S04.E13: Windward Boardshop

[cooksdelight]

A snowboard shop in Chacago is plagued by a lack of communication between its three partners and a rapid expansion.

Edited June 14, 2017 by cooksdelight

[Whimsy]

If their main concern was keeping the name because of brand recognition, I don't get why they called it W82 (or whatever, I forget the number). That still isn't WindWard. I watched this really late, but I found this one boring. 

[ae2]

Hey, this felt sort of like a "classic" Profit episode, where we actually see things happening and problems getting fixed! No more Marcus and camera man walk away for a couple days while things fix themselves behind the scenes.

Marcus's plainly stated solution of releasing them from their 5 year lease, "I just bought the building," amused me. As if it were the obvious thing anyone would have done. 

We've discussed several times on previous episodes how Marcus likes to buy into a business, then completely change them, simply as a way to get a foothold in an industry. Here he takes a high-end specialty store and turns them into something more generic. This is exactly what he did with the jean company last season, amongst others. I wonder if this is just business strategery from Marcus or if he truly believes there is no benefit to specializing in today's world.

Windward couldn't turn over their snowboard boots fast enough before they went out of style (wait, what?), I'm not sure how they are expecting to turn over a much larger apparel base, plus equipment for a handful of other outdoor sports that will probably go out of style just as quickly.

The skate shop basement looked pretty amazing. Were there actually some rails in there for people to grind a board on? (Said as if he knows something more about skating than what he learned from playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.)

I get that Marcus wanted to improve communication between the three stakeholders, and ensure that business decisions are made with all 3 of them involved in the process. I'm not sure why random employee X was getting involved with naming the business or determining whether they expanded beyond boards. The employee who came up with the W idea even said something like, "that's the problem, it feels like decisions are made without consulting us." It's not a democracy. (I'm not even sure if we'd seen or heard from him before in the episode, but I missed the beginning, so maybe he was there.)

Which brings me to...

Yet another TERRIBLE business name change! I totally get dropping the boards from the name, and understood their criticism of calling it 'active sports' or 'outdoors." Windward 82 even has a nice little ring to it as it rolls of the tongue. W82 is atrocious. Nothing about it flows, it's tough to say, it's generic, it sounds like a lubricant I'd use in the garage, it doesn't preserve ANY name recognition, and it's actually longer to say than Windward 82.

"I picked up this new board at Windward" sounds a heck of a lot better than "I picked up this new board at W." Also, when people hear about the store but inevitably forget the correct number, Google would have a lot easier time figuring out what people really want when searching 'Windward 62' than 'W 62'.

[cooksdelight]

42 minutes ago, ae2 said:

I'm not sure why random employee X was getting involved with naming the business or determining whether they expanded beyond boards. The employee who came up with the W idea even said something like, "that's the problem, it feels like decisions are made without consulting us." It's not a democracy. (I'm not even sure if we'd seen or heard from him before in the episode, but I missed the beginning, so maybe he was there.)

That's Cody, he has been featured in all the promo commercials for the show. He does all the online order shipping and was supposed to keep the inventory area clean and neat. Which hadn't happened, from what we were shown.

I don't mind the name, but then again I am not their customer. I think the strategy of looking at the numbers and keeping the items that had high margins made a lot of sense. And letting Jess handle the buying was the biggest move and best improvement of the entire overhaul. Steve strikes me as someone who has handed a bunch of money and didn't know what to do with it. He has no head for business, and that other partner seemed invisible. Neither of them were taking accountability for their mistakes. Blaming Jess for the failure of the store in the high-dollar neighborhood was stupid. I wonder what Marcus plans to do with the building now that he owns it?

46 minutes ago, ae2 said:

I'm not sure how they are expecting to turn over a much larger apparel base, plus equipment for a handful of other outdoor sports that will probably go out of style just as quickly

They picked the items that sell best, going by the numbers and profit margins. Earlier, they had a bunch of bathing suits which didn't match. Jess found a supplier who gave her better-looking suits, and outdoor clothes that didn't cost a fortune. That was their biggest challenge, finding items that were reasonably priced.

