Sunday, December 12, 2010

Have you been skiing? I have!

Every year the local ski reps put on a Demo in early December. This is a "love and hate" demo. I love it and they hate it. I love it because I often have new employees that have to sell gear that they have not tried themselves. Until this demo opportunity they simply have to take my word for how the different skis perform. For this reason the shop owners insist on this event. Of coarse, I also love it because it is an opportunity to demo skis and I can never get enough of that! The reps hate it for a number of reasons. First and foremost is that they really wish that they did not have to still have their demo fleets available. The reps typically have to buy their demo fleets from their own company. After the last demo before the dealers have placed their orders in March they would love to sell their skis. They are "next years" skis and would go for top dollar. Also, their spouses would love to have enough garage space to fit a car in there. In addition the reps must give their skis to a bunch of yahoos in early December. Yahoo's skiing over light snow coverage on skis they do not own could mean a lot of maintenance on an entire fleet of skis before they can be sold.
The demo must be at this time in December because that is just when it works best. Earlier, and hiring may not be done, and there is not a good chance of snow. Later, and we are pushing up against the Christmas rush and shop owners cannot afford to let their staffs off to go ski. So there it is. Some years it is cancelled due to lack of snow. Some years it can be epic conditions. Most years it is just what we got last week- enough snow but early season conditions. So off we went to Reno.
With the event happening at Mount Rose we would have to leave at four in the morning to do it in one day. Therefore, we packed up and left after work on Tuesday night. The group was ten strong. The rookies needed to go. Someone needed to teach them how to demo skis. Being the man that I am I volunteered for the job. So that I would not be stuck with a bunch of youngsters, I had some previous employees along and a few friends that have demo experience. Also in the caravan was Erik Boone of Boone skis (http://www.booneskis.com/).
We arrived in Reno at about midnight at the casino. A nightcap was necessary. One thing led to another and we got to bed at about the same time that we would have had to leave if we had not driven up the night before. The end of the night came when the bartender would not fire up the mechanical bull for us. Looking back we should have tipped him better for probably saving all of our butts!
The wake up call came at 6:30, so we got up and had some breakfast and scoped out the weather. Ouch! The "Pineapple Express" that had been forecast looked to be in full swing. A pineapple express is a storm that comes from the land of pineapples. That means warm air and lots of moisture. Not ideal for skiing. Oh well, there was not a good option but to drive up the hill and check it out.
We got to Rose and there was heavy discussion amongst the reps. There was no precipitation at the moment at the lodge. Up top it seemed to be howling with 80-100 mile per hour winds. Mt Rose was deciding whether to even open up the hill. The reps were deciding if they should cancel the event even if the mountain was open. There were not many dealers there. Most local Tahoe shop employees certainly woke up, looked out the window, and decided to pass. Only a hand full of dedicated testers were there. Jim Fowler from the Start Haus in truckee is always willing and was there with bells on. From the Bay Area only Arturo from Mountain West in San Francisco was around that I saw, and a few REI type youngsters that I did not know. I pushed for them to have the event as we had driven up and paid for rooms just to be here. The ski patrol came over and said they would open- but only the Ponderosa Lift. Ponderosa is their beginner chair by the lodge. The reps looked to be less than psyched about that, but were given little choice. The Demo was on!
In a funny moment Chris Tiller (a Salomon rep) yelled out in his best Squawlywood accent "Dudes- boot up! I heard a rumor they will be opening Ponda in ten minutes!". This may not be KT22, but it was all we had, so boot up we did. And then we skied. Testing on beginner runs is hard. We got some things accomplished though. Wayne Wong was there with his Anton demo's so we skied them. The Antons blew the staff's minds. The rookies also got to see what we meant when we said the Blizzard Magnum 8.1 was "full of pop", and why we said the Peak 78 from Head was "intuitive and easy to ski". Plus they got to see the reps again and feel the bitchin' vibe of a ski industry get together.
And then it all came undone. The skies opened up a bit and Uler spit down what seemed like Elmers Glue. Sticky, sticky, sticky. A light rain combined with a less than steep slope meant we were done. We headed into the lodge for a few minutes to see if it would clear again. It didn't. So at 1:30 the reps began to pack up and we hit the road.
So now what?- I thought. Snow play? No there seemed to be a movement towards dry comfy clothes. Snow play was out. Go home asap?. No, that was no fun. And then I got an idea.
I had found out about a great little restaurant on the way down the hill in the Sierra Summit area that would be a perfect finale for this group. It is called The Rustic Table. I set it up so we would all meet there for dinner. "The directions are easy" I said, "It is the Laing road exit". I explained that Laing is like Lange of Lange ski boots. Others thought it was pronounced "laying" and chose to remember it with a different association. Hmmm...
We got to the restaurant a bit before it opened at 3:30. Luckily we got Therese's attention through the window and she let us wait inside. Therese is one of the owners and was just starting to set things up for the evening. Her husband Adam is the Chef and was still napping before the dinner shift. We chatted with Therese and her daughter. Some of us drank wine or beer in the lounge area. I put in a holiday DVD and the fire was stoked. The rest of the group was all together within a half hour and joined us.
Therese set up a large table and nine of us gathered around and enjoyed a multi course meal for the next three hours. Everyone seemed to be blown away by the Rustic Table. Most agreed that it would be a popular 5 star restaurant if it was in Berkeley or San Francisco. And the prices are good too. We got out of there at 7:00 and zipped down through the valley and back to the bay. The Rustic Table put a great topper to a really fun 24 hours. We played, we skied, and we enjoyed fine dining. All with a great group of friends and employees. What a great day!
Many customers know I ski each Wednesday and ask about conditions and the like. The actual skking last Wednesday was certainly terrible as far as conditions. On the other hand it was great to slide around for a few hours with sticks on my feet no matter what the conditions were. On top of that I had the company of some people I really like to spend time with. So when people asked me how the skiing was this last week I simply say "it was a great day!".
The Rustic Table is a great place to stop on the way down the hill for adults or families. It gets a big CalSkiCo thumbs up!
43440 Laing Rd
Emigrant Gap, CA 95715 530-389-8900

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Have you been skiing yet?

