04/26/2017
As of today, Wednesday, April 26th, 2017, we have closed the doors of Vertical Urge forever. Make no mistake, this was a hard decision, and one that we have been fighting and deliberating on for a very, very long time. Fact of the matter is this: our industry has changed; retail in general has evolved; the lifestyle of skateboarding and snowboarding isn't what it once was. All of these factors have had a dramatic impact on the way we run and want to run Vertical Urge for sometime now. Factor in the Project 58 debacle and quite frankly, we didn't have the resources - and finally, energy - to keep Vertical alive in the fashion it deserves and has earned.
We leave the marketplace knowing full-well that our contributions to the skateboarding and snowboarding scenes in not only Raleigh, but the state of North Carolina over the past 25 years are unparalleled, and we hold our heads high. What we as a team accomplished with Vertical Urge, establishing it into a leading retailer in our industry, a retailer that was awarded the Transworld Retailer of the Year for four straight years, is certainly unparalleled. And the fact we did it in Raleigh, NC makes it all the much better.
Of course I would be remiss without giving huge thanks to the dozens of incredibly talented individuals that I crossed paths with that contributed to my vision for Vertical Urge and what it could be, and subsequently expanded upon that vision beyond my wildest dreams. You all know who you are, so I'm not going to name names, at least not in this post.
Lastly, thank YOU. Our loyal customers. The ones we watched grow up, who we grew up with. Our marketplace and our scene was so rad, still is in a lot of ways, but we will never had difficulty looking back at the glory days with so much appreciation for the energy and scene we all lived and thrived in for years - decades, actually.
VU ORIGINALS is going to continue on, and will continue to be available via it's own website, as we have larger plans for it, with the grand plan to continue to produce a brand that's inspired by our great city and state, and built for all of us.
I will be writing a series of blog posts in the coming days, reminiscing on era's in the shop, little anecdotes, and other stuff I just wanna get off my chest. And most of all I want to thank my main man James Jones, for teaming up and working side-by-side with me for the past year as we tried ever so hard to get VU back on track. My brother, always.
Much thanks,
~TODD