[ae2]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

I don't mind the name, but then again I am not their customer. I think the strategy of looking at the numbers and keeping the items that had high margins made a lot of sense. And letting Jess handle the buying was the biggest move and best improvement of the entire overhaul. Steve strikes me as someone who has handed a bunch of money and didn't know what to do with it. He has no head for business, and that other partner seemed invisible. Neither of them were taking accountability for their mistakes. Blaming Jess for the failure of the store in the high-dollar neighborhood was stupid. I wonder what Marcus plans to do with the building now that he owns it?

Jess definitely looked like she took ownership of the buying process and will do well. I hope that part was real and not simply a part of the episode narrative. However, I felt that she also didn't want to accept any blame for the failure of the other store. Despite Marcus absolving her of blame, she didn't come across looking much better about it than Steve did to me. Despite all that I thought all the people involved in this business/episode were likable and felt less like TV characters than most episodes.

[clod]

I wondered if they had the domain name   "w82.com" , and they do.

it was registered in 2002.    I wonder what they had to pay to get it.

 

at first I thought they had a competitor on that domain, because it looked like a clothes store.

I had to scroll down a bit before I saw a board.   W82 does make a nice compact logo/name for printing on clothes and such.

 

seems like outdoor sports stores gradually turn into clothes stores.     is it because of the margins on clothes, or higher sales per customer, or repeat clothes buyer shopping visits?

Edited June 14, 2017 by clod

[Gregg247]

I liked how Marcus got all the employees to go through the store with the numbers and compare margins for every single retail category.  I think it opened the eyes of a lot of the employees, and probably stopped a lot of complaining before it could occur.  For example, Cody can't really complain about losing the snow shoes when he and everyone else there knows that snow shoes had a profit margin of just 23%.  It was a good learning experience for the owners, the staff, and me.

Jess came across very capable in the episode.  I liked her more once she quit wearing that ridiculous knit hat.  That was probably a cool bit of apparel when the 3 owners were all 19-22.  Now, it appears they're all in their early 30s, so it looks a little (a lot) silly.

I agree the name change to W82 wasn't very good.  I liked Windward as a company name.  I understand changing the "Boards" part, but "Windward" was a keeper.  I'm surprised no one talked Marcus into naming it W1n6W4r6 or W1ndw4rd or something "trendy" like that.

[Kenz]

16 hours ago, ae2 said:

 

Marcus's plainly stated solution of releasing them from their 5 year lease, "I just bought the building," amused me. As if it were the obvious thing anyone would have done. 

 

As a longtime former store owner who signed many 5 year leases, I had to laugh at this too. I had just asked my husband how they were going to get out of their lease, and presto, Marcus conveniently just bought the building! How nice.

I might have missed some details, but I wondered how the original store was remodeled and became 9,000 square feet. I know they had a big basement, but that seemed like a big increase in overall square footage.. Where are they storing extra inventory now that the basement has the snowboards and skateboards? Let me guess, Marcus bought out the adjoining business and made a new storeroom!

The new name is awful, but the finished store did look beautiful. Marcus spent bundle on this project, but at least the people who run it and are co owners seem like they will succeed.

[Amarsir]

10 hours ago, Kenz said:

I might have missed some details, but I wondered how the original store was remodeled and became 9,000 square feet. I know they had a big basement, but that seemed like a big increase in overall square footage.. Where are they storing extra inventory now that the basement has the snowboards and skateboards? Let me guess, Marcus bought out the adjoining business and made a new storeroom!

Lol! He did mention in the beginning that they had a huge storeroom, just badly organized. What I don't recall from the beginning is the mention of an upstairs, so that came as a surprise to me.  I agree though that all the expanded product lines will require more inventory with less space now.  And even though I think that Jess is probably a better buyer, it's inevitable that they'll have extra inventory which either takes up space or has to be liquidated really cheap.  In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they end up scrapping the whole shoe department, because I just don't see people going into this kind of shop and then upstairs to buy shoes.  Even if you knew it existed because you bought your board there.

