Are you fully retailed?

Have you ever asked yourself why the soda is at the back of the store when most people just want a soda to go? The same reason your skating area should be at the back of your building, or rather everything that you have to sell before the skating area. The general idea is that a store wants the customers who are there to see the products that the business has for sale. So if the common items that people go to a convenience store to buy are also next to things that they might buy if in front of them, the store tends to make a higher sale. Put the donuts near the coffee.

In the skate park world you have a place that the skaters want to skate just like in the supermarket world with people who want milk. Buy making them pass your concession stand on the way in and out you tend to make additional sales. Moms and dads dropping their kids off might also buy something for them to drink, eat, or wear. If you have your merchandise near where they enter and exit you are getting it in front of them and enabling them not only to remember you have stuff for sale, but entice them with what you have. If you put on sale merchandise out front too, you can move this stuff faster.

There are a few things to consider in terms of layout that need thought. Controlling flow and overflow is always an issue in skateparks, and cluttering this space with merchandise invites trouble and hassle. Controlling theft is another issue that needs to be dealt with in a manner that is cost effective. To balance these, you need to make sure that you have created a good pattern for foot traffic that allows for monitoring of inventory and promotion of experience of the visit. At the same time you want to make visible the stuff you sell. Work with your arrangements to create enough space for both the has security and attractiveness.

Value Added Membership

As we look for ways to get more business, one way that can work is adding value to the membership. When a patron asks why get a membership, the most obvious reason is for cheaper entrance rates. Usually skateparks charge $13 for non-members and $8 for members for a 2 hour session. This sort of pricing would leave money in their pockets for food or drinks. The $5 difference in price would then pay for itself in 10 visits or sessions. So once the 100 or so local kids have bought a membership, how do you get the ones further outside your range to buy a membership? One idea is to add value.

There are many ways to add value that don't really cost you anything. Discounts on gear is a traditional way of adding additional benefits. This gives the added bonus of enticing a sale for the skate shop. Fee differences for camps and comps is another way of helping the cause. Free or discounted friend passes, party rentals or special nights are other ways of adding value to those that might not see themselves coming around for 10 times over the year. I would consider adding in some times or days that you don't do good business as a perfect way of adding value to your membership. If a park is empty most Monday or Tuesday evenings this could be a great opportunity to add value to membership. Give them 1/2 off or even free sessions once or more a month and advertise the heck out of this. Sell the idea that in a month they could get the value of their membership back with these "Member only" sessions. While they don't have to bring money to the park and some won't, I bet sales of soda and drinks during these times will more than make such a freebee worth it. Add in a special friend of the park dj (read as free dj) and you now have an event. Cost: lights and staff. Sure when budgets are tight this might seem like a large expense but in the end will it help you sell memberships?

The deal is it can start this off as a trial to see if works. Plan it as a campaign with the staff. Offer prizes to the person who is able to sell the most. Make up posters and flyers, cards to put in with your sales receipts etc. to let everyone know that this is worth it to be a member of the park because of all the benefits they get. In the end it is about generating a feeling that this business cares about its people, and those who show their support are rewarded.

Another idea that needs immediate adoption by park owners is offering reduced rates to other skatepark members. If you have a park in Oakland and your prices are similar to all those other parks around you, it makes sense to let members come to your park and skate at the reduced price. If you work out a similar deal with the other parks you have added value to your membership for the price of a phone call. This is a win-win slam dunk. The more you all can add to your park without incurring costs the better. You will attract members from another park to stop by on their way through town generating income with little effort. Start making friends with the other park owners and start making connections that keep you adding to what you offer your patrons.

Good luck

Public park cuts business?

I was reading a blog posting and threads on a BMX site recently that was complaining about a local skatepark trying to convince the parks and rec department to charge user fees at the local public park. Much of the argument described how the skatepark was trying to protect its turf, that was said to be encroached on by a public park. As I read down I was struck by the PR problem this situation presents, as well as how this park owner isn't going to "win" by getting the park to charge admission.

The quandary presented to many business owners, not to mention indoor skateparks, is competition for market. If you look at the corner of a busy intersection you might find 4 fast food restaurants, gas stations, or whatever. Why? Wouldn't just one do? What if the owner complained publicly about unfair zoning, permit granting, or other such issues to try and hold on to their monopoly of the area? Would there be some gain and some loss? Sure. The issue isn't that far removed from public versus private skateparks. What is to be gained by trying to keep your market share as it is through monopolization of the market?

