Six Ounce Boardstore Closed!?

[Topher]

The first post is gone now - it did say "Six ounce is dead - ben killed it" or something like that.

Pear Shaped. Business partnerships usually go that way.

[buzzy]

I'm a long time supporter of Ben and Six Ounce Board Store, since it was the Bondi Longboard something or other.

Times change, but to be honest the current version of Six Ounce was a bit too beavertail hispter for me, if you catch my drift. Beautiful boards and all that, and some of them I'd like to own, but I also like the odd piece of more conventional craft and the store didn't seem to have much of that.

Now, when Six Ounce first started the market was different. If it wasn't a 6'4" (the norm then) thruster, no more than 2 3/8" thick and probably no more than 18.5" wide you just couldn't get it in a normal store. Six Ounce had longboards and eggs and fishies etc, but it also had more functional conventional shortboards by folk like Mitchell Rae of Outer Island or Grant Miller that just had a little more width and volume than boards of the day...boards that with a tad less length are pretty much the shortboard norm now. So I could get an egg to play around on and also a perfectly functional short board for my (slightly) more ample frame. I had no interest in posing on the nose in a beavertail, but if that was your drift you could do that too.

The new store, as I say as a long time supporter, there wasn't much someone like me could buy more than once every couple of years. They'd moved to more of a niche market. A hip, "in the moment" niche, true, but is it big enough to pretty much exclusively focus on it? I don't know. they seem to be focussing more and more on the beavertail wearing crowd, and less on just functional, well crafted surfboards. Not to say functional, well crafted surfboards weren't there, but they were overwhelmed by rack after rack of fish, Mini-Simmons, eggs, displacement hulls, longboards and widowmakers.

Anyway, all those guys from Six Ounce seem like nice people. I don't care about the he saids she saids and whatever Ben does next I'll support him. For my taste I hope it's a slightly wider niche, but either way I'll still buy the odd thing from him, and the odd thing from the new Corner Store at Manly.

[Davros]

Think the idea was for the more conventional stuff pop next door to Alhoa as they also own The Corner Store, what ever its called now. But yeah it is a little over the top now you mention.

[Itscoastal]

I got 3 beautiful boards over the years from Ben @ Sixounce. All keepers which I love as much today as the day I got my grubby hands on them. Always a super stoke occasion walking into the shop to see all that fibreglass porn and to order a new custom.

[batoes]

What did you hear?

[ric_vidal]

Pretty limited market if you ask me and the boards are usually disproportionately expensive (relatively) for what they are. Guess it depends on perception.

Have heard on the rumour mill another shop of a similar genré might be doing it tough.

The surfing industry, what a f*ck up.

[Cuttlefish]

Another shop in that genre shut it's doors a while back up here on the Sunny coast as well.
Probably one of the first to go in this economic morasse (or however you spell it) acyually might as well call it economic molasses as it's like that.
It's a shame as some of the colour goes out of the surf scene in that it's an adjunct to the sheepsters as opposed to the hipsters.

[ric_vidal]

Another shop in that genre shut it's doors a while back up here on the Sunny coast as well.
Probably one of the first to go in this economic morasse (or however you spell it) acyually might as well call it economic molasses as it's like that.
It's a shame as some of the colour goes out of the surf scene in that it's an adjunct to the sheepsters as opposed to the hipsters.

Think the sheep stations will be carrying a bit for the hipsters too, Cuttle

[batoes]

You're both right. It is a shame that shops that deal with such cool boards can't keep afloat (bad pun hey) - but Ric is totally right. $1500 a board is just nucking futs. And it is also nice to support the local boards, even if some of those are overpriced too....

[ric_vidal]

Bit of clarity... most boards are too cheap, but the gap is too large. Some punters (brands) can get away with it, because they have adapted a take it or leave it attitude. They are the exception rather than the rule.

I won”t go down the hand-shaped path, it is becoming even more of a myth. Just because some f*cks name is penciled on the stringer doesn’t even mean he has even set his eyes on it.

Bit of funky smearing of pigment does not a gem make! Nor does a gloss polish. Or as a friend would say, ‘you can’t polish a turd’.

Look beyond ‘cool’, find something that works (they all do at some level) and hopefully lasts a while. Plenty of value in surfboards.

[Beanpole]

Or as a friend would say, ‘you can’t polish a turd’.

Sorry, proved wrong on Mythbusters a couple of weeks ago.
It is a bummer about 6 ounce and I did do some good business with Ben in the old Bondi Boards Store days but its tuff to front with all that dosh for some of the trophy boards. I admit I'm a cheapskate and ultimately if I can save hundreds of dollars by getting boards direct or on sale I'll do it but he had a passion for the business. Kind of reminded me of Gowings when it went all toy store and had hard to get boards upstairs. Loved to check it out but the business model....

[Itscoastal]

Mmmmm, boards too expensive. The dearest part of surfing is your car and particularly the fuel added.

[Beanpole]

Mmmmm, boards too expensive. The dearest part of surfing is your car and particularly the fuel added.

Surfing is a cheap sport really. Buyers still always look for a bargain though. If I can save $200 on a thousand dollar board by doing a bit of leg work I'll do it. Ethically it is a question of shaper direct or helping the middleman.