I work in a mall shop, so I'll give you my opinion based on experience in a mall shop. There's a few things you can do, that we can't, that always hurts our business.
- Stock brands Zumies DOESN'T carry. This will help bring people into your shop. My shop doesn't carry Supra, so we lost a lot of business when Supra dealers moved near us.
-Don't be afraid to order specific stock. Mall shops can't usually just order one thing in, their ordering and purchasing is done at a head office level, and done ahead of time. Owning your own shop allows you to order specific stock. The local shop I used to go to would order in specific boards/shoes from brands they carried. They always had catalogue's around so you could browse current models you can order in specifically.
- Keep the atmosphere as skate oriented as possible, and have things in/around the shop to bring people to your store. My local shop used to have rails, a spine, a quarter pipe, and some other stuff cemented in behind the shop. And they had a mini ramp in the back room.
- Don't be afraid of poser kids, and don't treat poser kids like shit. They may be annoying, and bug the regulars, but they may also help business. Explain to your regulars that they need to be respectful to dumb wiener kids, cause they won't come back/spend money if they're ragged on. Bad gossip travels faster than good gossip. If some kid goes into your store and gets dumped on, he'll never come back, and he'll probably tell all his poser friends that you guys are pricks, and then they'll tell their parents, and you'll lose a bunch of business.
- Become involved in your skate community. Go skate with the kids, the regulars. The owner of the shop i grew up at used to actually skate with us all the time. He was nice to the kids, and the regulars, and his involvement made us want to shop there, and support him. Put on contests, skate tours, all that stuff. We used to have a "skate club" every thursday where the shop regulars all went out and skated together. The more you're out there, the more kids you meet, and the more word will spread.
- Meet some skaters that work at Zumiez. Seriously, do it. If they dig you, they'll probably send customers to you. If someone comes into Zumiez, can't find what they want, and a Zumiez employee likes you, and know you carry that product... They'll probably send them your way. My store always sends people to the closest private shop to find skate shit we don't have. As much as we are a corporation and what not, we still skate, and still like to help local skate shops. If we don't carry what someones looking for, we aren't losing business if we send them to another shop, we're just making the customer happy.
- Find a good balance between price matching, and giving deals. Keep an eye on your prices, and zumiez prices, and try to compete. And if someone comes in, buys a set up, and shoes, and some hardware, and a bunch of shit, don't be afraid to help them out. Give them 10$ off or something, or throw something in. Mall shops can't really do this. But don't give discounts to everyone who asks. Sometimes you've just gotta say no, but be cool about it. Just explain that you lose money by giving deals.
- I mentioned regulars before, but didn't explain much. Find some regulars! Get some guys hyped on the store, and hyped to hangout there. It may start with only 3 or 4 dudes hanging around there, but eventually you'll end up with a pack of rad dudes who ONLY shop in your store, and will spread the word!
- Set up some kind of shop team. 4 or 5 dudes who rip. Give them shirts, stickers, anything to help advertise your shop, and flow them some gear here and there. If they're sick, kids will eventually know they skate for you, and will end up bringing people to your store.
That's just off the top of my head, hope it helps. As hard as it may seem to compete with Zumiez, it's easier than you think. It's slowly become more and more "uncool" to shop at the mall, and if you run a legit shop, with comparable pricing, people will shop there instead of zumiez. Even if it's just for Skate stuff. You may not get all the shoe/clothing sales, but if you can take their skate hardware business away, it will help you as well as hurt them.
Let me know if you have any questions!