Have you been skiing yet? I have not! After weeks of anticipation. After a summer of waiting. After hundreds of customers talking about opening day. I think everyone has been skiing except me! We got the killer storm we needed for the shop to go nuts with rabid customers, and I could not take advantage. We had made plans to go to Oregon for Thanksgiving instead!
Actually the plans were made weeks ago. Elizabeth and I had "sponsored" our first Thanksgiving dinner while we were in college at Chico State. It was time to pass the torch. Since Jennifer didn't get much time off for the break, so Elizabeth, Rebecca and I drove up for a few days. It made sense when we planned it a few months ago. We would also be able to take in the Ducks football game against Arizona which looked to be a good game to go to. As it turns out, the Ducks are ranked #1 nationally and so it was an even better game to see. ESPN thought so too. Super fun!
We also hiked to the top of Spensers Butte in the snow, had a good Thanksgiving meal, got in some great family time with the girls etc., so no regrets at all. But I want to ski! Looks like this Wednesday should work. I gotta calm down...I will ski on Wednesday at Northstar. My time has come.
Business keeps rolling along. We have topped 100k for November which is a first. I remember when I hoped to do 100k in December one day. Now we should do it four different months this year- maybe five. Thanks for being such great customers. I appreciate it.
As usual I can only thank my staff. We now have 5 Masterfit trained master boot fitters. Gary and Steve were given the Master Boot Fitter aprons they have earned. I handed them over with little ceremony but a good amount of pride on my part and I think theirs too. They are both first rate fitters and the aprons are well deserved.
The rest of the staff is also going gangbusters. We have some new people and they have been "thrown into the fire" due to the early start. We had just wrapped up the reps training clinics and were about to begin the in-house training by category when the weather turned. Customers come first, and so...group training has been put off. Instead we have been trying to work with individuals or small groups of rookies as we can. It works even if it is not ideal.
Luckily the rookies are pretty sharp. A few are still a bit unsure of themselves in some areas but they are picking it up just fine. They remind me of new born horses. On their feet quickly albeit a bit shaky at first. They do not realize it, but they will be off and running on their own in no time.
It is exciting to see their joy at feeling "competent" at anything. Their customer service has been fantastic from the start which is a top priority, but they start out feeling a bit awkward with the products until they have some real knowledge. Success comes quickly however, and it is fun to see them grow. Bekka smiled like she had won the lottery when she fielded her first phone call all by herself. Charles was proud as a rooster when he sold his first pair of goggles without help. Yesterday Emili texted me when she sold her first pair of boots. That's pretty quick progress for the group. Ahh, the joy of learning and succeeding! Their energy and excitement is contagious too. It keeps me smiling and is a shot of youthful energy to all.
OK, so I guess it is time to drive in to Berkeley and see how the grizzled old vets and the bright eyed rookies did on "Black Friday" and then yesterday. Get up there and enjoy the snow. If you are at Northstar on Wednesday maybe I will see you! I will be the one with the big smile!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Gettin' all learned up

Well it is still that special educational time of the year. Clinic time! We have sales reps come in and talk up their products. They use power point presentations, sample cutaways, even some smoke and mirrors. Their goal is to get us psyched on the product they sell. My job is to help them help me to train my staff. So of coarse I end up interjecting at times to keep things in perspective. Overall the sales reps are very knowledgeable. They also know that we are on top of our game too, so they expect the discussions to get very technical. And it does. It is a fun time.
Also taking place in the fall is Masterfit University training. Masterfit does four locations with two days available totaling fifteen hours. The closest location for us is Reno. This year I took seven people. Yikes! That meant four hotel rooms of CalSkiCo employees up in Reno. In addition to the training, there are a lot of industry folk there that we know. Manufacturers boot techs, shop owners and staff from top boot shops. Basically all the boot geeks. It is kid of a boot geek party! In the past it has gotten quite racous at times, and we have typically been front and center. This year we didn't get as rowdy as we usually do, although one night an individual seems to have come home around dawn one night. Sorry no names will be given. What happens in Reno stays in Reno.
So john and I did the Masters Plus "Dark Arts" course as we typically do. Erle, Gary, Steve, and Daniel were moved up into the Masters level and Benelia took the Associates Plus offering. As usual the Masterfit crew were outstanding. Given that they really don't make much money doing their training classes, their spirit of doing this for the good of the sport and to fill an obvious need to create more good boot fitters is to be commended.
The Dark Arts class had I think ten students? This included Mike from Dale boot and Paul from Full Tilt. We know Mike quite well and have fully checked out his operation. I had only recently spoken to Paul on the phone looking for some technical information about his boots. He is the engineer in charge of design and manufacturing the boots and added a lot to the class. It was great to have someone on hand to speak up for the 3 piece shell designs out there. The group used a more open discussion instead of a conventional syllabus. The assumption is that we have all been around the block a few times and so it turns into more of a networking situation. "What have you guys been doing when you run into...." sort of a thing. It is a room full of tremendous talent and knowledge. It reminds me of how much I still have to learn.
I think everyone at the shop is energized about fitting now, so I will be spending time each day with the fitters to try to take the skills they have learned and ingrain it into their boot protocol. It gets me excited about boots too, so I spent more time boot fitting this weekend than I have been doing since we opened for the season. What fun!
Another boot note that happened this week was that I obtained a copy of the legendary "Red Book". At least it has become legendary to me. Sort of a grail hunting expedition actually. One of the really great fitters I have run across is Amy. Amy works for Superfeet. She was a head fitter at Any Mountain back in the day and went on to work for Superfeet. Over the past number of years she has read any and all books on the subject of feet, boots, and fitting ski boots that she could find. I asked her once what her recommended reading list was for me. Many of the books I was already familiar with. Her highest recommendation was "the Red Book". She couldn't remember exactly how to spell the Authors name but figured I could find it using the internet. She warned me that it was out of print, obscure, and probably hard to find. "but it will be worth it if you do" she said.
Well I looked and looked. Nothing coming up at all for "the Red Book''. I got a few footnotes citing "the foot book" by an author who's name was close to her guess on spelling. I called Amy's boss at Superfeet and got the authors properly spelled name. It was the one I had seen. It was called The Foot Book- Advice for Athletes by Harry Hlavac. But trying to find a copy? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. Boo!
So since then I have gone on line and searched for it used every few months. Probably 8 or 9 times in the last few years. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. But I was determined not to give up. Some of the guys at the shop heard me speak of my frustration over not being able to track a copy down. I was about ready this fall to call Amy and ask if I could borrow it. She had not been really keen on the idea when we first talked of it. She didn't want to let it out of her sight. I thought my sob story might soften her up. I mentioned I might call her last week in front of Steve. "Oh", he said "I bought a foot book". He knew I was on the hunt for the elusive "Red Book" and had seen a book on feet in front of the sweets shop near his house. They have a used book rack where you can drop off books or buy used books in front of the store. One of those neighborhood honor system deals. He figured it wasn't what I was looking for, but it could be, and another foot book is never a bad thing. He has purchased it. "Is it red?" I asked. "No, not really". "Oh well," I said" bring it in and we can check it out..."
Well ring up another one for karma or persistence or whatever. I don't care. All I know is that I finally have a copy of The Red Book! It simply said The Foot Book on the front cover. I knew that there were literally dozens of "Foot Books" with various sub titles from my research. It was a brownish red. "Maybe..." I thought to myself. I opened it up. It was unread. The spine crackled as I leafed through the first few pages looking for the author..and there it was- The Foot Book- Advice for Athletes by Harry Hlavac. "Wow, you got one" I said. "No," said Steve, "it's for you". So how do you like that? What a guy!
Well, I am off to bed now. It is a bit early for me, but you know what? I have some reading to do! Thanks Amy! Thanks Stevo! If I am running a bit late tomorrow, you'll know why!
Oh yeah- Fresh snow in the mountains! Keep doing Ulers snow dance and let's get this season rolling!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Excitement of a different kind!

