A two-decade wave.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

When Boardsports first opened its rolling garage door to the public 20 years ago, Oregon surfing was considered a wilderness activity, windsurfing was just catching on and skateboarding was still for punks.

Snowboarding was barely a glimmer in the eye of boardsports fanatics.

"At that time we were still exploring the Oregon Coast," says founder Greg Edwards. "The hallmark of the shop is that it was more like a community center of surfing."

"Everybody was on a first-name basis, there were probably 30 guys that were the regulars. We sold leashes, wax, boards, wet suits and did board repairs."

But Boardsports has evolved along with the action sports industry since Edwards launched the surf shop out of his Jefferson Street garage. The store has changed hands twice, relocated three times, and surfing is no longer the main focus. Now located at 201 E. 13th Ave., Boardsports still sells surfboards, but about 80 percent of the store's sales stem from snowboards, skateboards and clothing and apparel.

The shop may have grown, but, co-owner Rain Couture says, it's still the kind of place where everybody knows your name.

"Meeting people is one of my favorite things," he says. "It's fun knowing that everyone that comes in the door has something in common right off the bat."

"We all surf, we all skate and we all snowboard," co-owner Jonathan Faulkner adds. "You may not see us out there every day, but we love these sports."

Located in the downtown no-man's-land between the University of Oregon campus and the city center, Boardsports draws customers from the community and the student body.

On a recent weekday evening, a mother comes in to exchange her son's skateboarding knee pads, followed by a student who picks up a pair of shoes and needs some help from the staff writing the first check of his life. Customers grab free licorice sticks and mixed nuts from Costco-sized containers and, an hour after closing, Faulkner opens the door to help a customer who wanted to exchange a rain-soaked jacket for a different size.

"I remember you," Faulkner says. "You were in here yesterday."

Art Couture, Rain Couture's father and the shop's previous owner, says Boardsports has always looked after its customers.

"It's not about you providing for yourself," he says. "The key to business is that no matter what your service is, you're providing a service to customers."

A former windsurfer, Couture purchased Boardsports in 1990 with his business partner, Rich Branchik, and the two set up shop in a Seventh Avenue storefront. One of the first things they did was build a wall in the middle of the store to make it look as if there was more merchandise.

"Some might say buying a business that was going out of business is not really a super opportunity," Couture says, "I had been a customer of Boardsports for a long time and we felt like it was an opportunity."

Shortly after opening, Couture and Branchik began to carry snowboards, which would become the store's bread-and-butter during the early 1990s. They hired a snowboard manager and worked closely with Willamette Pass Ski Area to stage local competitions.

During the mid-1990s, Boardsports began selling skateboards and, again, got into sponsoring local competitions. The store sponsored local skaters including Silas Baxter-Neal, now a paid amateur.

In 1995, Boardsports relocated into a space close to campus on East 13th Avenue. In 10 years, Couture and Branchik had grown the store from a $50,000-a-year specialty shop into a $500,000-a-year business.

In 2001, Rain Couture partnered with Faulkner and bought Boardsports. The two won out over several other purchase offers.

"I was just happy to have it be a continuum and (continue to) be owned and operated by people who love and participate in the sports rather than people who are going to be business people," Art Couture says.

Sticking to the sports they know has kept Boardsports from branching off into wakeboards, kiteboards and other action sports equipment. The store's gross sales figures have remained steady at about $500,000 annually, Rain Couture says. The challenge has been finding the right mix of products and continually diversifying.

"We've had some bad snow years, so numbers have dropped (for snowboarding equipment), but clothing has gone up," he says.

Fashion has been a big growth area for Boardsports, which now carries designer parkas and jeans, along with belts, hats, embroidered women's clothing and an array of puffy urban and skate shoes.

"It's not just T-shirts anymore," Faulkner says.

Women's clothing in particular has been a big boon for the shop, and Faulkner says more women are picking up surfboards, skateboards and snowboards.

Longboard skateboards have been big sellers among both men and women. For many students, Couture says, the longboard has become the preferred method of campus transport.

"It's easy, you don't have to lock it up," he says.

Snowboarding continues to grow in popularity, too, but last year Boardsports and other shops in the Northwest had to contend with a poor snow season. Snowboards, which have significantly higher profit margins than skateboards, are typically ordered by stores up to nine months in advance, long before they know what the season will be like. So a dry season can sink an entire shop.

Faulkner and Couture say that having good relationships with their creditors has helped them weather the tough times.

Spencer Conger, a regular Boardsports customer, says that it's the customer service that's kept the store in business.

"They really know their stuff and they're not trying to upsell," says Conger, a senior at the UO. "They just get you what you want."

Bob Chandler, co-owner of the other surf shop in town, Tactics Board Shop, says that Boardsports deserves credit for sticking it out so long.

"This is an industry where people are in it for the enjoyment of it and for the fun," he said. "We respect the fact that they've been around."

Unlike Tactics, which has a thriving online business, Boardsports has yet to fully exploit the Internet.

Couture and Faulkner plan to launch a retail Web site this fall. They have projected a 10 percent increase in sales from the Internet.

Last year Boardsports relocated to its current location, about a block west of the old shop.

Couture and Faulkner used handcarts and skateboards to roll the merchandise into the new space, which has more storage and office space and twice the retail space.

Edwards, the original Boardsports owner, says he's happy with the way his former business has grown.

"They've weathered some tough times and taken the shop to a downtown location," Edwards says.

"They've done all that and had their own style about it and I've never heard a bad thing said about it."

CAPTION(S):

Jonathan Faulkner (left) and and Rain Couture sell snowboards, surfboards and more at Boardsports.