Skateboarding I love it so much I want it to die“ – Diesem Zitat von Jason Jesse einer Skate Legende aus den 80er Jahren können wir nur zustimmen. Nicht das wir wollten das es keine Skater mehr gibt und das meinte auch Jason Jesse besimmt nicht, sondern was wir wollen ist Skateboarding zurück in die Hände der Skater und in einen angemessen Rahmen. Wir brauchen keine Olympiade mit Skateboarding oder Kaufhäuser die Pro Decks neben Tennis Schläger verkaufen und eine Generation von Kids die Skateboarding nur von der Playstation kennen.
Skateboarding braucht aktive junge Menschen die ihrem Umfeld mit offenen Augen begegnen und die in Skateboarding mehr sehen als nur ein Hobby ohne Geschichte und Kultur.
Wir sehen es als unsere Aufgabe diese Geschichte und Kultur welche Skateboarding zu dem macht was es ist weiterzugeben und zu unterstützen. Unser Ziel ist ein Shop der für mehr steht als den bloßen Verkauf der ,,Ware“ Skateboard. Ein Shop der aktiv die lokale Szene unterstützt und Akzente setzt. Skateboarding braucht Leute die es lieben und nicht nur das schnelle Geld darin sehen.
We love Skateboarding
Radix Skateshop
Marienstrasse 12
4020 Linz, Österreich
Tel.:+43-732-784359
www.radixskateshop.at –
Interview aus dem Source Magazine mit Andreas Pfleger Co-Inhaber Radix Skateshop
Radix skateshop was started by Rudi Kirchmayr and Andreas Pfleger, who shared the vision of creating a store that fully supports the local scene. since opening in 2003, Radix have built four skate parks, filmed and released five shop videos, supported a bunch of scumbags (their words!), plus done a load of video premiers, contests and demos, hell, they even make their own magazine! it’s a wonder these guys have any time to sell the best skate gear in linz…
What is the product mix of your store?
60% skate hardware, 40% shoes and clothing.
What are the main brands that your store carries?
Hardware: Euro brands like Antiz Skateboards, Witchcraft Skateboards, Decay
Skateboards: Everything from Deluxe, Creature for our pool dogs
Clothing: Krew, Altamont, Volcom, Thrasher, Spitfire
Shoes: Vans, Nike SB, Fallen, Emerica
What are the benefits of having a physical shop over simply having an online store?
For a skate shop it’s essential to have a physical store, it’s important to get in
touch with the scene. You can exchange your own experiences to the kids,
let them know about skateboarding back in the days or help them in different
situations in life. Every skate shop should care about the local scene – it’s kind
of a mission.
With what brand(s) do you do the most volume?
Krew, Altamont, Vans & Nike SB shoes.
What are five products you couldn’t live without right now?
Krew jeans, NIke SB Janoski, Creature skateboards, Antiz skateboards, Bones
STF wheels
Are new lines important to your product mix? Why or why not?
We always look out for small brands that only skateboarders would buy – we
added Lowcard, Bloodwizard, Bacon, Witchcraft, Heroin, Polar & Servant Footwear for example.
What makes your store different?
Radix Skateshop, as the name suggests, is rooted close to the scene. We set
ourselves apart from other competing companies in this way. All the money
goes back into the team, tours and producing videos. We are true idealists
– I think that is what makes us special and people notice that.
From your perspective, what does the future hold for skateboarding?
I’ve been in the boardsport business for 15 years now and if you take a look at
the market over these years it looks like growth and decline always comes in a
seven-year circle. Between1995 and 2000, we had a really big scene in upper
Austria; that was a time when skateboarding was big all over the world and
you could make a lot of money. Over the last seven years plenty of mainstream
orientated stores opened up in every area – and we lost customers to them.
We only have a 70m2 store and the brands we carry are brands from the core
side of skateboarding. I think in the future it’s going be hard for every idealistic
operated skate shop to exist beside the big mall based superstores, internet
shoppers, etc.
What trends do you see upcoming in skate?
In shoes, the big trend has been vulcanized sneakers. When it comes to fashion,
slim/skinny fit pants combined with large tops will sell well in the future. In terms of
skateboard hardware we see a change to bigger widths.
What kind of advice can you give other independent retailers who are trying to compete against the big box megastores?
Every scene, town or country is different so there is no one secret recipe. To be
authentic is probably the best way!
What are the benefits to the store and to the boardsports community of sponsoring riders?
Having a solid skate team helps in every way. We also run the only Austrian
skateboard magazine ‚Last Try‘. In every issue we have a shop advert with a
team rider in it – the ad includes the logos of the rider’s sponsors. This helps to
pave the way for selling stuff that a team rider is connected with. Besides that,
riders are role models to the kids – they look up to them and products will sell
because of that.
What is the biggest challenge an independent retailer faces today and how do you meet that challenge?
1. Surviving amongst mega stores
2. Offering an up-to-date range and good price deals for our customers.
3. Negotiating scaled discount from distributors to have a better profit margin
4. As I said before: staying authentic!
Where do you hope your business will be in five years?
I hope I am still in business, that I can spend even more time on scene building,
get a bigger list of advertisers for our magazine and maybe find a bigger space“