I get excited this time of year. Anticipation of skiing has been building and I am eagerly awaiting the fist day on the mountain. This year is lining up to be an early start. First it snowed hard in New York state. Then Jackson Hole got a good dump. Now there is snow in the Sierra. We could be skiing as soon as this next weekend. All very exciting, but there is something else pulling at my psyche right now...
THE GIANTS ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES!
I played baseball growing up and through High School. I love to watch the game at all levels. I will occasionally stop at the little league field on the way home to see part of a game. I followed my kids High School team. I even "adopted" a girls fast pitch softball team over the summer (go Redwood Empire!). I saw all their games as they tried to play their way into the little league World Series. I catch some Giants games at the park and many more on TV. I even go to a few A's games. I guess that I am a fan but not a "fanatic".
This year has been different. The Giants were set to compete for the division title from the start. Then things went haywire. Studs from last year like the Panda and Tim Lincecum struggled. New faces stepped in and carried the team. Each day, week, or month had a different hero. Management pulled all the right strings. The Giants hung around all summer and then made a late push. The season was coming down to the wire and each game was agony. They won with pitching so the games tended to be close, low scoring contests. You could not relax until the game was over because one swing of the bat could ruin it all! In the end the Giants won the division. But barely. A last victory kept them out of a three way playoff for the post season.
The Giants did prevail however and then went on to dispatch both the Braves and the Phillies to win the pennant. The Philly series was an incredible micro version of the whole year. Winning each contest by one run with the game on the line until the last out. The sixth game had my stomach tied in knots until the final pitch was called strike three. What Agony! What ecstasy! If everything good must come with some suffering, then this was a sweet victory indeed!
Each year the Giants seem to field a solid team. They are in the playoff hunt most years. Some times they make it. Some times they don't. We have won a few pennants here in San Francisco but never a World Series. The organization has won World Series' in the past but as the New York Giants. Since moving here to San Francisco- nada. We are overdue. Is this the year of destiny? It seems to be so far!
I am not the only person who has been swept up by the Giants this year. On the radio talk shows the excitement mounted as the season wound down. On the streets people were talking. It went to fever pitch during the playoffs. Now on Bart or driving around on the streets, a giants hat will get a response. A nod. A thumbs up. A smile and a wave with a "go giants!" mouthed through glass. At the shop, employees and customers are both engaged with the teams exploits. My local Quick Stop Market is run by nice people from a country that is soccer oriented. They usually only watch soccer or the the news at work. Now they are watching Giants games and saying "how about them Giants?" when customers approach the counter. It is truly wonderful how a team can bring a diverse community like ours together. I hope we get to see the party grow into an even bigger and happier one as the World Series is played out.
I will go into work now for a few hours. Then I will knock off and drive to Tracy to watch the game with some friends. I hope that the Giants win. I hope that Tim Lincecum throws a gem in front of a national audience. I hope that Cody, or Buster, or someone more obscure will get to be the hero. My hope is not just for me, but for the whole Bay Area, and the entire Giants Nation.
I also hope we will ski soon. But right now my attention is on the Giants. For them. For me. For us all. Take some time and get involved. This is a rare opportunity to say you remember the World Series of 2010 and that special team. Then we will ski....
But for now...
GO GIANTS!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

It's going off in New York!

