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As we are getting closer and closer to the Christmas season, Black Friday, and the time of the year when skate sales start to take off, remember that we offer some free promo items for your skate shop area. We have a lot of free posters from different manufacturers that you can use to decorate the rink with and help promote skate sales. We also have retail catalogs with pictures, sizes, details, on most of our popular items that are designed to be handed out to your skaters. They’re like trained salesmen working for you without asking for anything in return. These are all free, you just pay for the shipping costs to get them to you. Consider asking for some with your next order to make it even easier (and cheaper).

The Griffin Brothers are two shuffle skaters that have worked hard on social media and have hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. They’re probably the most “followed” skaters on social media right now. We’ve worked with them and Uniq to create a Griffin Brothers version of the Era skates with their distinctive black and gold lion design on the tongue flap. They also now have their own Piper wheel with a great looking metal hub insert.

Remember that Thanksgiving is a shipping holiday and packages will be a little slower than normal to arrive that week. Please consider ordering earlier than normal if you’d like to have inventory on hand for Black Friday so that you can better serve your customers by having product on hand for a quick and easy sale.

The Griffin Brothers are very successful shuffle skaters with a huge presence on social media.  They’re sponsored by Uniq Skates and we now have the Griffin Brothers version of the Era skates in stock.  This skate has a tongue flap designed by the Griffins with a distinctive black and gold lion design.

We can’t promise that you’ll skate as good as the Griffins, but we do believe that you’ll look great trying.

These are in stock now and ready to ship.

We would like to follow up our tradeshow with some interviews with the different vendors that came to our show.  That was you can hear from the vendors even if you weren’t able to attend the show in person.

We did one a few days ago with Sure-Grip Skate that you can see here.  Today we heard from Billy Thompson.  Billy owns rinks in Charlotte, NC, but he is also the current president of the Roller Skate Association.  Here’s what he had to say:

Question 1:  Thanks for taking the time to come to Roanoke for our tradeshow.  How did it go for your company?  Did anything stick out? 

We always enjoy coming up and checking out the deals, seeing the new stuff on the horizon and discussing opportunities for large purchases.

Question 2:  You go to a lot of shows, you travel a lot, talking to different rinks, etc.  What are you hearing from the rinks (or shops)?  Are they excited about the upcoming season?

In store skate sales are down, but a lot of rinks are down as well.  Owners are optimistic and positive and understand that the “Covid Boom” is over, and we are all getting back to grass roots marketing for our businesses. Personally, we are anxious to get the season rolling to see what we need to do in order to sustain growth!

Question 3:  Do you have any suggestions or ideas for the skating rinks that will see this?  Have you heard anything at our show (or at other shows) that is especially interesting that might could help other rinks?  It doesn’t have to be “product” related.

Rinks are finding ways to adapt in the “dip” in revenue, but everyone I’ve spoken with is excited about what’s to come, and understand the challenges that we’ve all faced over the years, and how we’ve succeeded when business may be down.

Question 4:  What excites you about our industry right now?  Does anything scare you?

The unknown upcoming season always excites me.  The anticipation for our large skate parties, the special events we do, as well as the birthday party season really lets us know where we stand in our local area as a destination for customers of all ages.

Question 5:  What else would you like our readers to know?  Is there anything that doesn’t fit into the above questions that skaters or rink owners would find interesting or helpful as we approach the traditional busy season for roller skating?

I would just continue to encourage rink owners and RSA members to utilize ALL the amazing assets our association offers.  From attending shows such as this, down to discussing business and other ideas with other operators.  Opportunities are all over for us and utilizing these shows and meetings to better your business is imperative.

We recently hosted our annual tradeshow and it was great to see everyone.  We realize that not everyone is able to attend our show, so we are following that up with some interviews with the vendors that attended the show.  Our first one is with Steven Ball from Sure-Grip Skate.

Question 1 –  Thanks for taking the time to come to Roanoke for our tradeshow.  How did it go for your company?  Did anything stick out?

Sure-Grip – We always have a great time coming to the show.  Always great to see the customers and talk about the business.  We have a lot of new item that we are very excited about and we are excited about the future.

Question 2 – You go to a lot of shows, you travel a lot, talking to different rinks, etc.  What are you hearing from the rinks (or shops)?  Are they excited about the upcoming season?

Sure-Grip – We received a lot of good feedback about our new items this year so that is very good.  I think the rinks are also very optimistic about the season and most rinks mentioned a good last few months.  I think its important to note the hurricanes can and will slow things down but I think the next few months will be very good.

