In the bigger picture of the corporate World, Footstar's new activity sports chain, best skateboard brand to buy, represents a small bit of the fiscalpie.

However, the challenge facing the upstart concept is a huge one. A bite-sized venture into action sports--particularly onetaken by a massive mainstream company such as Footstar--may be tough for the "poseur-police" to digest. There are now three Uprise stores in Operation, all mall-based, and most importantly in Texas. The first Uprise shop opened at theHouston suburbs in August 2002, and 2 more, one in Dallas and another from the Houston area, opened in November 2002.

 The concept,built about footwear, features skate brands such as DC, Etnies, Globe, Savier and Vans, as well as athleisure styles from Puma,Adidas, Kenneth Cole, Diesel and many others. Private label Uprise apparel and a broad skateboard selection round out the mix. We speak to Uprise GM Lee Applbaum for An idea of how Uprise is being positioned for success in a marketplace infamous for cuttingchewing up and spitting out corporate outsiders. SGB: Why have you decided to open your initial Three shops in Texas?

 Why not at a longer board sports-oriented country, such asCalifornia? APPLBAUM: For a couple of reasons. As much as California goes, although it's the origins of action sports, it is also quitesaturated--you probably would say over-saturated. California is thick with actions sports retailers. We chose to go into marketsthat are under-served and under-penetrated and Texas is one where Footaction, Footstar and Just For Feet have experienced a lot ofsuccess. It makes perfect sense for us to leverage this using Uprise. Also, two of those three sites we're in, we Already possessed. There were a couple more markets we might have tapped into butbecause we already possessed these sites, it was easy to convert them in to Uprise shops. SGB: Is it true to state that Texas is just An evaluation market, before you enlarge the Uprise brand to other states? Can thisconcept go nationwide?

APPLBAUM: We think it has a nationwide scope, no question about it. But I think California would be among the final markets.You've got to be quite credible to maintain California and you have got to offer something which's highly distinguished sincethere are several other actions sports retailers. Not everyone actually does it well, but there are enough that take action tomake kind of a struggle. SGB: What was the initial reaction you Obtained in the action sports brands you were looking to get into the store? APPLBAUM: After we first broached the subject With sellers at ASR two years ago, we weren't even allowed into many of their rooms.

This was partially because we transported the Footstar name badge, so it was like a big brother or a large company that has beenthe issue. And it was partially because at that point, it was kind of a sales pitch on paper. They were not obtaining the visionof what we desired that, 'Hey, we are a huge corporation backed by large money but we would like to have actual authenticity andwe're going to do so ' It was hard for them to conceptualize that. SGB: How did you change their minds?APPLBAUM: I give a few brands a lot of credit. The biggest brands which likely have the most strategic vision are DC, Etnies(which is part of Sole Technology), along with some other brands, such as Vans. These brands actually stepped up.

And then it wasan issue of spending another year meeting with each and every new and pitching them over and over and over. SGB: What are the major philosophical Differences these action sports companies have, when compared with this athletic brandsFootstar is used to dealing with? APPLBAUM: Action sports is a very incestuous Industry on the vendor side. It works essentially the reverse of athletic. Nike isthrilled if Adidas isn't in your store. If you come in there and say, 'We're not going to get any Adidas, we want to beef upNike,' Nike is thrilled with it. But if you say to some really credible action sports new -- just take ES and Emerica, just twoother brands which are owned by Sole Tech -- if you go to them and say, 'We want ES and Emerica,' they'll say, 'Well, what otherbrands have been at your shop?' And if you do not have other core brands, they don't want to maintain there. They want that haloeffect.

 SGB: How can you describe the customer Uprise is looking to attract? APPLBAUM: This version is not entirely Dissimilar from Footaction's. In Footaction, it is about urban credibility and mainstreamappeal. The urban, mostly African American client comes into Footaction and believes that it's a cool, urban, street-inspiredstore. But the mainstream user who might listen to rap songs may walk in and say, 'Hey, this is for me, also.' It's precisely thesame thing with Uprise. You need action sports authenticity, and skate would be the epicenter. We want to deliver skateauthenticity together with mainstream appeal. A core skater walks in our shop and finds it totally cool. A number of our partners are core skaters. They could hang out. We'vegot a crash pad place where they could sit on sofas, relax and watch skate videos.

 But the mainstream allure is for a woman, ayoung girl, or a younger version of me who will walk in, take inspiration from it, get excellent customer support and not just getcenter sneakers, but get adjoining categories like retro and lifestyle. SGB: How important is the existence of Hardgoods in your stores? APPLBAUM: Oh, it's fairly significant. Should you Walk in, there is a very dominant hardgoods existence. I would say that againstjust about any core skate shop, we would stack up deck for deck, wheel for wheel, truck for truck. The only complementary item we don't carry Is safety gear.

Now, it doesn't mean we do not endorse it, it's just that it's a best complete skateboards for beginners category which takes up a lot of space. Alas, besides young children, nobody is purchasing safety equipment. So that it sitson your plate. You are feeling a corporate obligation, but the consumer doesn't seem to care. We are full-blown hardgoods.