Well, there it is. Whiteface in New York got pounded with snow and I have the photo to prove it. Christian sent me this. He is from "upstate" and so he got the "upstate update". I guess that means that we could be getting some fluff any time now. I still doesn't seem real.
Every year at this time we have been trying to NOT think about snow here at the shop because it can make you crazy. In August you know it is unrealistic. September too. Sometimes we ski in October, but not often, and never early in the month. Mid October you realize it is time to actually get ready. Now is the time. If they can do it, Boreal will open before the end of the month. When finished with this post I will go to the weather web sites. I have not checked much for a number of months, but now it is time to go for the first of a hundred or so visits over the winter. Time to start monitoring the Jet Stream. If it gets cold, Boreal will start blowing snow, and I need to know about it.
So far this month I have been trying to get the training and hiring moving along. Doing pretty good in both arenas I guess. I still want one more full timer, so if you know anybody...? I also have missed the last few weekends at the shop. A Chico State fraternity reunion and then a visit to Eugene to visit my daughter Jennifer have taken up the last two weekends.
Now I am anchored and entrenched until Thanksgiving or so. Thanks to having John, Martin and the rest of the staff around, I feel like I can take off like this. Normally I can. This weekend on Saturday however we had a sort of Perfect Storm. Due to a LOT of wierd and unforseen circumstances Martin was the only Employee available Saturday moring untill 2:00. Yikes! I almost cancelled my trip and ate the airline ticket, and had Elizabeth go alone. But I couldn't bear to let my daughter down, so I went. Good thing as Rebecca had taken the train up from Chico to surprise me. My birthday is coming up and this became my family party. Nice! Martin said it was fine. We had a good day but everyone politely waited for the reinforcements to show up before coming in. Thanks! We appreciate that!
So now I have to catch up a bit. I figure no days off for the next week or two and I will feel up to date! That puts us right on schedule for skiing on Haloween right? If the snow comes, I will be ready and so will the shop! So do the dance and pray to Uler. And Think Snow!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Looking out from within

OK. The sale is over. Now we are in the midst of getting the shop ready for the ski season. We meet two or three days a week. Martin gets busy all day in the back. Gary is available to work the weekends when we are officially open. I am in the office about 1/2 of the time and spend the rest downstairs. John gets most day to day stuff (customers popping in randomly or by appointment)done plus his ongoing projects. John is great about doing whatever needs done. And he can do anything. He knows all the procedures. He can fix what is broken. He also knows what I would do and he does it that way. Keep in mind that what John and I would do may be very different. That's a good employee. And a good friend.
Anyway, I ramble as well as deviate from my "ramblings", so we should move on. The point is that we are staying busy. I figured this to be the dog days as it usually is. Between the sale and the snow there is a lull, and I was looking to take advantage of it.
Well- so much for thoughts of bike rides and golf. The "to do" list is staying well ahead of the "done" list. I think at this point I will announce a few more days of "open for business" each week. We are officially open weekends 10-6. If we need to be at the shop two additional days each week, why not be open for business? The shop may be messy for "retail" as we receive our steady stream of goods, but I think we can benefit. Heck, we are averaging about $1500 in sales daily when we show up on weekdays right now, so why not just say OK, this is our schedule?
Oh, and the Parking Lot Sale went great. We grossed more in sales than any previous year. By a lot. So thanks! I again need to thank Christian, Gabe, and the rest of the "cast of thousands". In addition to our regular staff, they make these bigger events happen without degrading the expertise and/or customer service that I will not compromise. Also our sales reps that helped out. Thanks Reps! If the sale is indicative of how sales will be this year, we are looking good!
On the home front, I am once again without child. Jennifer worked through the sale and we drove her back up to Eugene this last weekend. This year she is out of the dorms and into an apartment. She and her room mates were SO excited to have their own place. It is all so grown up! Now she needs to nail down a job. She wants to work at Bergs ski shop. Bergs was named top shop in the Northwest by the sales reps. We visited and they seem very similar in approach to our shop here. Just bigger and with snowboards too. The employees she spoke to last spring thought she would be a lock to get a job there, but she has not gotten much response to her job application. "Time to start being a pest" was my advice!
So we continue to prep for snowfall. Then it is hunker down and get it done time. Between now and then, I need to do some hiring and we will have our staff training ongoing throughout October. Time is flying by and we will be skiing before we know it. Meanwhile, I will take a shower and then I am off to work. My shorter term goals (today's list) are to get the Mountain Hardware shipment received and tagged, call Orage about being shorted a jacket on the order we got in yesterday, catch up on mail, order printer paper and other supplies, finalize the proof for the new shop stickers, coordinate with Erik Boone about getting the press back into the shop, etc. until it is time to go home again. Then tomorrow will be more of the same. Lather, rinse, repeat!

Monday, August 30, 2010

One down and two to go

Well we got through the first weekend with flying colors. I thought my feet hurt on Friday? Well there is a new level of ache this morning. But I am not complaining. We did great business! On Saturday we did 56% more business than any previous opening day. Sunday was just a bit less in sales. We seem to just keep growing. With some great help it all went smoothly too. We had the regular staff, as well as a number of previous employees that lend a hand for events like this. In addition to the new and old Cal Ski Co staff, we got some great sales reps out there to do some retail. I think that much of the time the reps hang out and schmooze at these events. Donuts and small talk. Not this weekend! Dana from Blizzard/Tecnica recently moved from the race department where he dialed in athletes boots at the highest levels to working with retailers. Ingrid Backstroms boots last fall, fitting recreational skiers this fall to help me out. The Soze group distributes Conformable insoles out of Vancouver Canada. Our local sales rep was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, so they sent Steve Noonan, one of there management team from Park City. We have known Steve for a number of years now. He teaches some of the Boot Fitting classes that top boot fitters attend to find out what the latest tools and techniques are on the world cup circuit. Thanks to Steve and Dana, we had additional staff that was even more qualified than us on staff to help get the right boots dialed in on our customers feet. Thanks Dana and Steve! I think that they seemed quite impressed with the five staffers working the boot area with them too. They knew that John is as advanced as it gets. I think they were surprised to find the depth of knowledge they found across the board with the staff. Once again my staff made me proud!
Benelia mainly worked the clothing and bags in the Parking lot. This was the first year that someone outside was truly "selling" as opposed to soaking up the sun and doing security watch out front. Benelia contributed greatly to our numbers. Jennifer mainly sold helmets and clothing inside and ran the register. She puts all sales under her own employee number. This ensures that she will be the top sales person for at least a few months after she goes off to college. Sorry Jen, you can't fool me!
I mainly worked the ski wall. I sold a lot of skis. I don't know that I sold the most however. Christian, Erle, Gabe, John and Martin kept walking customers out after they finished with their boot fit. They grabbed skis off the wall and walked them up to the counter for Jennifer to process. They were selling the skis and boots at the same time back there. I would be talking to someone for fifteen minutes about skis and they would make the ski portion of their customers purchase in about three minutes. It is amazing how much trust is developed during the boot fitting process. Or maybe I am simply long winded...
Anyway, I am pleased and content. I feel that we offered outstanding prices and great customer service. Our product mix is top notch and my staff is exemplary. We had a lot of new customers as well as dozens of "regulars" that I know by name. Great to see both! Life is good! Now unfortunately I need to go back in today. John scheduled some boot fitting that was a bit complex for the sale environment over the weekend. Groan- no rest for the weary I guess. Oh well, there is quite a bit of clean up and organization to be done before next weekend anyway. I will find some time tomorrow perhaps for a little bike ride or something. See you next weekend!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Ready to Rumble!

