Shop Profiles

The BoardRoom Profile

Give us a quick run-down of your shop and its history.

Established in 1997, The BoardRoom is Boise’s premier board specialty shop. Rider owned and operated and located in the heart of the city of trees, in Boise, Idaho. Specializing in snowboards, skateboards, wakeboards and lifestyle, shoe and apparel brands.

Describe the local shop crew; do you often have people hanging out at the shop?

We have a great mix of characters at our shop; from the hippie-shred to the techy-shred. We cover all the bases. We have several customers who stop in more than once a week to see what’s going on, check out any new products and rap with the staff. The snowboard team is always in checking out all of the latest products to get their shred on, and the skate team blows through decks like they’re PBR tall boys, so they’re always around the shop as well.

What is it about your shop that sets it apart?

A few things set us apart from other shops. First off, we don’t carry Burton or Ride! Specifically we try to carry more exciting, exotic brands that you won’t find on every corner, in all the box stores, boat stores, and rollerblade shops. We try not to carry brands that are saturated throughout the market. We currently represent 16 different snowboard hard good brands in our store. This keeps us a specialty shop and keeps our customers continually coming back to see what the latest and greatest is from all these great companies.

Our shop is completely committed to customer service and our patrons. We are the area’s only sideways specific specialty shop. We carry a large variety of smaller more innovative brands that allow us to really excel as a specialty store.

What’s your current set up?

For boots, 09-10 Rome Marshalls, boards 09-10 Rome Anthem SS / Lib Tech Cygnus and for bindings the 09-10 390’s.

Crazy customers make for good stories, got any really good ones from the past season?

Crazy customers can be very entertaining! We had a lady show up in the shop this season, head back to our tuning facility and proceeds to tell the shop techs that she needs to have her board “realigned” because it’s constantly pulling to the right! The techs mouths just dropped. Still we took the board in, gave it a fresh coat of wax and returned the board to the customer. The customer has told us since that day all alignment problems seem to be fixed and she’s loving her board again!

Do you remember buying your first kit? How did your early snowboard purchasing experience affect how you sell snowboards?

My first kit was a used demo that was way too big and way too stiff, my boots didn’t fit, and the bindings…lest just say I would have been better off with a couple rolls of duct tape. Memories of this set-up have encouraged me to focus on the customer, not the price or “super-tech” in any product. Each individual is different and their snowboard set-up should reflect that.

Do you have a yearly event at the shop that you look forward to?

The BoardRoom puts on a movie premier every year in mid-September to kick off the snowboard season. Rome has always been very supportive of this event; we premiered both “Any Means” and “No Correct Way” in their respective seasons. This past year we had our greatest success yet with selling out the venue. We hope to only grow this event as well as continue to work with brands that support the stoke of shred like Rome.

What’s been your favorite all time free sticker?

The BoardRoom’s Pabst Blue Ribbon knock-off.

Describe your local’s run, hot lap, or secret pow stash.

There’s a spot known to shop guys as “The ‘Stache.” I am sworn to secrecy as to its exact location. You can lap it all day and only cross your own tracks. One can only be shown this spot by one of the crew, and only with permission from the rest.

What’s the best story of a customer trying to return something or ask for their money back?

“These just don’t work. I’ve had them for almost a year, and they just don’t work. I want my money back.” Quote regarding a two year old pair of bindings that were in perfect working condition.

Is there a particular event that really kicks the season off in your area?

There are really four major events. The BoardRoom movie premier, The BoardRoom “Ya Snooze Ya Lose Sale”, The Ski Swap and finally Opening Day.

What’s on the music playlist in the shop lately? Who usually gets controls over the music and why?

Family Force 5, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ratatat and TweakBird to name a few. The crew chooses the tunes because every super hero should have their own theme music!

Visit them online at: www.boardroomboise.com