, "but the product has to be useful and salable. I can get unbranded products for 80 dollars, but the market doesn’t want them."

He also noted that the store had tremendous sell-through with Clicker and Switch step-ins, and the store added the Burton step-in for next year.