Fire Sale!

Recently a fire fighter friend of RockSports ordered some T-shirts for his fire station. In passing, he suggested that we visit the other fire stations in town to offer our artwork, screen printing, and embroidery services. What a great idea! In fact, why not try to personally visit every fire station in Central Texas. Why not do it in one week. Why not hit all of Austin in a 24 hour period. The challenge was set.

In a 24 hour period Stephen Pugh of RockSports will attempt to visit every fire station in Austin (44) to talk briefly about our services and to offer our special fire fighter pricing. Monday is the big day. Do you think he will make it?

Follow along on his progress by following us on twitter. He will be marking his progress along the way. We wish you the best of luck Stephen!

map of all the City of Austin fire stations

RockSports Northwest - Completion

After 15 trips to Home Depot, four trips to Ikea, two bruised shins, and one smashed finger, RockSports Northwest construction phase is complete. We are still getting new samples in everyday as we continue to fill out our showroom. Our doors are now open and we would love to see you walk through them!

The last few construction projects that we knocked out:
1. Install baseboards.
2. Install display racks.
3. Ikea + 1,000 tiny pieces of hardware + directions + patience.
4. Polish up.









More news to come about our grand opening celebration!

Day 5 - RockSports Northwest is coming together!

Tile comes in and goes down:

Working with the existing floor was a challenge. We had to research and track down the company that made the existing tile. Thankfully we found something that we thought was really close. When it arrived, we were pleased to find out that it matched perfectly. Not only that, but we ordered just the right amount.

Step 1: Remove existing carpet glue :(
Step 2: Sweep and Mop the concrete.
Step 3: Prime the floor - gas masks included.
Step 4: Lay the tile :)

Check out our handy work! Also, don't those walls look nice!

Yes, you are looking at peel and place tiles.

Day 3 & 4 - Let the painting begin!

We sanded down the walls and wiped them clean. The time had come to say goodbye to the incredibly bright blue and red walls. With a couple gallons of primer, we got to work. What color did we decide for the walls??? We decided to save the pictures for our next blog post. Ahhh the suspense!

RockSports Northwest - Day 1 & 2

Day 1 and 2 - Demolition days.

What Stephen and I lack in construction experience we make up with sheer determination and overall good attitudes. You'll notice in the pictures below that we got quite a bit done in 48 hours. We moved the wall and counter tops back to the far side of the room, which was quite a task for two people. We also removed the bottom chair rail (the big white streak in between the red and blue paint. A big thanks to Chris White, who helped us patch up the walls after our tour of destruction. We also ripped up the carpet and cleared the random room from the wall and the floor. All in all it was a very productive two days.

- John Payton

Spike and RockSports team up to help find a cure for MS

Richard Tapia has been a good friend of RockSports for some time. This weekend he will try to do what no mascot has done before, pedal more than 160 miles fully out-fitted as part of the 2009 BP MS 150. All of us at RockSports wish you the best of luck in your race!

Here is the latest update from Richard before the big race:

Everyone in Austin, be sure to tune in tonight (4-16-09) to Fox 7 in Austin at 9:00 for a story that is being done on Spike riding in the MS 150. Also, tune in to KVUE (CBS) after that at 10:00 for another similar story on Spike and the MS 150. The media in Austin has been great about this and we’re really starting to gain some steam to bring awareness and raising funds for this event.

Some of you have expressed an interest in meeting Spike and my spot rider (my cousin, J.R. Thomas) at the finish line on Sunday. If you’d like to do so, the finish line on Sunday will be at the Bob Bullock History Museum located on Congress between MLK and 18^th St.

Something new that we’re doing is selling Spike bike ride merchandise. Our good friends and t-shirt company, RockSports, have signed on the help us out with the ride and to raise some money. I realize this is last minute, but you can click on the link below to see the t-shirt, towel and bandanas that are available for purchase. The money for each item goes to cover the cost associated with producing the item, while the rest will go to the National MS Society.

http://store.rocksportsoutlet.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=RRXP&Store_Code=2008&Category_Code=RREXPRESS

There is a tradition on the MS 150 where riders tie bandanas to their bikes in honor of someone who is affected by MS. If you know someone that have been affected and would like Spike to ride in their honor, you can purchase a bandana before Saturday and I will write their name on it and tie it to Spike’s bike. After the race is done, Spike will autograph it and send it back to you to have as a keepsake.

