EVERETT — If you don’t know how to say Zumiez, you’re probably older than the teenage and young-20s market targeted by the hip clothing and outdoor equipment chain.
But Zumiez — pronounced "Zoomies" — is moving ahead in the competitive retail clothing sector by staying focused on who its customers are and what they want.
"Our kids are a little edgier, a little more punk and have a little more attitude," said Tom Campion, co-founder of the Everett-based retail company, which has 115 stores in 15 states across the country.
At the Zumiez store in Lynnwood’s Alderwood Mall, it’s often hard to tell the employees and the customers apart. Many are dressed in an updated mix of loose jeans, sweat shirts and knit caps. The styles attract people mainly 12 to 24 years old, from teen skateboarders to college students.
Matt Brown paused from playing a video game on a small couch near the back of the store to explain why he often browses and sometimes buys clothes at Zumiez.
"I like what they carry," the 18-year-old from Mountlake Terrace said. "It’s real kickback, laid-back here."
Margina Curtiss and Marisa Webb, both 18, enthused about the store’s customer service and diverse styles of shoes and clothing.
In addition, Zumiez carries skateboards, snowboards and a range of related equipment and accessories.
The ever-evolving mix has helped privately-held Zumiez outlast other regional clothing chains and grow fast in the past few years to the 115 locations. Another 27 are planned for next year.
And until 2002, when the chain’s stores saw flat sales, the company recorded gains 24 years in a row. Co-founder and chairman Tom Campion said sales this year are up again.
Not bad for a company that might be considered "old’ by many of its customers. Campion and Gary Haakenson, now the mayor of Edmonds, started the retail chain in 1978 with one location in Seattle’s Northgate Mall. Both formerly had worked at the J.C. Penney store there.
"I still remember the first shirt I sold," 55-year-old Campion said, pointing out a photo that shows the first store, then called Above the Belt, and a rack of button-down shirts on the cutting edge of 1970s fashion.
Campion, the son of a mail carrier and a third-generation Washingtonian, grew up in Burien and earned a political science degree from Seattle University before working in the Penney’s store for nine years.
"I learned as much about how not to run a retail business there as I did on how to do it," said Campion, who recently moved from his longtime home in Snohomish to Seattle.
Haakenson, who was one of Campion’s co-workers at Penney’s, remembers that Above the Belt’s first office originally was in a tunnel running under Northgate Mall. The company has been based in Everett since the mid-1980s.
After the first store opened, the business expanded the following year with a second store at Everett Mall. In the mid-1980s, the then-small chain had to change its name to avoid conflicting with another business.
Zumiez, Campion said, doesn’t mean anything; he just liked how it sounded and the distinct identity it gave the retail chain. About the time of the name change, the chain also decided to skew toward a younger crowd and add shoes. Snowboards arrived in the chain’s stores in the late 1980s.
Haakenson said the business has used its smaller size to its benefit over the years.
"An advantage that we always had, and to some degree they still do, is reacting faster than the big chains," said Haakenson, who left the company’s day-to-day operations in 1993 and sold his share of the business last year.
Campion also emphasizes the company’s management style, which encourages individual store managers to make decisions. He tells the story of one manager at a California store who, in a bid to make people stop in front of Zumiez, glued a quarter to the floor near the entrance. While it probably wasn’t the best idea, Campion admired the thinking.
"It’s that kind of ingenuity you want in a manager," he said.
To encourage the people who run the stores, Zumiez holds an annual winter retreat in the North Cascades with all its store managers. This year’s holiday planning meeting with managers ended with a bowling night in Everett. And any store employee who sells $100,000 or more in merchandise during a year is invited to a company snowboarding trip. Last year, Zumiez took 400 people to Park City, Utah, for that event, Campion said.
All of this feeds into Campion’s motto of "work hard, have fun."
Both sides of that equation are evident in the company’s headquarters, located not far from the Boeing Co.’s manufacturing complex in southwest Everett. Employees sometimes ride skateboards down the wildly decorated halls.
At the same time, the company uses computer programs that can track productivity by the hour. And all the snowboarding and skiing that goes on at company retreats is matched by training on merchandising and sales.
The mix of fun and serious business has kept most of Zumiez’s key management members working there for more than a decade. That’s helped minimize Zumiez’ mistakes in the ultracompetitive clothing retail industry, Campion said.
"We have a lot of people with a lot of experience to train and lead and grow the company," he said.
Growth is a focus now, as Zumiez added Los Angeles-based Brentwood Associates as a major partner last year. The equity firm, which invested an undisclosed amount, now has two managers sitting on Zumiez’s board.
Brentwood sees a huge potential for expanding the chain, though Campion said he doesn’t want to dilute the company’s winning formula as it grows. Zumiez has never had to close a store, although it has moved two locations over the years to better spots.
Campion and Rick Brooks, Zumiez’s president and chief executive officer, are still the company’s majority partners, but Campion is taking a slight step back from Zumiez.
Taking Brentwood as a partner and making Brooks the CEO last year has given Campion time to follow his other passions, which include the Seattle Mariners and politics. He’s taken frequent trips over the years, sometimes with senators and others, to the Alaskan wilderness. Campion serves on the boards of several organizations devoted to protecting wildlife.
Haakenson said even though he and Campion talked years ago about growing nationally, he’s still impressed with the company’s progress over 25 years.
"To go from those days to what it is today is amazing," he said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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