Vans at Potomac Mills is closing
Thomas
washington metro area. and they're doing it at the end of december. that
means i will be stuck with no indoor place to skate for the coldest part of
winter.
the company that vans sold out to last year (vanity fair), isn't happy with
the profit margins of the skateparks, so they're closing all of them, except
the one in florida and california.
M. Chandler
Welcome to the club. Vans has done this in Colorado, Georgia, and parts
of California, too. In many of those towns, once word got out that Vans
was building a park, the money earmarked for a public park got spent
elsewhere. And in the case of the Atlanta Vans, they put a smaller
indoor park out of business, and then closed down themselves, leaving
Atlanta with no indoor park.
Think about this the next time you shop for shoes or safety gear (Vans
owns Pro-Tec)...
--
Mark Chandler
Superior, CO
http://www.MileHighSkates.com
Peter de Vroomen
with
> the profit margins of the skateparks, so they're closing all of them,
except
> the one in florida and california.
You'd say that if they first buy a park and then close it within a year
because they are not happy with the profits, they have some kind of plan. I
mean: when they bought it, they were serious about the skateboard business
(why buy a skatepark if you're not serious about it?). Unless they just lost
interest and toss their investment in the bin, they are going to do
something with it. I guess they'll probably relocate the ramps and stuff to
a better or cheaper location.
Unless, of course, they bought the skatepark to launder money or something
like that.
PeterV
Antti S. Brax
>> the company that vans sold out to last year (vanity fair), isn't happy
>> with the profit margins of the skateparks, so they're closing all of them,
>> except the one in florida and california.
>
> You'd say that if they first buy a park and then close it within a year
> because they are not happy with the profits, they have some kind of plan.
Or maybe the only thing that VF Corp wanted was Vans' shoe
business and the skate business just could not be separated
from the deal?
--
Antti S. Brax - ICQ:231121586 - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
Helsinki Longboarders: http://www.iki.fi/asb/hlb/
.
Read alt.skate-board FAQ at http://www.iki.fi/asb/faq/
Thomas
> of California, too. In many of those towns, once word got out that Vans
> was building a park, the money earmarked for a public park got spent
> elsewhere. And in the case of the Atlanta Vans, they put a smaller
> indoor park out of business, and then closed down themselves, leaving
> Atlanta with no indoor park.
>
> Think about this the next time you shop for shoes or safety gear (Vans
> owns Pro-Tec)...
I went to college in Alabama and used to go to the Atlanta one. I
remember when it closed. The other indoor park there closed down like
a few months before vans announced they were closing. I believe the
ESPN park is still there, though, is it not?
Beloved Leader
> just found out last week, they're closing the only indoor park in the
> washington metro area.
Well, they're not just going to blow it up, are they? Then maybe
someone would like to buy it - like Prince William County, or the
Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority? PW County residents and
other residents of Northern Virginia, here's your wake-up call. Start
writing letters.
Thomas
After all, VF is a clothing company. They have no interest in
skateboarding. All they see are Vans shoes and clothes, and another way to
make themselves richer.
It's too bad. They'll probably milk Van's for all it's worth, and then run
it into the ground, much like what happened with Airwalk in the 90's.
"Antti S. Brax" <a...@iki.fi.NO.SPAM> wrote in message
news:slrncpmch...@kruuna.Helsinki.FI...
Thomas
and Circuit City is supposed to move in from what I've heard from the mall
people.
"Beloved Leader" <Kim_J...@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:26a0f230.04111...@posting.google.com...
Antti S. Brax
> That's exactly what VF wanted. The clothes and shoes.
>
> After all, VF is a clothing company. They have no interest in
> skateboarding. All they see are Vans shoes and clothes, and another way to
> make themselves richer.
>
> It's too bad. They'll probably milk Van's for all it's worth, and then run
> it into the ground, much like what happened with Airwalk in the 90's.
I searched the subject a bit after posting that and found a
page where some dude named "msk" says that Van's decided to
close the parks a good two years ago. Don't know is he has
any credibility, though. ;-)
But they propably knew that they were going to sell themselves
back then and calculated that they'll get a better deal without
the low profit skatepark business...
Richard Lipinski
> The ramps are going to be auctioned off, the cement parts will be filled in,
> and Circuit City is supposed to move in from what I've heard from the mall
> people.
NOOOOO!!!! WHAT KIND OF SICK PLACE IS THIS!!??!? I hated this area,
but this takes the cke, i gata get all my skating in before it goes!
Beloved Leader
> news:26a0f230.04111...@posting.google.com...
> > Well, they're not just going to blow it up, are they?
"Thomas" <stein...@geocities.com> wrote in message news:<8u2dnfO3ftz...@comcast.com>...
> The ramps are going to be auctioned off, the cement parts will be filled in,
> and Circuit City is supposed to move in from what I've heard from the mall
> people.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. And just think of the great deal
you'll be able to get on a cellphone or a DVD player.
Daniel Kolle
The market for skating is dwindling! YaY!
--
-Daniel "Mr. Brevity" Kolle; 16 A.A. #2035
Koji Kondo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Geirr Tveitt are my Gods.
Head of EAC Denial Department and Madly Insane Scientist.
Blindside
Is that a shot at Dwindle Distrabution?.
msk
a...@iki.fi.NO.SPAM (Antti S. Brax) wrote:
> > That's exactly what VF wanted. The clothes and shoes.
> >
> > After all, VF is a clothing company. They have no interest in
> > skateboarding. All they see are Vans shoes and clothes, and another way to
> > make themselves richer.
> >
> > It's too bad. They'll probably milk Van's for all it's worth, and then run
> > it into the ground, much like what happened with Airwalk in the 90's.