The issue of public skateparks is one of equality. If the public pays to provide free fields to play on, free basketball courts and tennis courts, shouldn't it also be required to provide free places to skate or ride? They should. So fighting these places is not a good idea. Many people will get the wrong impression of the business that fights public parks. They will develop a negative attitude about that establishment, spread the word to their friends and brothers, and this will be a costly blow to a fragile establishment.

So the question becomes, does a free tennis court or a free ice skating area cut into the business of indoor rinks and pavilions? The answer is no. In both these cases a rink offers more than just skating, as do tennis pavilions. Private skateparks offer more too. While the fee and service model is well accepted for the ice and tennis businesses it is not so much for the indoor or private skatepark. In order to address these issues the indoor park owner needs to think about ways their service is worth paying for.

Here are a few things to consider when confronting what to do about a loss of business from a free park. 1. If you are losing business to a free park just because it is free you have more things to worry about in your market. If the kids and adults can't afford to come to your park, then you have priced yourself out of business or the economy doesn't allow for the luxury spending needed to keep a place of your size working. But don't start fluctuating your price, find where you need to be priced to make your budget and meet the needs of the public. 2. A free park is an opportunity for more business not less. What is better, to buy an ad in the newspaper, or distribute flyers and 1/2 off pass coupons at the local skatepark? Where do you want to hype up your new ramp you just built? Where do you want to talk to some parents who you don't recognize at your park about your summer camps? Where do you send your sponsored skaters to skate when they aren't at your park with a pocket full of your stickers and some other cheap schwag?

How about a few ways to make a public park a win-win? Skate comp at the public park sponsored by you and other skate shops in the area; A multi-location skate comp with the finals held at your park! Working with the parks department to put on skate camps over the summer can also help you especially with a pricing scheme that is win-win and good PR for you. When you see that the kids like the outdoor park more than indoor, go find out why. Interview some kids (give them something for the interview like grip tape or food) about what they like about the outdoor park, then use the input to redesign your layout.

In the end you have to remember that you are a dynamic service business, and the parks department is not. People come to your park because of the security, the ramps, the atmosphere, and the events. If you have the best service, people will buy into this. Provide better service, be dynamic, change! A public skatepark is not going to rebuild their park anytime soon. You should. What do people want to skate or ride? New stuff. Make your park the best, then redo it. Make great competitions, provide lessons, rent your place for parties. Start a dj night with local kids spinning disks on a night that is usually slow. Have an adult league where they don't have to worry about kids! Have a BMX night or three. They are an underserved market that really want a place to ride. They are good money so don't forget about getting them a spot in your calendar. All the things I wrote here are things that you can do almost overnight and make an impact on your business. Don't forget about what service it is you provide and market yourself to regain anything you have lost.

Make the most of what you have and change things up!

About This Blog

A little while ago I was asked to start collecting articles about a book that I am publishing on the business of skateparks. I decided that in order to best share and collaborate with others, a blog would need to be created. I don't profess to know more than anyone else, however I hope that those tech-savvy enough to find these postings will benefit from ideas that I gather here.

Many people have asked why build a skatepark? There is a bumper sticker that states, "if your town doesn't have a skatepark it is one". Other reasons are a love of the sport, some have family into the sport, have a skate shop and want to expand, or have a lot of money and time and think it could be fun. I found that all of these are fair reasons for getting a park going. The excitement of opening a business of your own is unparalleled. But there comes a time after you have opened and things are tough, you are working all the time, and stress is mounting that having a fresh look at the business, injecting new energy into the business is needed. Maybe some of the ideas I post here will help. If not, hire someone to give you added time and new energy, it is well worth the cost.

Of all the things that I did, the best I can recommend to you is to look at the numbers of your park on a monthly basis. Spend the time to watch where your money is going, where it is coming from, and where you can make it work better for you. If you don't have an idea how you keep making rent, payroll, taxes, and the lights on you need to start. Make a simple break even point excel document (or use a free online one from Google or openoffice.org). Write down all your expenses per month (taxes, payroll, garbage, water, electricity, gas, rent) and see what you need to do for business to break even. This is your magic number. When you meet this number, on day 15 of the month, you can bank the rest of the money into savings for the times and expenses you don't foresee. In the end, for no mater what reason you got into this business, you need to keep it going, and keeping your eye on the break-even point is how you can achieve this.

It is always nice to be able to know you have the next six month's operations in the bank. Make this your new goal for the year. Keep checking back for some ideas I post here.