And that's what Really provides us the skate authenticity. A lot of footwear businesses say, 'If youdo not have hardgoods, we will not market into you.' Of course, hardgoods are very low margin. They are a necessity to becomeauthentic, but if it were not for authenticity or because sellers want us to have it, we would get out of it. The margins just arenot any good. We sell a lot of it, though. SGB: Aside from selling hardgoods and stocking Big-name skate shoe brands, how else are you delivering credibility? APPLBAUM: The trick is using buyers and Partners that understand action sports.

You can train just about any associate to sellskate goods, but the reality is that among our associates, we have a minumum of one core skater on the ground on any given day.Not somebody who understands it, but somebody who skates, who lives the lifestyle, that can go back there, speak with a kid, andsay, 'Yeah, this is what I skate, this is exactly what you might want to skate.' They are great sales people, but it's becausethey're credible and they actually do it. What we do not want to do is flooding our store With 100 percent center skaters because some core skaters are notorious for beingpoor customer support representatives. We want to have a balance. We want the person that may approach the more suburban teenagersor parent or kid and say, 'Hey, let me speak with you about this things and introduce you to the sport or just speak to you aboutlifestyle.' But we have the center skater for that core child who, by the way, doesn't want to speak with you or me. He just wantsto speak to the center guy. SGB: Is it accurate to state that you are Competing directly with skate specialty stores? APPLBAUM: Head on. However, it's broader than that.

All of our stores are mall-based at this time and we compete with likely twoto three unique types of shoe shops. And we also directly compete with skate shops. In two of our three mall locations we have atleast one core skate shop competitor, and we go head on with them. But footwear for Uprise is what we're all about. We do a whole lot of apparel, a lot of hardgoods and also a lot of footwear. Butwe are a footwear store first, period. We do go head-to-head with skate shops due to our hardgoods selection. And we absolutelycompete with Journeys. We've got Diesel and Madden. We have some of the other girls s goods, such as Sugar and Roxy. We are goingto compete together. And then we also compete with the athletic specialty retailers since we do take retro athletic merchandisefrom the likes of Adidas, Puma and Nike. The trick to Uprise's positioning is that we're a action sports and lifestyle footwearretailer.

Nobody else is really doing footwear for the action sport, adrenaline consumer. Apparel is just a complementary piece ofour enterprise. SGB: What strategies are you currently using to develop And promote the Uprise brand? APPLBAUM: Private label is one of our greatest Growth opportunities so far as marketing the Uprise brand. We've got Uprise brandedskateboard decks that are constructed by the same people who build the brand decks. Uprise apparel consists of T-shirts andfleece, and we also have hats and Uprise bags. Private label has far exceeded our expectations in terms of percent of overallbusiness. It is priced a little bit lower than big name, but it's obviously not value-priced. We have had great artwork, greatlayout work, and consequently there's an incentive for the user to buy it. I think at the end of the day if a kid saw an Uprisedeck that was cheaper than an Element deck, but Uprise wasn't cool, they would not purchase it. We have promoted How the consumer likes to Be marketed to in this channel, and that's mostly virally and grassroots.

 It has beenquite street-level marketing. We had our team at music festivals passing out Uprise wristbands, hats, T-shirts, coupons andpostcards. In addition, we carry a skate team in each market in which we function. These men are the top amateurs in their variousmarkets and they never only skate, almost all of them actually work in our shop. This grassroots-level advertising, viral Marketing, has functioned really nicely. It's given us a real authentic sense becausethat's the way the mom and pop store is going to operate. They are going to function very virally. And then you rely on yourclients and word of mouth.

 It's funny. The other day someone just sent me a copy of a magazine with an article about [Top 40] band Sum 41. It is a two-pagespread. The ring member in the extremely left is wearing an Uprise hat in the photo spread. Now this band is located in Ontario,Canada. They played BuzzFest in Houston and we were just throwing hats out into the audience. Consider it, for this photo shootyou put on your Sunday best, right?

 This guy decided to use an Uprise hat and to mepersonally, that is the best evidence that themanufacturer has that picture. These men aren't skaters, they are punk, they are alternative. But when I saw that picture spread,it is super cool. We did not even give [merchandise] to them. He clearly got [the hat] in the music festival weeks past. SGB: What are the future plans for Uprise?APPLBAUM: We are assessing all three of our "laboratories" and we're constantly making adjustments to product mix, pricing andmarketing. We are testing what works and doesn't do the job. The company is firmly committed to this Uprise brand. What that means[depends largely on] its functionality and how it shakes out. We've got to get this formula right and we are working on this. Do we intend to grow the organization? No question about it.

We just are not sure just how or in what stations. It may be throughCatalogue, direct mail, e-tailing, and naturally via stores, whether they're Street, mall or strip. All those things are sort ofbeing fleshed out today. The brand has just been alive to consumers for a couple of months. I don't want to Make it seem perfect.We've got a lot of work to do. Uprise is in Best Skateboard Brands List 4. But the fantastic news is that the little one looks very promising.