>
> I searched the subject a bit after posting that and found a
> page where some dude named "msk" says that Van's decided to
> close the parks a good two years ago. Don't know is he has
> any credibility, though. ;-)
>
> But they propably knew that they were going to sell themselves
> back then and calculated that they'll get a better deal without
> the low profit skatepark business...
Here's an article from the LA Times (July 2003):
"Vans to Exit Park Arena
Seeing more slumps than swoops, the shoemaker is closing some skate
centers
By Leslie Earnest, Times Staff Writer
If you build it, they will come ‹ unless everybody else builds it too.
That's the lesson shoemaker Vans Inc. has learned since entering the
skate park business about five years ago, shortly before free facilities
began springing up across the country.
With revenue falling precipitously at the parks since last summer, the
Santa Fe Springs company says it plans to close most of the 11 remaining
skate centers it operates in eight states. Vans said it probably would
keep one or two parks open, largely as marketing tools, including its
first park ‹ at the Block at Orange shopping center in Orange County.
Chief Executive Gary Schoenfeld said the company's decision to exit the
business was based on the "nearly tenfold" increase in the number of
free skate parks nationwide since 1998.
Vans also said Thursday that its skate parks ‹ where youths can swoop
along steep ramps and inside bowl-like arenas, performing tricks and
testing new skills with their skateboards and in-line skates ‹
contributed to a decline in earnings for its latest quarter.
The company's loss widened to $22.1 million, or $1.24 a share, in its
fiscal quarter ended May 31, compared with a loss of $13.8 million, or
76 cents, in the same period a year earlier. The latest loss includes a
pretax charge of $10.5 million tied to skate park asset and lease
write-downs.
A consensus of analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected a loss
of 23 cents a share.
Sales were essentially flat at $63.3 million.
For the year, the company lost $29.4 million, or $1.64 a share, compared
with a loss of $1.3 million, or 7 cents a share, in fiscal 2002. Sales
were $330.2 million, compared with $331.4 million the year before.
Even though losses grew, analysts seem relieved that the company was
distancing itself from skate parks to focus on its core business ‹
selling its sturdy canvas sneakers and other shoes."This is the move
everyone was waiting for ‹ for them to exit," said Raymond Jones, an
analyst with Delafield Hambrecht. "What it comes back to is: Is this
what you're good at?"
Analysts also were cheered by the company's improved same-store sales.
Sales jumped 9% at U.S. stores open at least a year, a key barometer of
a retailer's health. That contrasts with a nearly 2% decrease in the
prior year's fourth quarter.
Eventually, the improvement at the retail level should filter back to
Vans' wholesale business, said Jeffrey Van Sinderen, an analyst with B.
Riley & Co.
"I think this company is gradually turning around," he said.
The upturn in retail sales was particularly good news at the company
because it earlier had expected same-store sales to be down 5% to 7%,
said Mitch Kummitz, an analyst with D.A. Davidson.
Still, Kummitz said it was too soon to predict that better sales at
company stores would boost Vans' wholesale business with retailers,
given the weakness in the overall skate-shoe industry over the last
couple of years.
Many wholesale accounts have scaled back their orders of Vans shoes, he
said. Domestic sales at Vans' stores accounted for 40% of the firm's
revenue in the quarter, while wholesale and international sales
contributed about 30% each, he said.
Despite the recent problems with its skate parks, Vans' sales have
received a boost from the parks, which were crafty marketing tools for
the sneaker maker, causing many more skaters to warm to the brand.
Vans is expanding the line to include clothes for females and a
higher-end line of shoes, said Heidi Lemmon, executive director of the
Skate Park Assn. of the USA, which is based in Venice.
Nonetheless, the skate centers have proved a major disappointment for
the company, which was practically giddy after opening the first park in
Orange, a 46,000-square-foot facility that served as a youth magnet.
The park attracted more than 30,000 skaters, among others, and generated
more than $800,000 in revenue, in its first nine weeks of operation,
prompting Vans to quickly begin planning more parks. Vans typically
charges $7 to $14 for use of its parks.
The skate parks turned a profit in their first three years, but the
shoemaker ultimately was blindsided by mushrooming competition. About
1,800 skate parks are operating in the U.S., most of them public parks,
and an additional 1,000 or so are in the planning stages, Lemmon said.
Vans' skate-park push "really helped get public parks built because it
made cities less afraid of skaters," she said. But as more free
facilities opened, parks that charged fees began closing.
"If I go through my list of private parks, I'd say half of them are
gone," Lemmon said.
The company declined to say which parks would close first or when.
Vans stock, which is up 48% this year, closed Thursday at $8.41, down 9
cents, on Nasdaq. The earnings were released after the market closed."
And from another article the same week:
"The Company stated that it has reached resolutions on eight of its
skateparks. Of these parks, six resulted in lease termination costs of
$10.1 million in the fourth quarter. The other two, which are subject to
final documentation, will result in lease termination costs in the first
quarter of fiscal 2004. As part of the agreements with the landlords,
three of the eight parks are expected to stay open at reduced rents for
approximately one more year.
"As we have previously discussed, an estimated nearly ten-fold increase
in public skateparks has necessitated our decision to substantially exit
this business. While it has taken longer to conclude some of the
negotiations due to various issues, including the fact that two of the
remaining malls are in the process of being sold, we remain comfortable
with our liquidity position. Based upon current assumptions, we expect
to end fiscal 2004 with cash and marketable securities of approximately
$40-45 million compared to the $52 million as of May 31, 2003," Mr.
Schoenfeld said."
--
-msk
Thomas
problem with their parks was the expensive rent that malls charge.
but i do agree that public parks are the real answer, and am glad that more
are springing up.
Thomas
No, just the market for expensive mall skate parks. Now all the
municipalities are building free, public skateparks. Which will make
skating ever MORE accessible, so if anything, skating will get even bigger
than it already is.