Board Retailers Association Membership
East and West Coast retailers formed the Board Retailers Association in February 2003, in an effort to consolidate the voices, experiences and visions of board sport retailers into a cohesive organization. Under the direction of BRA’s Chairman and Board of Directors, the association serves as the preeminent voice for independent retailers of surf, skate, snow, wake, kite and wind products, on a grassroots level with manufacturers, trade show representatives, and other associations. Since its inception, BRA has brought about many positive changes and we’re looking forward to building on them throughout the coming years. Among our goals are to identify ways to help lower the day-to-day cost of doing business and to negotiate as a group what is beneficial to individual stores, thus strengthening our distribution base and helping the industry grow. Most important is the mission of the association: to provide specialty retailers the educational tools necessary to remain successful and profitable in the board sport industry. Currently, the association represents almost 500 board sport retailers across the country, or approximately 3000 separate retail stores.
BRA offers all Retail Members discounts on vendor services and products. In addition, the association offers a number of additional benefits. BRA Retail Members are provided with training and education, trade show access and invitations to exclusive industry events. BRA Retail Members also receive industry research and statistics, guidelines (i.e. payroll percentages, management salaries) and legal advice (i.e. loopholes in leasing agreements) as well as financial forms and worksheets and sourcing solutions. Retail Members have exclusive access to archived retail articles, industry links, news sources and event planners.For a complete explanation and description of benefits, please click here.
BRA also offers Associate Memberships for manufacturers and vendors who want access to BRA's database, would like to promote products to retailers via the BRA website, would like to advertise to retailers or would like access to industry research and statistics. For a complete explanation and description of Associate Member benefits, please click here.