I do like that Marcus took his share down to 40%. Seeing the one partner at 5% was tough, but I can also appreciate the other guys. 3 months paid leave while the other partners are working for free, that's awkward.  And despite the show focusing on conflict, I think they must be pretty good friends to have weathered that.  Lord knows we've seen Marcus in far more toxic locations. 

And ITA on the name. "Windward" is much better than W82 in so many ways.

[seacliffsal]

I actually wondered if Marcus' real intent was the buy the building all along, but had to find a way to get the tenants (W82) out for whatever purpose he wanted the building.  Maybe for another Sweet Pete's?  Anyway, just the casual way Marcus said he bought the building made me think there was far more involved.

[cooksdelight]

Seemed awfully convenient, didn't it? :)

[nutella fitzgerald]

On 6/15/2017 at 11:32 AM, Amarsir said:

Seeing the one partner at 5% was tough, but I can also appreciate the other guys. 3 months paid leave while the other partners are working for free, that's awkward.  And despite the show focusing on conflict, I think they must be pretty good friends to have weathered that.  Lord knows we've seen Marcus in far more toxic locations. 

But what was she supposed to have done to maintain the "fairness" of the situation? The only failsafe way to prevent pregnancy for five years is to just abstain from sex for that entire time. And what if one of them had gotten sick or something else that rendered them unable to work for three months? Not buying that they would have fallen on their swords and volunteered to give up equity. Those guys were dicks.

Edited June 17, 2017 by nutella fitzgerald
clumsy fingers

[Amarsir]

3 hours ago, nutella fitzgerald said:

But what was she supposed to have done to maintain the "fairness" of the situation? The only failsafe way to prevent pregnancy for five years is to just abstain from sex for that entire time. And what if one of them had gotten sick or something else that rendered them unable to work for three months? Not buying that they would have fallen on their swords and volunteered to give up equity. Those guys were dicks.

Not to be insensitive, but being an owner means you don't get to pass the buck. If she was a solo owner who unexpectedly got pregnant and couldn't afford to hire a replacement, what happens? If she can't work the whole business folds. You don't get to say "hey sex happens, someone owes me a check." Furthermore, she didn't put any money in to the business. The only reason she had equity was in return for work. I don't know if losing 10% is fair, but I don't think fair would be signing a partnership agreement and then not holding up your end without any giveback.

This isn't a unique situation. If you need cash out of a business you sell your equity. That's what she did.

That said, it did bother me that Jess was excluded from the location decision, especially since she ended up being the one who would manage it. It made me think Chris didn't view her as a partner so much as labor-for-equity.  I think making her buyer was a great idea not only because she might be good at it, but because it means her inputs will definitely have a role in shaping the business.

[nutella fitzgerald]

8 hours ago, Amarsir said:

If she was a solo owner who unexpectedly got pregnant and couldn't afford to hire a replacement, what happens? If she can't work the whole business folds.

Well, she wasn't a solo owner without any employees, so I'm not sure how it's helpful to speculate. If we're going to make up situations, we could also posit that if her partners were willing to work with her, she could make like Ivanka Trump and be back at work after a two-week mat leave.

 

You take risks when you go into a working partnership with another human being. If they weren't willing to deign to her existence as a human and not a workbot, they should have just kept her on the payroll and never given her equity in the first place. (Which would have been a shitty thing to do, since I don't recall any mention that they themselves were disease- and injury-resistant androids.)

[ClareWalks]

I find it hard to believe that she insisted on a PAID three-month maternity leave, since she was willing to give up equity and reduce her pay and hours to have more family time. She doesn't seem like a demanding person. When the dudes mentioned "financing her pregnancy," I just thought damn, they're lucky she is a co-owner and not an employee, because comments like that (which contribute to a hostile work environment and discrimination) can get ya' sued.

[Amarsir]

Marcus recently (almost certainly after this episode was shot) bought Gander Mountain to avert a complete shutdown and is in the process of rebranding it Gander Outdoors. That means he now owns Camping World, Gander Outdoors, and W82 as retail stores selling outdoor sporting goods. They aren't the same, but there's definitely some overlap.

