The ASEC team would like to thank the Board Retailers Association for inviting us out for a second year in a row to participate in their annual summit. We hosted a panel on the benefits of retailers installing ASEC “Green Room” natural products sections as a means to stimulate new economics in these challenging economic times while also doing great things for the Planet & their communities. The presentation was a huge success and most retailers in attendance signed up for the program.

Hobie Sports will be the first to open a “Green Room” this Memorial weekend in their Laguna Beach store and they will be dedicating about 1000 sq ft to the effort (Hobie Rocks like Led Zeppelin). Hobie’s General manager Jake Schwaner said “this makes perfect sense for Hobie, my partners and I are dedicated to the environment in our personal lives and we want to do everything we can at our stores. We already cary a number of the brands natural products and have a large Patagonia section so we just felt that creating a focussed section like a grocery store and expanding to carrying ocean friendly soaps and other products that help the environment is a natural progression for us. If surf shops aren’t invested in taking caring of the ocean we can’t expect anyone else to. Besides Hobie has never been afraid to lead, we were the first surf shop here and now we will be the first Green Shop and we hope that this has the same outcome and 100’s of Green Rooms pop up just like the dozens of shops that followed our retail lead here.”

Hobie’s next aggressive move is to transform their entire 1200 sq ft store off of Del Mar in San Clemente Ca into a Green Room, like I said Hobie Rocks! Other places you can expect to see Green Rooms rolling out for our “back to School blitz” are:

Sun Diego, San Diego Ca ZJ’s Boarding House, Santa Monica Ca

Coastal Edge, Virginia Beach Va

Modern Surf & Skate, Lansing Mi

Pacific Beach Surf Shop, San Diego Ca

And dozens of others, check back here for a complete listing in mid May and every week to see the progress.

Here is a copy of the Panel points:

“The ASEC Green Room retail roll out strategy!” “How sustainability and cause association will help your business to survive & thrive in a volatile economic climate.” Overview of opportunity and insights into essential industry strategies to navigate the current downtrend and translate it into prosperity- Frank Scura Executive Director/Founder of The Action Sports Environmental Coalition

From a brands perspective, how to capitalize upon the opportunity and essential need for participation- Ryan Kingman (VP of Marketing Element Skateboards)

Branding & leveraging our Athlete assets & maximizing our Web Interface to assure success. ASEC has the largest collective of the most relevant, powerful & potent team of athletes in the world of Action Sports- Joe McElroy (Former VP of Global Branding/Creative Director Hurley Int.)

In store presence and effectively communicating with your customer through your space- Kiwi Gullixson (Former Director of In Store Design & Graphics Quiksilver North America)

From a riders perspective, this is what I have been waiting for and I know there are 100s of other riders who feel the same way and are ready to back the movement- Bob Burnquist (Professional Skateboarder & Co-Founder of ASEC)

ASEC Eco/Eco (economical/ecological) natural product sourcing made accessible, the architecture, potential & value of the ASEC eco-sourcing private label platform for retailers- Jeff Baillargeon (Principal Verdi Gras Consulting & Former Director of Merchandising Quiksilver Inc.)

Have a blessed day, F.S.