Oh do my feet hurt. And my back. And my brain! One more long day in a series of long days. We open tomorrow and we are pretty much ready. There are things I would like to do better but that's how it goes. We got our preseason orders from Head and Salomon on Thursday. That meant about 2 employees full time for two days to get it received and put away. Therefore, I was two employees short getting the signage up and merchandise displayed properly. I am going pretty deep on discounts this year. Some skis are 70% off. Yikes! Anyway it will be great deals for the customers and I will clear some older stock out. Right now that is the most important thing. No, the most important thing is for me to get some sleep. Good night!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Things are getting exciting!

Well the materials for building skis are late. So to get ready for the big sale in a few weeks, I moved the ski press out to make more room. We need to deal with about 250k worth of merchandise coming in over the first three weeks of August. We have big trucks coming every day. They drop off pallets of goodies! The goodies are sorted, counted, priced, tagged, and then put somewhere. Anywhere for now. Then by the actual sale they must be merchandised with signage and the whole bit. How "professional" everything looks depends on how much time we have once everything is in place. This year Jennifer is in charge of sale signage. I am hoping that this will mean less felt pen tags and more actual professional printed tags. Not that it really matters for the sale, but it will save me time later! Jennifer has also applied to work at Berg's ski shop in Eugene where she goes to school. I am excited for her. Berg's won the award for the best shop in the NorthWest from the industry reps. We visited the shop and it is very similar to CalSkiCo in many ways. But bigger! She has been taking more and more interest in our store these last few years. Now after taking some frosh business classes she is full of ideas to improve the shop. I am happy to share information with her about the business and her input is always welcome. If nothing else she has an ability to inject enthusiasm. Even better is that she has some pretty sound ideas. A future business mogul! In the meantime if she works at the shop in Eugene she will be sharp and ready when she comes home and works here at Cal Ski Co. She can probably give me some ways to improve things based on their model up in Eugene too (and visa verse?). For the last week Jennifer has been watching the shop with John. Rebecca and I weren't available as we went to Colorado to visit my dad and drive race cars. We had a great time. Three generations of Whitehouse's driving as fast as possible. If you told me when I was 20 that this would happen I would have thought it was too surreal to believe, but there we were. The race car will be a great tool for quality family time between the generations over the years. It stays at Grandad's so it is a good excuse to visit. While we were gone, Jennifer got to be super important for a week. She was "in charge" at the shop. She did a great job. I was proud to see the situation when I got back. Boxes to the ceiling but organized and clean. Paperwork done well. Organized list of what she had done and what she waited on due to uncertainty. Good job Jen! John speaks highly of both my girls work ethics. John is a harsh critic as well as unafraid to say so if he thinks someone is not top notch. This makes me proud. So some track time in the Miata may REALLY be the last gasp event for the summer. At least until mid September. Then we may have to fit in one more event before the snow flies. For now, thanks to the UPS man, it is Christmas every day at the shop.
We know the agenda and are ready to execute:
1.Get new toys.
2.Sell new toys cheap for three weeks.
3.Set up the shop for the ski season.
4.Then learn to build skis.
Sounds good to me!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Christmas in July!

Woohoo! The ski press is here! Erik came by yesterday and dropped it off. You may be able to see the smile on my face in the photo. This is my own Red Rider BB gun. My pony. My Radio Flyer wagon. My Schwinn Typhoon. My flexible Flyer sled. All rolled into one! Now we simply need to buy a bunch of wood and glue and p-tex and learn how to build skis. We have done a lot of research, and have a training video on the way. Then Erik has in-house training scheduled with a master ski builder. By the real Christmas day, I hope to be skiing on some skis that I made myself. If that works out, maybe one day you too will be skiing on a ski made in Berkeley, California! We will try to have it on display when we have our Fall Parking lot kickoff sale in late August. In the meantime, I need to try to focus on the sale instead of the new toy. I know Erik will be hard at it as soon and as much as possible. Looks like some late night ski building??

Monday, July 12, 2010

Enough vacationing already?

I have not been blogging this summer, as usual. This week however, there is some interesting stuff going on at the shop so I felt the need. I have certainly enjoyed the summer so far. Last night I got back from what may be the last road trip of the summer. Some camping, biking, and hiking in the redwoods trees of Humbolt County. Absolutely awesome! A few days in Eureka with friends to wrap it up, and then back home. Very relaxed. But now I have to shift gears again. A lot will be going on at the shop this week.
John and I will be finishing up our new boot bench. The boot lab also has some new added features that we have to implement. Most of what we need to finish the projects will have arrived while I was gone. A lot of appointments were scheduled last night after checking email and phone messages on the work phone. Back to the grind stone for a bit.
One other exciting thing for this week is that we will be setting up Boone Ski's (http://www.booneskis.com/) new ski press in the shop later this week. A ski press is the largest and most important piece of equipment in the ski building process. This will be really cool. Eric Boone and I were chatting in the spring. Eric wanted to buy a ski press to do more in-house work on prototypes and the like. He had nowhere to park it currently. I had a shop that was not used for a large part of the year (when he will be needing it). We decided right there and then. For the time being at least, the ski press will be at California Ski Company. Eric has a ski building clinic scheduled later this week. Then we will see what can be done with the unit. While it is not my press, I am still psyched to be able to learn how to use it and learn more about the process. I am also happy to be able to help out a local ski company. Eric is a great guy who is doing skis for all the right reasons. I would love to see him continue to succeed and grow. This could be really cool! I am psyched!

