A year ago today, we launched our biggest and boldest venture in Boardwalk Store. The home to the greatest merch in the multiverse. A place where you could grab merch based on your favorite fandoms, from Marvel to the Disney Parks. It’s also a place where you can directly support all the work we do at Boardwalk Times with our own branded merch.
The journey to Boardwalk Store was complex and filled with varying degrees of emotion. The journey had everything from self-doubt and a bit of frustration to excitement and triumph. I wanted to share more about the journey when we launched in May 2023 but I wasn’t in the right head space (realistically I was more focused on getting stuff out for the Store and continuing to work on building Boardwalk Times overall). So now it’s time to reflect on the journey to Boardwalk Store and share some insights and lessons from the first year of its existence.
Buckle up, here are just a few lessons I’ve learned since the inception of Boardwalk Store.
Holy crap there are a lot of fandom stores
I knew starting a merchandise store based around fandoms like Disney Parks, Marvel, and Star Wars was going to be hard due to existing competition. In the lead-up to Boardwalk Store, trusted colleagues and I did a ton of research in this space. We tried to identify as many similar stores as possible so we could create a compelling entry into this space.
Research only takes you so far.
We did a ton of research but even after the Store launched we discovered more and more fandom stores that specialized in Disney Parks tees, Marvel tees, etc.
This was me every time the algorithm found me a “cool Disney Parks fandom store not owned by The Walt Disney Company.”
Truthfully, it gets quite overwhelming and daunting. Then you find more and more. I still have to sort and look at these stores as well. There’s probably something I can learn from all of them, and who knows maybe one of these stores could potentially collaborate or work alongside us?
If I had known about all these stores before I launched would I have forgone entering this space? Absolutely not. I just wish I knew how deep even the smallest of competitors went in this niche.
Things take time
Things are still taking time. This is an ongoing lesson.
We’re still rolling out new designs and features to the site. In the early stages, I spent a good amount of time designing the store and focusing on the little things. I wanted to make sure we had a color scheme down from the home page to your checkout experience. Despite being on Shopify I wanted to make sure people knew this was just an extension of the Boardwalk brand.
Then when it comes to actual merchandise designs well those take time too. There isn’t a shortcut there. Yet I rather be 100% confident in our stuff than rush it out for the sake of having new merch. The same goes for adding new functionality and discovery features to Boardwalk Store. That is something I’m working on but with being a one man band there is only so many hours in a day and other parts of Boardwalk to attend to. That’s also the reason why our expansion into Europe is moving a bit slowly too. Only so many hours in a day.
Boardwalk Store was in the works for years because I had to get things in order (a lot of paperwork… so much paperwork). I had to tinker with my vision. Assemble some designs and make sure the thing worked. Even then I wasn’t 100% sure everything was going to work.
I think our operations will get faster and more efficient as time goes on. For now, things take time, and it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
My designers are awesome
Boardwalk Store wouldn’t have happened without the amazing contributions of my friend Noah Lambert right off the bat. He dealt with my crazy suggestions and turned them into a reality. Although I am still sad our Thanos design got struck down by the copyright/trademark police before it saw the light of day.
I’m excited to see what Noah and I come up with next. We’ve had some legendary brainstorming sessions at Tim Horton’s. The type of stuff you’ll read about in my book one day *winks*.
Check out one of Noah’s designs:
I’d also like to thank Rob Yeo who created our logo many moons ago. I’m biased but I think the Boardwalk Times logo is one of the best brand/website logos of all time. I also think Rob is one of the most talented designers in the themed entertainment space and he’s also an incredible guy.
Check out the Boardwalk Times collection:
I’d also like to thank Abby Szatmary for joining. It’s been fun to work alongside her on numerous designs that are currently available and some that are on the way. It’s always exciting to see what she creates. Our brainstorming sessions are quite fun!
Check out the Spaceship Collection designed by Abby:
Gianluca/PuckHeroes Art has made some incredible contributions to Boardwalk Store. My favorite is The Variants Tee. We have more ideas coming later this summer and this year based on some fun properties.
Check out The Variants Tee that Gianluca designed:
Phil (Horizoneer Design) helped with The Guardians Collection, and I’m excited to do more work with him in the future. It was a blast figuring out tees based on one of my favorite film franchises. Also, more is coming to The Guardians Collection very soon.
