1988

Gerfried Schuller wins the European championship in snowboarding and founds the BlueTomato Snowboard School—the biggest snowboarding school in Austria.

"We started without any equity capital. We pre-financed the warehouse throughloans for half a year, hoping that the season would go well. The bigger the business got, the bigger the loans."

1991

Gerry’s Garage, just under 25 m2 and probably the most famous garage in the Schladming/ Steiermark area, sells everything a snowboarder’s heart desires: boards, boots, bindings, skiwear, and streetwear.

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1994

The first official store opens in Schladming with a retail space of about 150 m2.

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1999

The Blue Tomato online store is launched.

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2002

Blue Tomato proudly presents its first print catalogue - in black and white.

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"When I was the managing director of Blue Tomato, the share of online retail was around 85%. Due to the expansion of the brick-and-mortar infrastructure, it has now levelled off at 50-50."

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2012

Blue Tomato is acquired by the US action sports retailer Zumiez. Zumiez has more than 600 locations across the US and Canada. Both companies are now working together.

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