Entrepreneur has big plans for extreme sports venture.

Call it an extreme business plan.

Kevin Grace wants his newly formed company, Long Beach-based Quad X Sports.com Inc., to become the premiere retailer - both online and in brick-and-mortar stores - of extreme sports gear, including skateboards, snowboards and surfboards, as well as the clothing worn by their users.

His plan includes the opening of between 20 and 25 retail stores by the end of the year, as well as the launching of an online store by the end of the month. He's also in the process of buying up existing mom-and-pop stores and a distribution company.

There's just one drawback: Quad X has zero assets and is a newly public company with a relatively tiny market capitalization. But it does have an ambitious entrepreneur at its head with a history of creating and building extreme sports businesses.

"Quad X Sports was formed and formulated specifically to do mergers and acquisitions of existing companies," said Grace, adding that he plans to develop new extreme sports names as well. "We will branch off into branded names, whether it's a new shoe company, a new watch company, a new skateboard company."

In March, Quad X Sports took over Boraxx Technologies Inc., a shell company whose stock was traded over the counter. The move allowed Quad X Sports to start selling equity - as well as to use stock to purchase other companies - without the need for an initial public offering.

With Quad X Sports trading at about $5 a share last week, the company has a market capitalization of just $12.5 million. But it is expecting a cash infusion of $5 million as part of a secondary offering, said Brett Salter, chairman of Boca Raton, Fla.-based First Capital Inc., an investment bank that is working with Quad X Sports.

Despite the company's size, Salter said he believes Grace has the background to develop the company into a major extreme sports retailer.

The 32-year-old Grace grew up in Hermosa Beach and has been involved in skateboarding, surfing and motor cross since he was 10 years old. (The only thing he doesn't do is Rollerblade, since Rollerbladers have something of a rivalry with skateboarders.)

Most of his friends are also involved in extreme sports, he said, and he has kept in close contact with that community by living first in Hermosa Beach, and then in Huntington Beach. That allows him to take the pulse of skateboarders, snowboarders and other extreme types.

Grace founded, and has since sold off, a number of extreme sports companies, including Expired Snowboards, Sha Sha Fine Shoes and Diakka Sport Watches, all three of which were based in Costa Mesa. Grace used the profits to start Quad X Sports. (He owns more than half of the company's 2.5 million shares.)

"What Kevin has done is capture a market where no one is really competing," said Piece Richardson, president of Huntington Beach-based Icon Trading Inc., which bought Diakka Sport Watches from Grace about six months ago.

Last month, Quad X Sports moved from a 4,000-square-foot space in Huntington Beach to a 10,000-square-foot office-and-warehouse space in Long Beach. Its first two stores - one in Long Beach and one in Huntington Beach are expected to open at the beginning of July.

The company is in the process of making a number of acquisitions - including SK8 Shop.com, an Internet sports retailer that expects about $5 million in sales this year, and its parent company, Costa Mesa-based VK Sports, a distributor of surfboards, snowboards and other extreme sports equipment.

Quad X Sports also is in negotiations to buy Spyder Surf-boards, a Hermosa Beach-based surf-board manufacturer, and two Closet Outdoor Supplies retail stores. "In 1999, we expect to do between $11 million and $15 million (in revenues), depending on if we can finalize a few acquisitions," Grace said.

As befits a fledgling business, the stock has been volatile, dropping below $3 a share in the last few weeks. Last week, it was trading at about $5 a share.

Salter said the stock has been a victim of short-selling, in which an investor sells a stock he has borrowed with the intention of replacing it later by repurchasing it at a lower price.

"The reason you have a lot of short-selling is because the industry as a whole doesn't believe in sporting goods companies," Salter said. "Everyone believes that the only thing to buy today is Internet stocks."

Richard Giss, a partner in Deloitte & Touche LLP's consumer business group, has not looked at Quad X Sports' business plan, but expressed general caution about breaking into the ever-consolidating sporting goods retail market. To compete against the giants, smaller players have to find a successful niche.

"The issue here is, is (extreme sports) large enough to support (Quad X Sports)?" Giss said.