Our economic woes continue to devastate the sporting fraternity, with the “big box” stores taking it on the chin.
Orvis laid off an additional 30 employees from its Roanoke, Virginia operations, Eddie Bauer severed 198 employees as part of a 61 million dollar restructuring, and even Bass Pro has let go of 50 associates.
Calling the fourth-quarter retail environment “brutal,” Eddie Bauer also announced recently that it will reduce the size of its board from 10 to seven members and freeze salaries.
Frugality is “in”, and as I mentioned earlier, we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Orvis’s Virginia operations were the source of many of its “tent sales”, which may affect the volume of tackle on eBay as well.
An economic “perfect storm” – record drought in the West, coupled with economic turmoil suggests trips will be fewer and earlier in the season, with the balance of the year handicapped due to low, warm water. The shops buttressed by guide revenue will not be immune.
Tip of the iceberg for the Titanic maybe.
After reading and re-reading the the “K report” on eBay tackle, I’ve been searching the site quite a bit more. And I’ve noticed that every now and again, someone or another with a decent rating slips a brand new, high-end rod into auction at roughly dealer cost. Always new, always with warranty card.
Are the retail minions sneakily trying to get rid of inventory?
Let’s put this in realistic terms. Faced with the survival of your shop, yes. Faced with the knowledge that the manufacturer might might be saying, “Do as I say, not as I do” – Yes.
Orvis telegraphs its punches, publishing in advance the dates of their warehouse sales in Virginia and Texas. If the “high end” rod lands just after one of those sale dates – it’s probably a third party reseller.
Not all “Ponzi” schemes are evil, a retailer faced with cash flow woes – behind on his payments to Dr SLick for scissor, or Hareline for dubbing, and needs to pay that bill before they’ll send him more … is more likely to dump a high end rod and use the proceeds to pay “Paul” .. they need cash and the big ticket items are what they’ll offer.
I’ve seen two dozen Helios rods offered at $125 or less, not sure what the final price was.
The Zero Gravity stuff landed in enormous amounts after Orvis did their big 40% off sale at New Years – everyone is cashing in and reselling. It’s the “X-Box” phenomenon, stand in line for two days, then double your money on eBAY.
Have seen the Zero-G stuff, and it’s still flowing in; not so much on the Helios end though.
Going to have ripple effects for years down the road, don’t you think?
Personally, I’ve only damaged a few big rods and only on fish, and pretty much still own and use every rod I ever bought – they are lifetime purchases for me. By spring, I could probably build on the quiver enough so that I never have to buy another rod as long as I live.
And do it on a meager budget too!
is it really woes, or is it trim from all of the years of excess?
JPL: Those are one and the same methinks. Folks have been using their house as an ATM, and all industries have been propped up artificially by folks spending beyond their means.
That’s why all the retailers are seeing sales fall off a cliff, same as the automakers – and the high dollar luxury stuff is hardest hit.
While I agree with your argument on the consumer side of things, I was referring to the supply side, and the excesses and greed of corporate management.
I could care less if the Executive VP of “Feel Good Affairs” gets the axe, especially if his/her sole job is to make sure that each one of the execs vacation properties are sufficiently stocked with cold bottled water from Nestle and the fridges stuffed full of slaw dogs. Unfortunately, that means that means that X number of employees from the working masses had to get laid off first in order for that to happen. Corporate mgmt often seems to rule top heavy, thriving in the hard work of their employees and stuffing their shirts with excess. You could lay off a hundred workers, but if you good old yacht club buddy Winthorp gets laid off, all hell is gonna pay. That’s not right.
It’s like those fucks over at Merrill Lynch patting themselves on the back and handing out multi-million dollar bonuses to their high performing execs, right on the coat tails of receiving dole from the gov’t. bailout. It’s messed up.
In regard to corporate management, it’s a shame more companies can’t be like Patagonia. What’s their share in the market woes of late? Are they fairing well? You don’t read headlines on the WSJ about Chouinard running off with millions of investor and taxpayer money and making a fool out of himself. My guess is they’re fairing better than some of the other outdoor retailers in the industry.
MIBs: Spot on regarding the ATM bit, as well as the ineptitude.
But keep in mind, the adage “the bigger they are the harder they fall” is playing out all over the place too. The same supply side theorems work in the opposite direction – there are plenty of multi-million dollar homes bought on the back of share collateral that no longer exists. As for those bonuses? Many were restricted stock funded non-qualified comp plans whose trustees/administrators were the likes of Lehman, and/or monies were immediately invested in sister organizations’ trading desks. In other words, say bye bye bonus pool.
You hear a lot of about the largesse from the media because they need a target and don’t care about telling the full story. I’m not saying feel sorry for the folks at the top, but I am saying there is a lot of pain being felt there too, and in areas of market-related business that had absolutely nothing to do with the losses or the bailouts.
I could talk about the decline of ethics and rise of “self” for days – mostly because I’m old enough to have watched it happen.
In my youth the 60’s were all about Mother Nature, granola, and the collective conciousness – fueled by prime bud.
A lot of this can be harkened back to the famous “Greed is Good” Gordon Gekko speech from Wall Street. Ivan Boesky, Michael Millikin (who Bush didn’t pardon) were the first fellows through the breach and kind of set the tone for all them fellows we’re looking at now.
After losing much sleep, my solution to the current economic situation was to turn off my TV (ESPN somehow comes on everyonce in awhile – ghost in the machine)