Monday, May 24, 2010

After the Bachelor Party...

Well we have closed the doors for the season. This year the staff went to Bend Oregon after closing to ski Mt. Bachelor just as we had last year. A great time was had although the snow was not fantastic. Not that I am complaining. Spring skiing is great and we didn't need to ski for eight hours every day. This is meant to be a thanks to the staff and a general wind down as we head into the summer months. Swimming, Golf, mini golf, Mountain Biking, and hiking filled in the time in the afternoon. Cooking big meals and hanging out topped off the evenings. A great ending to a great ski year!
As I looked at the people present at the condo, I thought of how much of a diverse group we were. I saw people from 9 months old to 74. My eighteen year old daughter had headed over from school in Eugene. Roman had driven up from Lake Tahoe as had Neil "the squirrel" Harris. Rick Copeland came from Mendocino. And then there were the East Bay employees of the ski shop. We covered about every race, religion, political bent, age, and socio economic category. What brings us together? Skiing! What a great activity!
And what a year to be a skier! Awesome snow conditions. Fantastic new types of skis. Cheaper than ever seasons passes. I hope you took advantage of it!
Here at the shop we had a great ski year as well as a great year for sales. The register started ringing early. Overall sales volume was record breaking. The staff was (as usual) simply awesome. The customers were (also as usual) fantastic. We sold down to a very clean position on inventory. What can I say after a year like this except- THANKS!
Now for the summer break. What will I do? There may be a Mammoth ski trip coming up. There will be some golf played with staff. I will get to ride my bike(s) a lot. My Miata will get some track time and a lot of twisty road action. I will be building a friend a new road bike. My daughters will be around to play with. Maybe some co-ed soccer?
I guess I will also have to cross some chores off the list too. You know, clean the garage, fix the fence. That sort of thing. But that's ok. I can schedule it around the fun stuff!
At work the list is pretty long too. As usual John and I will be doing general maintenance on the machines. Painting and polishing is needed here and there. Some new slatwall will be getting installed. A big project will be the boot areas for both retail and in the lab part of the back shop. Two more boot presses, another water tank, a freezer, and another grinder will have to be fit into the lab. On the retail floor we are finally going to raise the boot fitting benches so that we can get up off our knees when we do a fitting. Yes!
So for now, I will be going into the shop 2-3 days a week and playing hard the rest of the time. If you need something ski related, just give us a call at the shop. If we are not there, we will get back to you to make an appointment. Fall seems a long way off right now. Experience suggests that it will come sooner than expected. Before you know it we will be skiing in Tahoe again. In the meantime, we must all do what we need to so that we are ready for the season. Have a fun Summer!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

A memo from Head

After the big sales surge on Head products following their Olympic success, I got this memo from Head today. Big news in the ski racing world!
"Great news from Head Wintersports! We are pleased to welcome Ted Ligety (USA, 2010 World Cup GS Champion), Aksel Lund Svindal (Norwegian multi-medalist at the 2010 Vancouver Games), Kjetil Jansrud (Norway, 2010 Vancouver GS Silver medalist) , and Werner Heel (Italy, 3rd overall in 2010 World Cup DH standings) to our Head World Cup Rebels racing team.As individuals, the members of our now-expanded winning team took home fifteen of thirty possible Olympic alpine racing medals from Vancouver, and seven of twelve possible Crystal Globes from the World Cup.Over a few forthcoming emails, you will receive press releases about these fine athletes joining our racing team.Look for our Head World Cup Rebels burning down the slopes next winter. It’s gonna be a lot of fun!"

What do you think about that?

Friday, April 9, 2010

Don't talk to me about Golfing yet!

Well, Spring has been nipping away at the winter season. We have all been getting our ski days in while thinking in the backs of our heads about activities like Golf, Biking, fishing and the like. We know that we are in the transition zone. Some customers will be hanging up the skis and turning their attention to other things outdoors. Others are sticking with the snow sports opportunities until they are turned away. Those that are still skiing have been getting repaid with some great spring conditions. Lot's of powder falling from the sky still. Some of the best powder days of the season have come recently. Shortly after it is warm and back to traditional spring conditions.
I am obviously part of the latter group. The past four weeks have given me:
Week one- three days in Utah with 50 degree days. Ice, corn, slush was the cycle. Not great but good fun with good friends.
Week two- Two days with John at Squaw skiing with Fischer skis upper management and our Norcal rep. Conditions were about like Utah the week before. The main difference was KT22 with expert skiers instead of Snowbird with old friends. Ripping the corn baby! Thanks for the room and the lift tickets. Thanks too for the good company. Fischer is rolling again!
Week Three- Wow. Big pow day for a Wednesday turn and burn at Sugar Bowl. Fresh light snow. Midwinter conditions. Timing is everything!
Week Four (the last four days)- Road trip to Utah for the Soze group Boot Camp. This was our second year (John and I) and we drove to Park City to hang out, ski, and learn with a group of about 20 elite boot fitters. Last year we got incredible powder. This year- incredible powder! We drove eleven hours with no weather. The last half hour was into a full blown blizzard at Park City. Park City had been getting snow for the last five days! Our first two days skiing were in waist deep powder with the occasional face shot (see photo above). I skied the Boone Skis Powder model at 118mm under foot and fully rockered with a lightweight bamboo core (http://www.booneskis.com/). Awesome! Day three it cleared, and it was blue skies as far as the eye could see. Perfect conditions for all to enjoy. Also perfect conditions for what we needed to do. Video taping our techniques and then tweaking our boots to improve form. Videotape, tweak, repeat. All day. Good times! Thanks to Jay, Kim, Pete, and Steve of the Soze group http://www.thesozegroup.com/. Special thanks to Ernie, Mike and John at Boot Works in Park City for hosting again this year http://www.bootworks.com/. Then another long drive home yesterday. Now off to work in a few minutes. Still coming down from a hard core Utah High!
It looks like we have another month or so of skiing. What will next week bring? Who knows? One of these weeks I will go golfing or biking on my day off. It's pretty nice out. I could probably do it next Wednesday...but I won't!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Big Time

