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My local 100% skater owned shop isn't allowed to stock crailtap or dlx, it's moves like this that make new progressive shops jump on the new brands like fucking awesome, magenta, polar etc and succeed.
They are proving you can do extremely well with out the big older companies.
What did the owner do that fucked up his DLX and Crail accounts?
I was just going to ask what other small shop they opened up close to and how long they've been in business.
Sounds like a mileage radius issue. Sometimes those are fucked up, but a lot of the time it's for a very good reason. Open up a new shop less than 10-15 miles from an established shop and it can be hard to get accounts. In extreme cases market saturation can result in both shops going out of business.
That shop still has options however, they can use places like South Shore and Eastern Dist to stock most big companies, then after being business for long enough and gained credibility through proven stability, they can usually get an account. It can take years.
Don't get mad at the company for being wary about giving an account. I've personally never seen them deny a small shop an account for being near a mall shop*, the area rep is most likely just looking out for the best interests of another nearby skater-owned shop who has a long-running account in good standing.
I do think it's fucked up that the big companies don't strongly discourage places like Zumiez from opening right by a good core shop. The big retail chains can circumvent the proximity restrictions by having a distribution center for their stores so their accounts aren't linked to an address that's near a core shop, even though their storefront can be a mile away from one.