Check Out Your Front!

  If you haven't looked at your place like a parent would,  maybe you should.  While it is nice to think that skaters don't care, skaters enjoy a park because it is gritty and mean, parents don't.  If you look at who buys all the clothes you sell, who rents the park at night, who pays for summer camp then you will see a lot of money comes to you from parents.  They are the ones that keep you in business when it is nice out and all the hard core skaters go outside.  So when you go out in the parking lot and look at your front, your facade, what does it say to someone who is looking for a clean, safe place to drop off their kids?  Are there a bunch of people smoking, butts everywhere, garbage blowing around?  This is helping make a decision for the moms and dads that keep you in business.  If you haven't recently, you really need to look at the front of your building with a set of eyes of a parent.  While you can have stuff for the more hardcore skaters that don't want a place that is totally sanitized, your main focus need to be geared toward the core of your money, your parents.  Why not ask a parent what they think of your front, your clean bathrooms, etc.  These are all things that make a difference.  You must keep the parents happy so that they feel comfortable dropping their kids off with money for a few hours while they do something else.  Make it so they feel OK with going shopping while the kids play.  If you can get them in the door you can sell them things. If you make it a necessary outing for the whole family where the parents don't feel safe, then chances are the parents won't come that often because they have to go shopping, drop off the laundry, visit Auntie in the hospital or whatever.  Get them in with a clean inviting front, keep them in with excellent service, sell them things while they are there.  Now you are making money!