I wonder what that will mean for W82 if he refitted them to sell drones and now there's a nearby Gander selling the same. It would be ironic if diversifying from a surf shop brought them directly into competition with a larger concern of his.

Or maybe it's not an issue. Just a thought.

[ClareWalks]

2 minutes ago, Amarsir said:

Marcus recently (almost certainly after this episode was shot) bought Gander Mountain to avert a complete shutdown and is in the process of rebranding it Gander Outdoors.

Marcus seems to have a real passion for "rebranding" established businesses, which I don't think is always a good thing. Gander Mountain has been a well-known and respected brand for decades. Changing the name to Gander Outdoors seems to add nothing, and could be confusing to the marketplace.

[cooksdelight]

Maybe that woman that won The Partner is his advisor now. LOL

[healthnut]

On 6/21/2017 at 2:59 PM, cooksdelight said:

Maybe that woman that won The Partner is his advisor now. LOL

Did that show ever air? I never saw it.

[cooksdelight]

4 hours ago, healthnut said:

Did that show ever air? I never saw it.

The first season aired, a blonde named Julie (I think...I've tried to forget her) won. No, I've not seen her anywhere. Yet.

[Amarsir]

17 hours ago, healthnut said:

Did that show ever air? I never saw it.

It did. There were 5 episodes and it may be available On Demand from your provider if you want to check. The whole experience felt low-budget and the candidates a bit lackluster, but if you can get past that I found it interesting enough.

No hint of the partner since then though.  I'm genuinely curious what Marcus is using her for.

[ae2]

On 6/25/2017 at 10:35 AM, Amarsir said:

It did. There were 5 episodes and it may be available On Demand from your provider if you want to check. The whole experience felt low-budget and the candidates a bit lackluster, but if you can get past that I found it interesting enough.

No hint of the partner since then though.  I'm genuinely curious what Marcus is using her for.

I'm guessing since these episodes are the second half of season 4 that they were filmed before the Partner, and we'll hear from her in season 5. Either that or she'll start showing up in recap episodes. 

(It's also possible that future episodes of the Partner will focus on her working with Marcus's existing businesses, instead of finding more partners.)

[Amarsir]

7 hours ago, ae2 said:

I'm guessing since these episodes are the second half of season 4 that they were filmed before the Partner, and we'll hear from her in season 5. Either that or she'll start showing up in recap episodes. 

(It's also possible that future episodes of the Partner will focus on her working with Marcus's existing businesses, instead of finding more partners.)

You can frequently tell from Yelp or social media when episodes took place. In Windward's case, they had their clearance sale in January. Which I'm sure is after The Partner was filmed but before it was aired, so you may be right.

The show doesn't seem to be doing recaps any more though, only mentioning stuff when it has synergy. Which is a shame IMHO, but otherwise I agree with you. (Apparently her role is specific to ML's clothing brands, so maybe we'll see her more the next time that comes up.)

[Casually Observant]

On 6/14/2017 at 5:52 AM, cooksdelight said:

That's Cody, he has been featured in all the promo commercials for the show. He does all the online order shipping and was supposed to keep the inventory area clean and neat. Which hadn't happened, from what we were shown.

I will bet money that 'Cody' is actually a female to male transgender going through the transition. I noticed it immediately. Cody has no Adam's apple, small breasts, feminine face, slight hint of facial hair. Comically, they kept showing him over and over in the previews and rehashes. I figure the editing people were having fun with it.  Anyone else notice this?

On 6/14/2017 at 0:26 PM, Gregg247 said:

I agree the name change to W82 wasn't very good.  I liked Windward as a company name.  I understand changing the "Boards" part, but "Windward" was a keeper. 

Totally agree about the name. Windward is an excellent name.  Shame they didn't go with Windward/82 and use W/82 in their stamped logos or something. Windward conjures up the sea, the beach and sailing. Like another poster said, W82 sounds too much like WD40 lubricating machine oil.  Marcus, Marcus, Marcus. Fix this!