The shop was featured in an article in the Wall Street Journal today. We've hit the big time! Check it out at:

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Olympic Glory

Well the games are over. I hope you all got as caught up in the Olympics. I did. I didn't go into the event amped. By the end, I was mesmerized. It was fantastic! The skiing, sliding, hockey, and yes, the curling too. The USA had great results. All the right people seemed to have success. Sportsmanship and fair play were on showcase. In the alpine skiing events all the stars shone. Bode did great. Julia had fantastic success. Lindsey got the results she deserved as did her good friend Maria Riesch. Anja Paerson came back from a huge crash to get a medal too. In the end, however, the biggest winner overall may not have been an individual. The biggest winner may have been Head. Head's ski and boot dominance was indeed impressive! In Europe this will translate to big sales increases for the brand. That's what they pay the sponsorship dollars for. In the U.S. I was uncertain. Would American buying habits be influenced? They were during the games but would it last? Well, now that the Olympics have been over for a week we are indeed seeing continued Olympic fueled interest in the Head products. Hopefully that will carry over to next year too!
With that in mind we are holding a "Gold Medal Sale" through the end of March. Four products that we carry were given great Olympic exposure. Head Skis and boots, Leki poles, Uvex goggles, and POC helmets. Customers took more notice of these brands when they were shopping. "Isn't this the brand that Julia Mancuso wore in the Olympics?" That sort of thing. So we decided to run with it a bit and have a "Gold Medal Sale" on these product lines. We have them all on sale now and I am impressed with the results! Advertising does work. Thanks Head! Thanks Olympics! Thanks Bode, Lindsey, Julia, Anja, Maria, Didier, Elisabeth, and Zaeka!
Last week was the Reno "buying show" for the regional ski industry. Three days of discussions and decisions with our sales representatives. John and I headed up in the Honda Element. We got a lot done but were able to put off most binding decisions for a week or two as deadlines were not too firm for the second year in a row. When the distributors can demand the orders earlier they do. With a bad economy, the retailers as a group will not stand for taking any more risk than they must. That seems to be the case again this year. So I got to go out to dinner instead of working the first night. Basque food with our Head reps Dan and George. Good company and good fun. While in Reno it snowed in the mountains too. All in all a good week. Now I need to buckle down with the computer and crunch some numbers and make some final decisions!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

So much to catch up on...

It has been soo busy at the shop. Every day. So I haven't updated well here.
Sorry.
Let's see. The Olympics are on every day. Awesome to see. The US has done us proud in Alpine skiing and overall. Head skis has surely been dominant and the customers have noticed. Interesting. Advertising does work! Happy for Americans Lindsay, Julia, Bode, and Ted. For Maria Reich and the other winners too. Those that deserved to win did so. Can't say that I am a fan of the NBC coverage but it is still awesome!
The industry is running out of gear! We are getting low on certain items. Our inventory looks like it typically does a month from now. Not really a bad problem to have, but we will miss a sale every here and there. And worse yet let a customer down perhaps. Sorry! I wish I could get more but the suppliers are out too. It has been a good year so far!
We had a demo day with Wayne Wong and the amazing Anton Gliders (http://www.antongliders.com/) scheduled for tomorrow but weather cancelled. Rescheduled for March 13. Our Toko tuning clinic is set for March 15 at the shop. Interested? Give us a call and get signed up. Max number is 30.
Speaking of tuning we got a NEW STONE GRINDER! Sorry to yell but this is pretty exciting. Our old machine had a stone that will not let us stone grind snowboards. Even wide skis available these days are a challenge. The new Grindrite 21Hundred from Wintersteiger is a thing to behold. Twenty two preset stone patterns and we can program in more. We have already added the Head "christmas tree" chevron pattern from their world cup skis. Also the Stockli pattern. Both were too complex for our old machine. And it is so easy to use that pretty much anyone could run it. Automation is expensive but efficient and repeatable. Good stuff. It cost about as much as a Mercedes Benz, but hey, you cant make your Stocklis sing in the snow using a Mercedes!
Another mid winter storm has been going on. I go to Reno on Tuesday with John to buy for next year. We will be there Tuesday through Thursday. By the end our lineup for next year will be pretty much set. Due to the pace of retail as mentioned above, I am not as prepared for Reno this year. I spend as much time as possible each year doing basic business analysis and create "open to buy" numbers for each category and carefully pour through the various options. This year I may have to trust my gut a bit more. I should still hit it about 95% right but will miss a few things. I will revisit it all in the spring and try to fix any mistakes...
Anyway, that's about it around here! How 'bout you? You been skiing?

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Blizzard in the Sierra!

