Struggling for sales Sk8 Skates offers deep discounts to attract customers as slump in purchases of non-essential items puts shop in survival mode By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 5:51 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 6, 2023

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This article was published 06/10/2023 (702 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fane Smeall is trying to make the ride last.

He spends his workdays at Sk8 Skates, a shop on Main Street, surrounded by skateboards, snowboards and racks of clothes.

He’s now surrounded by sales — a marathon of deals through the first weeks of October, promising discounts up to 70 per cent off.

“Sk8 Skates is struggling,” the company wrote on social media. “We need your help to keep the shop alive.”

It’s life or death for the 36-year-old business. Smeall figures many factors have contributed to the sales decline, including a cutback in customer spending amid a higher cost of living.

“We… need a boost… to get through these next couple months,” he said.

The sales drought is a sharp contrast to pandemic-era lockdown days; then, the shop couldn’t keep pace with demand, Smeall said.

New customers were ordering boards, desperate for an outdoor activity. But last year, the industry “took a hit.”

“The whole economy in general — everything became super expensive,” Smeall said. “Inflation was crazy, shipping prices went high, all the profit margins went even tighter.”

Decreased programming at Winnipeg’s full-size indoor skatepark in 2022 slowed Sk8 Skates’ winter sales. The company’s downtown location has been a customer detractor, but Smeall likes the site — “it’s close to everything I skate” — and anyways, Sk8 Skates can’t afford to move.

Several comments on Sk8 Skates’ online post suggested the company leave Main Street.

“I definitely don’t want to be the last owner,” Smeall said, calling the brand a “staple in Winnipeg.”

He and his family took over the long-standing business in 2020. The company gives free skateboarding lessons and helped launch Next Gen, which offers skateboard sessions to girls and non-binary skaters.

Since posting online, Smeall has been overwhelmed by customers’ responses. He’s optimistic sales will jump once Pitikwé Skatepark, a community-driven project inside Portage Place, opens later this year.

John Graham, the Retail Council of Canada’s director of government relations for the Prairies, has tracked a decrease in sales of non-essential items. Sporting goods and hobby sales were down 10.9 per cent year over year in Manitoba last July.

The province’s core retail sales dropped one per cent this July compared to last, Graham shared. The retail council uses Statistics Canada data; July is its most current numbers.

“For the majority of Manitobans, (there’s) an increased focus on the basics,” Graham said. “What are the needs versus the wants in the household?”

“For the majority of Manitobans, (there’s) an increased focus on the basics…What are the needs versus the wants in the household?”–John Graham

Canada’s retail landscape was a “mixed bag” this summer, the retail council found when surveying nearly 6,500 retailers in September.

People are travelling more and returning to work — they’re spending more on clothes, luggage and experiences, Graham said.

Still, sales are scarcer: half of the RCC’s respondents reported fewer sales this past summer than the summer before, and web sales were down for 65 per cent of the businesses. Meantime, 58 per cent saw their margins increase.

“With inflation, with rising prices, (people) have to be very judicious about where they’re spending their dollars,” said John Klassen, the owner of Inland Fine Furnishings.

He’s greeting fewer customers. However, patrons of the wood furniture shop are buying more, looking for things “that have a bit more longevity.”

“(We’re) trying to make sure that people understand this money, you’re not throwing it down the drain… You’re going to have a table that you can sit around for the next 25 years,” Klassen said.

The furniture industry boomed during the pandemic alongside work-from-home mandates. The industry is now experiencing a lull.

Manitoba furniture and appliance sales decreased 3.7 per cent last July when compared to the previous year, data from the Retail Council of Canada show.

Fewer people are financing off-road vehicles and boats at Rond’s Marine, said sales manager Tyler Bromley.

He attributes the decline to higher interest rates. The Bank of Canada’s key policy rate is five per cent. In April of 2022, it was one per cent.

However, overall sales at Rond’s are up compared to last year due to a boost in stock — lots of “cash buyers,” Bromley said.

Roughly half of businesses haven’t returned to pre-pandemic sales levels, according to Brianna Solberg, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ director of legislative affairs for the Prairies and northern Canada.

Business optimism — showing whether entrepreneurs believe conditions will get better — has declined six per cent nationally, month over month, the CFIB’s business barometer shows.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for (companies) to maintain competitive prices and pay their staff well and pay their taxes,” Solberg said.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for (companies) to maintain competitive prices and pay their staff well and pay their taxes.”–Brianna Solberg

Manitoba’s minimum wage rose to $15.30 on Oct. 1. People can bypass local shops and find cheaper options online, Solberg said.

“Insufficient domestic demand” is among the top factors businesses listed for why they aren’t growing, Solberg added.

“I think, now, (customers are) kind of holding their cards closer to their chest,” she said. “No one really knows where things are going with inflation.”

Over the past two years, the general price of goods in Manitoba has increased 15.6 per cent. Median wages in the province have increased around 10 per cent.

Emily Zhang axed her gym membership and put purchases of her beloved perfumes on pause.

“Something like rice… or noodles, pasta, is really necessary,” she said, shopping in a grocery store. “You need to… eat.”

She doesn’t need perfume — but she’ll spend if there’s a discount, she said.

The Retail Council of Canada is seeing projections of “softer sales” coming this holiday season, Graham said.

A mini survey the organization and Leger held in July found seven in 10 Canadians planned to spend less than $500 on gift giving this winter.

The average spend planned in 2022 was $790, according to the Retail Council of Canada.

Clothing and accessory sales rose 1.7 per cent year-over-year last July, according to data Graham shared. Food and beverage retailers’ sales rose 4.4 per cent, and motor vehicle and parts dealers’ sales grew 4.2 per cent.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com