Too early for a snowboarding story? Not if you’re at Label Networks. We’re all snowboarders and have been craving some wintery news. Which is why we’re also pleased to hear that Burton is adding 2 new flagship stores this Fall to service San Francisco Bay area residents headed to Tahoe.
One will be in Berkeley and the other on Haight Street.
“With Tahoe just a few hours away, there are thousands of people around San Francisco who are into winter sports, but only a handful of local snowboard shops to choose from,” says Jake Burton, Founder & CEO of Burton Snowboards. “We ship a lot of product to the Bay Area through Burton.com, so to us, that means snowboarders out there are looking for gear. By opening two stores in San Francisco, we can better service local riders by offering them industry-leading product and the customer experience Burton is known for, right in their own backyard.”
After taking a close look at the San Francisco marketplace, Burton decided that two smaller store locations in two different neighborhoods would service riders better than one location. As a result, one Burton store will be located in the heart of San Francisco’s historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood while the second store will be located in Berkeley, a quick stop off the highway on the way to Tahoe. Each store will have its own unique design elements and carry different assortments of Burton’s year-round product offerings, including snowboards, boots, bindings, outerwear, apparel, accessories and bags for men, women and kids. The Burton flagship store on Haight Street will pay tribute to the history of snowboarding and Burton’s Vermont roots while also drawing inspiration from Haight-Ashbury’s colorful heritage. Featuring a curated collection of Burton’s pinnacle products, the Haight Street location will stock limited edition product lines, artist collaboration capsule collections and special one-of-a-kind collectables created exclusively for Burton flagship stores. The 1,500 square-foot store will be located in a historic Victorian building at 1630 Haight Street, the current home of long-time Burton retailer, SFO Snowboarding. Earlier this year, SFO Snowboarding approached Burton about leasing the space so they could focus on their skate brand, FTC Skateboarding, whose global flagship store is located right next door to the future Burton store.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been carefully monitoring the snowboard retail scene in the Bay Area, so when SFO owner Kent Uyehara let us know he planned to exclusively focus on FTC and lease the space, it made perfect sense for us to work together,” says Sasha Dietschi-Cooper, Burton’s SVP of North American Sales. “Kent and SFO Snowboarding paved the way for specialty snowboarding in San Francisco, so we’re honored to carry on their legacy of servicing local riders in the Bay Area. And it’s also great that we’ll be next door neighbors with Kent and his legendary skate brand, FTC Skateboarding.”
Burton’s store in Berkeley is located at 1840 Fourth Street. With a larger footprint of 2,300 square feet, the Berkeley store location will compliment the Haight Street store with a wider selection of Burton year-round product collections. Specific details about the Burton store in Berkeley will be announced closer to the scheduled opening date in October.
With the two new Bay Area locations, Burton will have a total of eight flagship stores worldwide, including a store at the company’s Burlington, Vermont headquarters; a store at the Burton European Headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria; a location in New York City’s SoHo district; a Melrose Avenue store in Los Angeles, CA; a store in Chicago, IL and a location in the Harajuku district of Tokyo, Japan.
