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  Ride Snowboarders Mike Bogs and Jacob Krugmire

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  Steve Van Doren of Vans signing autographs while serving waffles

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  Skateboarder Jamie Foy

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  Skateboarder Donny Barley of Element with RIPNDIP Founder Ryan O'Connor

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  BIA performing - Photo by Emma Hope

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  Shepard Fairey of Obey and Gene Rosemarin

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  Rob Meronek and Ryan Clements of The Boardr with Pro Skaters Paul Rodriguez and Jamie Foy

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  A Zumiez employee with Vans skateboard legend Tony Alva

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  Brent Sandor of 686 and Chad Foreman of Arcade Belts

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  Carson Hancock on the New Balance skate ramp

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  Zumiez Founder Tom Campion with employees

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  Mandee Bence and Jason Blake of Broken Promises

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  Zumiez fun during the ceremony

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  Will Campbell and Scott Mackey of Converse

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  Stevie Williams of DGK and Sara Lentz of Zumiez

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  Skaters Ishod Wair and Pedro Delfino

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  Skaters Jake Anderson and Louie Lopez with Ian Deacon of Flip

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  L to R: Zumiez Regional Manager Keith Lowinske, Jaxin Hall of Key Street, Maggie Lindemann of Swixxz, Stevie Williams of DGK, and Shaney Jo Darden of Keep a Breast

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  Tattoo artist Kyle Grand and a Zumiez employee with a new tattoo

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  Hovland brought a rail for employees to demo the company's snow skates

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  No. 1 Anne Beedy, third from left, with the district team

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  Front row: Kien Caples, Jeff Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez of There Skateboards. Back row: Tim Fulton of Deluxe and Skater Eunice Chang of Worble

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  Zumiez Eastern Regional employees

Unfortunately, SES was not able to attend the Zumiez 100k celebration last week that honors the retailer’s top salespeople. It’s a huge annual in-person party that got put on hold for two years during the pandemic.

The Zumiez marketing team, specifically Sara Lentz, wrote a story about the event and provided us with photos. We typically don’t post news stories written by companies, but I have to say, she did a great job. So here is a wrap up of the event, with a few edits from SES, courtesy of Sara and Zumiez.

100k Returns to Keystone, Colorado

By Sara Lentz, Zumiez

After a long 26 months, Zumiez 100k came back to unite its employees, friends, brands, and a whole community dedicated to celebrating one another.

Zumiez continues to prioritize its ability to connect with employees and customers. Knowing that in-person experiences are the best way to do this, Zumiez is consistently evolving its safety tactics and strategies to make sure everyone is safe, with the 100k being no exception. (Vaccines were required to attend.)

“Zumiez 100k is one of the pinnacle events for us – it’s about recognition of the hard work of our competitive salespeople,” CEO Rick Brooks said.  “We could have canceled due to the pandemic, but we felt that we needed to be together after doing most things digitally over the past year. The salespeople are in their stores, creating amazing human-to-human experiences for our customers, and we knew we had to do the same for them this year.”

The event felt like a family reunion as employees flooded the mountain town of Keystone, CO. Employees started their experience by receiving this year’s 100k bags from Herschel, which included items from Broken Promises, Dickies, Cookies, Key Street, Odd Future, and more. Monday evening ramped up with a party at the Mountain House, where old and new friends got a chance to come together and kick off 100k.

After a quick dusting of snow, Tuesday’s snow demo kicked off, and employees were encouraged to enjoy the slopes before the Mountain House activities started. Element partnered with nonprofit Skate Like a Girl to host a consent workshop and offered an opportunity to learn to skate with pros Donny Barley and Ethan Loy. Other brands such as Spitfire, Lurking Class, Melodie and Vans all created unique opportunities for employees to create lasting memories.

“We had a blast, and I am grateful to meet so many people that support me and my work,” said Melodie Perrault, founder of Melodie. “All the kind words and love from everyone made me emotional! It’s great to see Zumiez treat their employees like family and give back to them.”

Employees could also participate in panel discussions on topics they asked about all year. These discussions highlighted how Zumiez gives back to the community in addition to a conversation about following your passions. Panelists included Stevie Williams from DGK, Shaney Jo Darden with Keep a Breast, Jaxin Hall with Key Street, and Maggie Lindemann from Swixxz sharing their experiences.

Employees got a quick rest before the ceremony honoring the Top 40 employees started. The ceremony, with the theme Better Together, celebrated the sales team.

Anne Beedy, the No. 1 seller in all of Zumiez, achieved a major milestone in 2021: She sold more last year than anybody else in company history.

Anne works in the Mall of America store, and sold a whopping $1,241,945 worth of merchandise. Top brands celebrated this achievement with lots of creative gifts, including: a one-of-a-kind Obey piece from Shepard Fairey; Primitive gave Anne, a Minnesota Twins super fan, a 40-game suite package; Vans is throwing a huge BBQ party for her in Minnesota so she can celebrate with friends; and Cons gifted her a private jet trip anywhere in the US.

Post ceremony, the highlight of the after party was a performance by Ludacris. Cons also brought Anne’s favorite band, Story so Far. Others that performed included Mom Jeans courtesy of Dickies, Monaleo courtesy of DC, and Maxo Kream. Odd Future also brought out Blondie Beach to keep the crowd hyped between sets.

During the party, employees were able to shop from a prize booth that included gifts from over 40 brands, with the number of tickets earned based on how much employees sold. Employees could also earn tickets by engaging with brands throughout the party.

While employees enjoyed talking with the brand leaders who attended, brand executives also liked talking with employees.

“I enjoy getting to hear from the salespeople, who are very clued in from a street level,” Obey Founder Shepard Fairey said. “I like hearing what they’re excited about within the Zumiez culture, and I also like asking them their opinions about what’s going on in the world. Those conversations and the enthusiasm for the Obey brand always make it a great experience.”

The pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, and this year’s 100k event again highlights how much everyone thrives off in person, “in real life” connections.

“It’s been incredible to have everyone back together again and recognize all of the best sellers in person,” said Rod Deerr, a regional manager at Zumiez. “This group is so competitive and works all year to get here, it’s great to be able to celebrate them in such a big way.”

 

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