How long can a sharpening take ?

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

What do you guys consider high-volume? I'm curious. On your busiest day - how many skates is the sharpener cranking out?

We're up to about 130 a day every Sat and Sun.

Sean - I remember your numbers, curious to see if it has changed.

[jimmy 194]

High volume I would say is lines of folks waiting. In my shop , thurs, fri and sat are pretty busy, while mon, tues and wed are average volume. I do 15,000 a year, but obviously I do way more on a Dec day than a May day, so it's hard to figure out exact. If I average it out for the whole year, it's about 50 a day. Cuuld be 5 a day in May but 150 in Sept. Today, was balls to the wall, 70 regular price sharpenings and at least that many in punch card sharpenings. Tommorow will be worse, or should I say better for profit, but man do I get tired.

[sogaduch 0]

What do you guys consider high-volume? I'm curious. On your busiest day - how many skates is the sharpener cranking out?

We're up to about 130 a day every Sat and Sun.

Sean - I remember your numbers, curious to see if it has changed.

at the don mills store JR on a weekday weve been doing 120-130 and on a busy saturday were around 200+

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

ARe you in/by a rink?

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Sean - yeah, that sounds about right.

[sogaduch 0]

Sean - yeah, that sounds about right.

yeah but man sometimes feels as if weve done 250 on a saturday

[XeF4 0]

I dont know the exact numbers but weekends are definatley much more busy than weekdays.

[jimmy 194]

You can't compare rink volume to LHS volume. Rink shops get what I call the "I forgot" sharpenings. Folks who forgot to have their favorite LHS sharpen them but really need a sharpening and have no choice to get it done at the rink. Visiting tournement folks also. MOST rinks don't offer any hollow choices, everybody gets the same cut. Every Monday I get a 1/2 dozen or so of my customers coming in for me to repair what the rink sharpeners did to their skates becaue they forgot to get to me earlier in the week. :D I'm actually thinking of charging them more to pay for their transgressions.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

I'm in a rink.

[gotdangles16 0]

oh snap.

[jimmy 194]

I'm in a rink.

As I said, most rinks do a poor job. In my area anyway. Yours may be a rare one. Does your shop offer custom cuts to all skaters or only if they ask? Is EVERY customer greeted with, "how would you like your skates sharpened"? Are ALL sharpeners equally competent or do customers have to selectively come when the 'good" sharpener is there? I can recall specifically you commenting on the other "poor" sharpeners at your Orlando rink. Is it the same at your new location?

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

Yes, the skater has preference of hollow.

Yes, pretty much all sharpeners are on the same level. I'm beyond them obviously.

[Eazy_b97 1]

Do you consider yourself and your employees to all be at or around the same level Jimmy?

The store I used to work at recently moved into a rink. It's really helping their buisness and alot of people go out of their way to get there. I am aware you said MOST, and I do agree. Of the 5-6 rinks around here that have places inside, they usually suck. My old store is the only decent one, but then again, they are the only decent ones in the whole city.

Everyone at this store was on about the same level (I'd say my friend and I were a bit better than the owner) and we both left. The owner does do a very good job as well, he just likes to experiment alot.

[DarkStar50 679]

I'm in a rink.

As I said, most rinks do a poor job. In my area anyway. Yours may be a rare one.

Great generalization. I'm in a four rink rink building. Bite me! :D

[jimmy 194]

That's why I said MOST, there's always the exception. MOST rink managers don't care about quality sharpenings. The rinks that do well are usually the ones where the pro shop space is leased.

[wickedwrister 0]

That's why I said MOST, there's always the exception. MOST rink managers don't care about quality sharpenings. The rinks that do well are usually the ones where the pro shop space is leased.

JR just happens to have his store (a big one) inside the rink complex. In my local rink, there is just the booth were you sign for locker room keys and skate rental (no shop). They guys that sweep the floors and clean the ice also sharpen skates. That's the difference. The latest hire (usually a out of work 50 year old who never put on a pair of skates) does the skates there.

[JR Boucicaut 3804]

JR just happens to have his store (a big one) inside the rink complex. 

Had.

[jimmy 194]

That's why I said MOST, there's always the exception.  MOST rink managers don't care about quality sharpenings.  The rinks that do well are usually the ones where the pro shop space is leased.

JR just happens to have his store (a big one) inside the rink complex. In my local rink, there is just the booth were you sign for locker room keys and skate rental (no shop). They guys that sweep the floors and clean the ice also sharpen skates. That's the difference. The latest hire (usually a out of work 50 year old who never put on a pair of skates) does the skates there.

Funny you say that. What got me into skate sharpening was a rink just like you describe, some loooser inside a small booth who hacked away at skates. Frustrated that I couldn't get a good sharpening, I got a machine of my own.