Question 3 – Are there any new products you have coming out that we should know about?  Or any proven winners that you’d like to remind people about?

Sure-Grip – We have our new oxford skate that a lot of people were really intrigued about.  I think its a special product and it might not be for everyone but we have always tried to create new and personal products for skaters.  We also have our new black and gold fame skate.  Same great Fame skate but in a new limited edition color.  Also have the new blue premier wheel that has done very well so far. [editor’s note – the Oxford is not in stock yet, they’re hoping for a late November delivery – the black and gold Fame skates are available now – the blue Premier wheels should arrive any day now]

Question 4 – Do you have any suggestions or ideas for the skating rinks that will see this?  Have you heard anything at our show (or at other shows) that is especially interesting that might could help other rinks?  It doesn’t have to be “product” related.

Sure-Grip – Stay positive and stay excited.

Question 5 – What excites you about our industry right now?  Does anything scare you?

Sure-Grip – I love how everyone is willing to listen and talk to one another.  Learn from others and keep moving forward.  A really good show that features roller skating is on HBO which I think everyone should watch and learn. [editor’s note – the show is called Roller Jam and is available on HBO and also their streaming service]

Question 6 – What else would you like our readers to know?  Is there anything that doesn’t fit into the above questions that skaters or rink owners would find interesting or helpful as we approach the traditional busy season for roller skating?

Sure-Grip – Stay hungry and look to the season.  Stay positive and be excited for the skaters and your employees.

Roller Derby has two new inline rental skates that are now available.

The RH800 skate is a hockey style inline rental.  This skate has a metal frame and a lace up system instead of buckles.  Since it is much easier to replace a broken lace than a broken buckle this should make maintenance much faster and simpler.  These skates come in sizes 6 through 13.

The R400 skate is a more traditional inline rental with a hard shell and buckles.  The R400 comes in sizes 1 through 12.

Both of these new skates have just arrived and are available to ship.

We also have most sizes of the Excel 5500 skates still available.  We are out of stock on sizes 5 and 6, but the other sizes are in stock.

Sure-Grip Skate showed off two new products at our tradeshow and they are now both in stock.

The Black and Gold Fame is the Fame skate, but with gold laces, logo, eyelets, and wheel graphics.

The Balance wheels are an artistic wheel with a two tone design.  They come in black-white, red-white, and orange-white.

https://seskate.com/3399-2/

Our tradeshow is coming up in just a few days.  It is Oct 7 and 8 (Mon and Tues) here at our Roanoke VA warehouse.  Here are some details if you’re able to join us.

Monday

2pm – The tradeshow starts.

6pm – Complimentary dinner at our warehouse.

7pm – Meetings and elections at the Firehouse Skating Rink (a short drive from our warehouse).  Jim and Cindy Anderson will be leading a seminar on maximizing your business.

Tuesday

9am – The tradeshow resumes back at our warehouse.

If you haven’t made your hotel reservation yet, their phone number is 540-563-5002.  Press 3 to get to a live person at that location.  If you haven’t RSVP’d with us yet, please do so ASAP so we can have a good count for the caterer.

If you know of any supplies you’ll be picking up, call ahead of time and we can get it pulled for you, ready and waiting.  That would save both of us some time and make things easier for both of us while you’re here.

Consider picking up anything you know you’ll be using during the year to save on the shipping costs.  Party supplies (plates, cups, etc) would be a good example of something that is a basic item where the freight costs are pretty significant, and we’ve got plenty of those in stock.  Rental skate supplies (bearings, laces, stops) would be another good example.

Our annual tradeshow will be on Oct 7 and 8 (Mon and Tues) at our Roanoke, VA warehouse. This is a great opportunity to meet with different vendors that will be showing off their new products. You can meet other rink operators and talk to them about what they’re doing and what’s working. We will have a big sale on older or discontinued products. There is no charge to attend and there will even be a free dinner on Monday night. The local RSA Chapter is working on an educational program for Monday night.

The host hotel is the Courtyard Marriott. You can book a room by calling them at 540-563-5002 and mentioning the Southeastern Skate group rate. You can also book with the group rate by clicking here.

We will also be attending the Sk8 Expo show in Florida. If you’re going to be there please stop by our booth, we’d love to meet you in person.

We still have the Chicago 100 and 105 skates in stock. These are also known as the Sidewalk Skate. They’re not in the retail catalogs anymore, so they’re easy to forget about, but we do still have them. They come in black or white and from sizes 10J-4. This is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a budget juvenile skate that’s very affordable.