"It's a good life," says Underworld owner Alex
Bastide, who resides in Vancouver but bounces back-and-forth to his eastern
retail operation. "I fly to Montreal about 10 times-a-year. Other than that, I
can stay on top of things for both stores thanks to the Internet, and thanks to
the Blackberry [laughs]. I'm so
thankful to have great staff both in Vancouver and Montreal."
Bastide's UW has embarked on an adventurous
expansion pattern over the past year (see The
Underworld Timeline below), and most recently moved into some impressive
new digs on 1043 Granville Street, downtown Vancouver. In early February 2010,
the store hosted a party to show off the DC/UW
"Match Mid" collab shoe commemorating the 14th anniversary of Underworld.
"Our focus is always going to be on skateboarding – organizing contests, and staying involved in the community," the 34 year-old says about the driving force behind the shop's Vancouver operation.
The Underworld Timeline
-Underworld first opened in 1995 on Millen Ave. in
Montreal as a small record store that sold some skate gear. By 1996 it grew
into a full skateshop with a small punk and hardcore music venue (which was
later replaced with a private indoor bowl).
-In 2000 he opened up a second Underworld location
on Saint Catharine St., downtown MTL. Underworld-shop.com launched in
2002, becoming one of the largest online skate retailers.
-In 2004, UW expanded to Vancouver opening a
high-profile store downtown, on 860 Granville St., next to the Commodore
Ballroom.
-Both the Millen Ave. and Saint Catharine UW stores
in MTL closed down in 2008, making way for a new location: an impressive 16,000
square foot, 3-floor retail operation and 300-person all-ages concert/event
venue on 251 Saint Catharine East (hit this for the
profile in Know?Mag, Issue 7/summer
'09).
-By December 2009, a new 3,800 square foot UW store
opened on 1043 Granville in Vancouver, eventually phasing out the original
Granville location.
Why did you choose
to relocate down the street on Granville in Vancouver?
Alex Bastide:
The main reason for the Vancouver expansion was that the original store was
getting too small for us. We also needed to update and redesign the store, and
we wanted the hardgoods section to be bigger and better represent what
Underworld is all about. Now we have a full 800 square foot skateshop
downstairs where people can hang out, burp, watch skate videos, set up boards,
and have the space to do their thing. The feedback has been really good about
the new Vancouver store.
There's an
impressive amount of boards down there...
We keep 238 boards on the wall, with a huge brand
selection as well as Underworld
wood as our lower price point boards. This year, we're actually going
to have special signature Underworld models for Chad
Dickson and Dustin Montie here in Vancouver, and Oliviero Fontana in
Montreal.
Do you still
run the brand segregation feature with the softgoods at Underworld?
We're still on that program, but the look of the
merchandising is completely different than the old Vancouver store. The
softgoods are on main floor of the new store, which is 3,000 square feet.
Nothing is fixed to the walls, except for the brand logos at the top, so we can
reconfigure the sections however we want. We're all about working closely with
the brands and really representing their full program in the store. I'd say we
work with about 14 shoe brands, 20 men's apparel brands, and about 10 women's
apparel brands.
UW has a big
national team. Who's on the Vancouver roster?
Our national team is at about 25 people. I think
it's important to have a solid team and it's cool
to have them representing Underworld. We're obviously focusing on the team
riders who are working on video parts and magazine coverage, so the main
feature of an Underworld contract is the photo incentive program. In Vancouver,
the team is Chad Dickson, Lee
Saunders, Dan Redmond, Hayden
Kelly, Jamin Shepit, Micky
Papa, Dustin Montie and Arte Lew.
You tend to
employ team members a lot. Who do you have filling roles on the west coast?
We've hired Dustin
Montie, Chad Dickson and Jorden Murray at the new Vancouver store. It's
good for kids because they can come in and meet the guys they recognize from
magazines and videos, and see that they're just down-to-earth people who have
fun on their skateboards too. Chad and Jorden are part of the sales staff, and
Dustin is our hardgoods buyer and team manager. He'll be doing some marketing
with me as well.
You're known
as a tireless marketer. What are some of the more recent UW initiatives that
have taken place in Vancouver?
We love to throw parties, and guerrilla marketing is
something we've always done – posters all over the city; stickers in the
streets; UW flyers at all the events; going to a park on a Sunday with the team
to skate and give some product to the kids. Obviously, a big part of our
marketing is through all the skate events we do. The biggest news about that
right now would be the qualification series we're doing for Am Getting Paid
this year. We're holding qualifiers in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto,
Montreal and Halifax. The winners will get golden tickets to the semi-finals of
AGP, and they'll get flown to Montreal and put up in a hotel for the big
contest.
Click
here to visit the Am Getting
Paid 2010 blog, and here for the Underworld blog.
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Related:
Underworld Goes Up-Country
emerica Signing At Underworld (video)
Why Bother?: Alex Bastide