Check out The Guardians Collection designed by Phil:
SonderQuest has been an absolute joy to work with. I have admired his style for a long time so it was cool to finally get to work with him and have him bring some of my ideas to life. From a Henson & Co Tee to an Orange Bird design.
Check out The Orange Tee designed by SonderQuest:
Edith has provided some instant classic tees for us. We’re also working on a collection that should launch in the fall that I’m over the moon about. A certain fandom may have an entirely new wardrobe if all goes to plan. I’m pumped to see what we create in the future.
Check out The Haunted Collection designed by Edith:
These designers constantly blow me away with their work for me and other projects they do. I’m lucky that they all wanted to be a part of this.
A store is a beast that constantly needs to be fed
To bring back a Cousin Carson quote from our7 Lessons Learned From 7 Years of Boardwalk Times (What I’ve Learned Building A Disney News Site).
“You have to keep feeding the train coal.”
This advice could apply to literally anything in life. Whether it’s a website or in this case a store. You have to be consistent and constantly put new things out. It’s never-ending, which is part of the fun but part of the challenge.
Branding is important
Branding is super important. I’m going to give you a crucial example and behind-the-scenes look at the Boardwalk Store branding process.
I was originally going to go with this logo above as our Store logo until Noah stepped in and said, “I think just using the Boardwalk B would look better.”
And he was right. That is why he’s the designer.
I’m sure our manufacturer loves the change! The Ferris Wheel is an amazing logo but it didn’t work within our Boardwalk Store logo. Plus I have to imagine all the details would’ve been lost in a logo that has to be either black or white.
All our merch is branded. People will recognize the extra efforts. Our branding is featured on our packaging and as time goes on we may even upgrade the look of our packaging.
As time goes on, I have realized how important branding is for Boardwalk Times/Boardwalk Store.
Some people won’t buy your merch
You may hate this lesson. This is a lesson that sucks to learn. Some people won’t buy your merch.
You’ll never know why but you can always hope that they will!
The biggest perspective I had to gain was to focus on the audience that is buying and is more likely to buy. This sometimes leads to funny conversations but it’s a good perspective to have. People not buying can happen for a variety of reasons. It could be cost or perhaps the merch we’ve put out so far isn’t what they want, or they are waiting on discounts.
This lesson isn’t meant to come across as a guilt trip either (but on second thought maybe visit the Boardwalk Store to clear your conscience).
It’s just the reality of the game, but still a tough lesson to learn in year one.
Listen to select advice
This piece of advice can be applied to anything and like it says you can take it or leave it. I gave similar advice out during my previous 7 Lessons Learned From 7 Years of Boardwalk Times (What I’ve Learned Building A Disney News Site)column.
I think whenever you start something new, you’re bombarded by advice. Some of it is fantastic and some of it is head-scratching. My best approach to filtering advice is trusting my instincts. If the person isn’t in the weeds, so to speak, maybe you’re less inclined to listen. However, sometimes the outside perspective is crucial and beneficial. Sometimes the advice is as harmless as “Zach, you better do a shirt for *insert a Disney intellectual property here*!” and I listen and I usually reply just telling the person if they asked for it they better buy it. (This circles back to the whole, not everyone is going to buy your merch lesson).
I’m all for advice but there is sometimes you have to figure out what advice makes you stay on mission and what advice deters you from it. With that being said, we will be releasing a Boardwalk Store survey here soon where you can give feedback on our lineup of merch and our store experience.
Continue to learn
I’m learning every day.
From selling to social to bringing new ideas to market.
I’m the guy who reads the Shopify and e-commerce/dropshipping articles. I’m still reading them because they are helpful and I know that I’m scratching the surface of what Boardwalk Store is capable of. Just like Boardwalk Times overall, Boardwalk Store has the potential to do some incredible things in this space.
I have big goals. More designs, more collaborations, more products, more features, and more ideas will take time.
I learn from my designers and team members, friends and family, and my colleagues in this crazy niche space full of fun. My quest is to get better and absorb as much knowledge as possible.
Maybe I’ll write about Boardwalk Store again next year? A progress report of sorts? If you’d like that please let me know in the comments or reach out at boardwalktimes@yahoo.com or on Twitter @BoardwalkTimes.
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Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
