Specialty retailers are hopeful leading into Super Saturday as shoppers flock to stores to scoop up last minute gifts.
“We saw a brisk amount of business, a lot of people coming in and doing holiday shopping,” said Duke Edukas, who co-owns Surfside Sports with his brother-in-law Paul Burnett, of this past weekend. “It’s a happy time of year with people coming in and almost all of them are in good moods.”
The holiday selling season has so far been on par with what Edukas typically sees with no “red flags” to call out as the holiday nears.
Super Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas, is expected to draw 141.9 million shoppers to stores, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.
The NRF/Prosper projection is down from 2022’s 158.5 million shoppers, when Super Saturday fell on Dec. 17. The forecast is up, however, when compared to the last time Super Saturday was on Dec. 23. That was in 2017, when 126.1 million shoppers came out to spend.
At Surfside, on the men’s side, RVCA maintained its No. 1 spot as of this past weekend when compared to its performance during the Black Friday selling period. Stance took the No. 2 spot as Volcom and Vuori came in at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively.
On the Surfside women’s side, Stance dominated in the No. 1 spot by dollars this past weekend with, Vuori No. 2, Billabong No. 3, and RVCA No. 4.
Stance typically moves up the ranking closer to the holiday, with socks a popular gift item. Blankets from Luxe, Slowtide, and Rumpl have also been popular.
Snow is a big business at Surfside Sports. Photo courtesy of Surfside.
Weird Weather Strikes, Again
Snow, which is a sizable part of Surfside’s business, is off this year on account of the weather, but Edukas said the category’s still moving and a top seller for the store in dollars.
If there’s more snow, Edukas expects “big things” for the business, but he’s tempering his outlook based on the weather retailers have faced this year.
“Based on the inclement weather year we had this year, it was the worst I’ve experienced in surf retail,” Edukas said.
The year’s been marked with unseasonably hot or cold weather, depending on the region, wreaking havoc on foot traffic and business.
This past weekend heavy rain and winds hit parts of Florida, hampering visits into stores.
“We had very bad weather that impacted business at all of our locations, so business was down over the weekend compared to last year,” said George Karamitos, President and owner of Maui Nix Inc., consisting of seven Florida locations.
The retailer doesn’t use promotions and said the only markdown to be found across Maui Nix locations this past weekend was a discount on already marked down product. No surprises were had either in the way of what brands did well: Vuori and Free People have “been great for us,” Karamitos said.
The store owner, who SES caught up with on Monday, said the week started off with the sun out making him hopeful that would jumpstart sales.
“The sun is shining today, and weather is more conducive to shopping, so I hope the holiday shopping period is even more heavily back-ended this year,” Karamitos said. “I do see a slowdown in consumer spending though and that has been the scenario for much of 2023.”
The Maui Nix store in Fort Lauderdale. Photo by SES.
Planning Ahead at HSS
While rain roiled Florida, it was in the 80s in Huntington Beach over the weekend, inspiring shoppers to snap up surf and surf accessories – two parts of the business that performed very strong at Huntington Surf & Sport.
Aaron Pai and son Taylor Pai reported O’Neill Wetsuits continuing its reign as the No. 1 wetsuit this year and over this past weekend.
Hurley, Billabong, Volcom, RVCA, and Salty Crew did well over the weekend for the men’s department. In women’s, it was Hurley, Roxy, Billabong, and O’Neill.
Ultimately, HSS sales showed a double-digit decrease for the three-day period ended Dec. 17 in comparison to the prior-year period.
The steep discounting seen in the action sports industry this year, which Aaron Pai called “out of whack,” is not possible to compete with at the 40% to 70% off levels seen in the direct, online and warehouse channels. Still, HSS attempted to offer “some strategic, department-specific promotions” this past weekend that didn’t take too large a bite out of margins, Pai said.
Pai applauded his son, Taylor, and the buying team for the preparations made at the start of the year based on the toll they expected gas prices, industry discounting, and bad weather to have on consumers.
HSS also made the decision to set up a “no fly zone” in which the warehouse stopped taking store orders during parts of September and October and the just-in-time model to keep a tight rein on inventory levels in response to what the team anticipated for the operating environment.
“Taylor and I feel good about our current inventory level, product mix, and brand chemistry on the sales floor of all four of our HSS store locations going into the last week before Christmas,” Pai said.
HSS customers, along with some of the Pai family, pictured in front of the HSS Huntington Beach store surfboard room on Dec. 16, 2023 during the retailer’s annual 1 Cent Surfboard Sale. Photo courtesy of HSS.
Thoughts Heading into 2024
While Super Saturday is days away and there’s still the buying and return period post-Christmas, Pai shared a few thoughts on where business is headed in 2024.
“This has by far been one of the most challenging years for us as a core retailer,” he said.
He pointed to the record rainfall locally and unseasonably cool temperatures during the key spring break timeframe as being a significant headwind for retailers up and down the coast of California.
“The good news is the probability and the chance of another record 31 inches of rain and record low temperatures in 2024 is not great, so less rain and warmer weather should help all our businesses in Southern California in 2024,” Pai said.
Next year could also hold some more pushback from retailers when it comes to the brand discounting.
“I believe that a lot of brick-and-mortar surf shop owners will be talking to the brands and discouraging the brands from holiday discounting and/or maybe offering ‘holiday order’ markdowns dollars, at the point of placing orders, to all of us if they do,” Pai said.
And, Pai, also addressed the continued transition of the Boardriders brands to licensing deals, the details and implications of which will continue to be revealed as time passes.
“With all of the changes going on with new ownership of brands, we are keeping positive and are looking forward to ways of allowing growth and opportunity for brands staying true to our sport of surfing,” Pai said. “HSS and the Pai family are here to stay, and we are ready to continue the good fight for keeping family-owned and operated and surfer-owned and operated surf shops alive and thriving.”