Actually it was a very warm day at Sugar Bowl yesterday. Bluebird skies and light jackets. Good snow. For the first time in many ski days I got to ski my personal skis. Awesome day!
In addition to my skis we obtained three models of the Blizzard 2010/11 lineup to spend time on. We also brought a Boone ski from our shop demos. I had not skied the Boone's and recently a number of customers have taken out the demo ski and come back saying it was their favorite ski ever. So I thought I should give it a whirl.
All the skis were great- particularly mine! Steve really liked both the Blizzard 8.7 and the Titan Atlas. They are quite different from each other in feel but both very satisfying. The Boone features an all bamboo core and this makes it very light and very "poppy" or springy feeling. Very distinctive and different than anything else I have skied. Boone is local (from Alameda) and seems to be on to something here! Check them out at www.booneskis.com.
We skied a bit with Steve from Sugar Bowl who is a friend of CalSkiCo Steve. They are friends from Chico State and also both work for Outward Bound. Sugar Bowl Steve skis telemark only. And he telemarks very well. It must be nice to spin a few laps every day while on your lunch break!
I am still mentally sorting things out from the Denver show and the on snow demos in my mind. I tend to dream about skis quite a bit this time of year. This season the dreams seem to involve Fischer wide skis more often than not. The redesigned Watea 101. The new Watea 98. The new Watea 114. Wow. Also the new Line Prophet 115. Rockered skis are for real and will be a big buzz this season.
So the season is "over the hump" from a business perspective. The major holidays have passed. We are more than half way through the resort season. Overall I would have to say that I am pleased. Very pleased. The end results for the year will be good. If the storms keep coming and we finish string, the sales results will be fantastic. The staff has been stellar as usual. Our customers are awesome. Life is good.
And I am excited about next year as well. Since I need to think about next year so much this time of year, I cannot help but speculate. The new products are compelling and well done. I think you will like them. Now over the next few weeks I will place the rest of my orders for the 2010/11 winter. Then in mid March I will have put my orders in and then fly to Salt Lake City to ski with friend for a few days. Until then, keep demoing skis (next week is Salomon) and dial in the order!

Monday, February 8, 2010

We have loaded up the cars, We got the keg in there. They have the skis. It's demo season! After a great trade show in Denver, followed by two days at the Rocky Mountain Dealers ski demos at Winter Park we're off to Alpine Meadows for our regional demo. Two days at Alpine will be followed by two more at Mammoth Mountain set up for the SoCal dealers.

Every manufacturer will be there with their goods. Ski all of next years skis. Try some new goggle models. Whatever you want! It is like Disneyland for us, but serious work too. We fill out test cards on every ski we try. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Then it is back to headquarters to make decisions on what gear we will display for you next year. At Winter Park we got through most of the women's skis narrower than 90mm at the waist. Beneilia and Becky will finish off the category and confirm our test results on the cards we filled out (or possibly disagree with the results we got). We had four skiers at Winter Park. Six at Alpine. Four at Mammoth later this week. That's 14 skier days. There will still be arguments and indecision. We will mop up those questions in the next few weeks with arraigned private demos for CalSkiCo by the reps.

I'll tell you more about the Denver show when I get back. It was awesome. Right now I have to finish packing!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Show Time again!

"So ya, Thought ya, Might like to go to the show. To feel the warm thrill of confusion? That space cadet glow. Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine? Is this not what you expected to see? If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise."
In the Flesh? (Waters)
I was listening to Pink Floyd last night after a good session of Wii Skiing. As the annual National trade show is approaching and on my mind, these words rung true. The experience for me is still overwhelming. There is so much to see. So many important decisions need to be made. So much pressure to provide you my customers with the best possible selection. And so much "socializing" available with other industry members. All packed into four days.
Yes, four days. To see everything produced that could possibly be relevant to a ski shop owner. That's a lot to see in a short time! I am nervous and excited every year at this time as the show approaches.
So it is a bit overwhelming to me, and a lot of hard serious work. And there is important partying to do as well. Oops- did I say that? I meant "social interaction". This is important too. Chatting it up with colleagues is definitely important on a lot of levels. Many are even business related! And this is the best opportunity to do it.
This year the show moves from Las Vegas to Denver. I won't get into the politics of the industry, but for various reasons, many retailers will not be going to the show this year. It could all change at the last moment, but it looks like only about twenty percent of the storefronts across the country will be represented. This is both good and bad in my eyes. On the one hand it is easier to get appointment to see product lines at a time that fits into my itinerary as the sales reps have less appointments. I can more easily get the ear of a factory tech or national sales manager. On the other hand we as retailers need to support a national show as an industry. If we don't, it will go away. On top of it all, I want to come back from the show with a great skiing stoke. I like to be pumped up by the vibe at the show. The vibe of thousands of passionate skiers reveling in all that gear in one room. It reminds me why I am involved in this silly business where it is so hard to scratch out a living. If you go to the big Warren Miller showings just before the ski season starts, you know what I mean. You walk out knowing you will dream of epic powder days for nights afterwards. You want to ski so bad you can taste it in your mouth.
Hopefully, the dealers who do show up are the ones that do have that passion and so will not pass on the show. Hopefully, even if it is smaller in numbers, the quality of the participants will be top notch and so it will still have a strong and positive vibe. I will personally pledge right now that I will do my part!
Being in Denver changes a few other things for me as well. I have a good friend in Denver and will get to spend some time with him there. Martin Sulser from the shop will come along as usual, but I send him back after a few days. After that I stay with my friend Jim. Jimmy and I skied a lot in High School and see each other rarely since then. I can't wait to see him. He is pumped too. He will be with me as a "buyer" and I will send him out to research and view some categories of products for me.
Also different is that there will be two "on snow" days after the four days of the Floor Show. That means two days of ski demos! Yahoo! The best part of my job! The Demo will be at Winter Park. I have a condo in the village for Jim and I. Psyche! Jim is really excited too. Last night he sent me a facebook note and joked "Hey Whitey, If you want to invite Ingrid Backstrom to come skiing with us that's fine by me". I wrote back that I know Ingrid a bit and typically get a few runs in with her at the demos and would introduce him. Jim won't sleep well tonight I think! Yes Jimmy, this will be even better than you could imagine!
Yes, every year the show is better than I can imagine and I have been there many times. Better than I remember it. Better than any other job in the world!
Now I'm getting all worked up too. I hadn't been thinking about the trade show much yet with business as brisk as it is this time of year, but it is getting close enough that I am getting pretty excited. I guess I had better just jump into the shower and go to work!