Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Hansen.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
At a very young age, I started selling everything and anything including candy orders for kids at school. When I was 16 I started to order catalogs wholesale from the skateboard culture. Two years later I had convinced my parents that if I went to college for 1 year, then they would give me 1 year of college money after that year to launch my business. With both of my parents being past business owners, they had my back. In fact, to this day my mother promotes me whenever she has a chance. Headed off to college I had then started a business model and started to get my orders to gather during that freshman year.
Spring of 1990 I had a product and started to sell at flea markets to gain some attention. 1990 Concrete Wave opened in Milford, Ma in a small 750′ storefront. This store soon gained customers from as far away as an hour and so I had another idea to launch 8Ball indoor skateboard park in Bellingham, Ma. Within 2 years after my first store, I had a building and built most of the ramps for this park with friends and brothers, and my dad. The very next year I opened yet another store in Worcester, Ma and then another store in Boston. At the age of 22-23, I was working 7 days a week and had my hands everywhere within these stores. I remember at the young age my grandfather was a pastor and had dedicated my business to God with me, and said don’t overwork and take a day of rest. I soon was able to do this, but it really took me to have 3 stores and my soon to be wife to land me some much needed days off. I had sold off the skate park and started to now build indoor and town skateboard parks since the demands were hot, and no one knew much about these.
After a few years, I got invested with a partner and we opened Subliminal skateboard park in Shrewsbury, Ma. This part lasts for about 7 years and closed a few years ago. With Concrete Wave I opened and closed locations all over Massachusetts and kept strong till around 2011 sales wise. With the internet exploding this was our newest competitor and had to figure things out fast, so the next few years I started to close down the underperforming stores, and just focus well on 1 store that I own the building. To this day, I have 1 location and we also do an online storefront. Concrete Wave has been in 27 years of business
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the beginning in 1990, retail for this market wasn’t around and I knew it well since I had been skateboarding for about 5 years before opening. The skate park had a storefront in also and drew customers all over New England up to 2 hours away. Up till late 90’s, it was healthy and exploding, and was able to purchase a building fast.
I had some competition, but we “ran our own lane” and it paid off with street wear adding in our mix and other stuff they didn’t sell or do well. In fact, the location I purchased was right next to a 5 store chain of skate/snow and they are no longer next to me. The internet has really screwed up this market for us since we have not much markup anyways. Everyone has this 1-day shipping thing, and the “Amazon” mindset of markdowns and getting the best pricing. I would say it’s been the hardest over 27 years in the past recent 6 years
Please tell us about Concrete Wave.
We started off selling skateboards, sneakers, and skate clothing. A year into it, we added snowboards. We specialize in skate and snow and footwear and the brands that fit with the culture. Footwear is our stable part of the business and we have a really really good following for the brands we carry- Nike Sb, Adidas skate and originals, Vans.
We are set apart by the amount of products we carry, and brands.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Funny growing up taking trips with the family to Ocean City, MD and staying right near the skateboard park got me into it. The ocean was a block away, and we would skate ALL day long and then boogie board for hour to cool off, and skate again till dark.
Contact Info:
- Address: 54 w. boylston st
Worcester, Ma 01606 - Website: www.concretewave.com
- Phone: 508-853-9752
- Email: concretewaveshop@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/concretewaveshop/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConcreteWaveWorcester
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/concrete_wave?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/concrete-wave-worcester
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