If you’d like to buy a t-shirt to wear at the finish like to cheer on Spike, J.R. and the rest of the riders in the race, RockSports will be doing a run of t-shirts that will be ready in time for Sunday. In order to get your shirt in time, you need to order by 10:00 AM tomorrow morning. You can choose to pick it up at RockSports in Round Rock (Address at www.rocksports.net), the Express offices (Address below in my signature) or my fiancé, Nicole, will be at the finish line and you can get it from her there. She’ll most likely be the only red head wearing a Spike shirt! You can also e-mail me back if you need to make special arrangement. Again, a good bit of this money is going back to the charity.

Also, if you haven’t donated, it’s not too late! We can still accept donations on the fundraising site through May 19. To donate, go to http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/TXHBikeEvents?px=6239177&pg=personal&fr_id=10222

Thanks again for everyone’s support. This has been a lot of work, but an absolute blast to be a part of and I’m extremely excited about the ride this weekend. Wish me and J.R. luck!

RockSports Northwest - Construction Phase

As part of introducing our new location, RockSports Northwest, we thought we would give all of our readers a day by day recap of our construction efforts.

Day 1: Get the keys, take pictures and get ready for day 2!

The biggest criteria, in moving into a second RockSports, was location. We need a great location for our current customers like Westwood High School, Cedar Park High School, Leander ISD, Texas Stars, etc and for new customers. Parkline Shopping center is very easy to get to from 620 and 183. We decided to take an existing space so that we could move in quickly and set up our new showroom.

Here are some of the before pictures:

That's us, Next to the QuiznosSub, where you see the blue letters.

The view from the front door.

The view from behind the counter display and wall.

John Payton stands in the front of the "AS IS" storefront.

RockSports opens second location in Northwest Austin

Austin, TX, April 1, 2009 RockSports today announced that it is expanding their reach and services with the opening of RockSports second location just north of the 183/620 intersection (map). The newest location is designed to be a retail showroom and it will provide RockSports new and current customers a convenient location to order RockSports services.

"The retail location in Northwest Austin allows us to put the customer first, by offering a clean and comprehensive showroom that is easy to find and easy to get to. For years customers in Cedar Park, Leander and Westlake, have had the burden of driving 10 plus miles to get quality t-shirt printing and embroidery. Now we are excited to be apart of the neighborhood offering great customer service and products." said Joe Payton, Owner and President of RockSports.

RockSports Northwest will be located at 11301 Lakeline Blvd; ste. 105; Austin, TX, 78717. "It will be so convenient having a location right down the street", noted long time customer and Westwood High School teacher, Liz Davis. Coming south from Austin on 183, you take the last free exit. RockSports is located in the Parkline Shopping center, near the Quiznos and Wells Fargo bank. Home Depot is also in the Parkline Shopping center. John Payton has rejoined the family business to lead the RockSports expansion group. Joining him will be Austinite and business development specialist Stephen Pugh.

Opening day is expected to be in the middle of April with a grand opening scheduled sometime in May. Find more details at www.rocksports.net & (here at) http://blog.rocksports.net.

RockSports was founded in 1991 by Joe Payton in Round Rock, TX. Today, with over 25 employees, RockSports provides screen printing, embroidery, and signs for small businesses, schools, and non-profits nation-wide.

RockSports - Same company, but a fresh look!

RockSports is proud to introduce the new and improved RockSports.net! We've revamped and renovated our website to better serve you, the customer, with more accessibility and usability than ever before. We wanted to fill you in on the changes we made and help you get the most out of your experience on rocksports.net. Below you will find a few screenshots of the new layout to show you where to find the new features we've added or to help you find the features you've grown to love. Enjoy!

C. This is the new menu you will use when browsing our extensive inventory of t-shirt designs available from RockSports. There are a few groupings of categories to help you easily find the products you are looking for. You can search under categories like Sports, Family, Music, or view a list of all categories inside the store.

A.This is the new menu for the RockSports site. Here is the place to start when navigating the new site. We have some of the same menu categories, but with a few different options. We have also added Signs to our capabilities and created a separate menu category to help you get more information about our screen printing, embroidery, and design services. B.In the top right corner of the page is an area for shortcuts to your shopping cart, frequently asked questions, contact information, and links to RockSports' presence a variety of networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and our blog. D.In the blue, footer sections of the site you will find many useful tools for learning more about RockSports and our services. Among those tools is a scrolling marquee of recent blog posts giving you information on upcoming events and great online deals, as well as updates like new designs and services available from RockSports. E.Also in the footer of the site you will find a great tool. There is an interactive Google Map showing our 2 locations in Austin and Round Rock. This map has all the functionality of viewing the map on the Google Map's site with the convenience of staying on our site. You can zoom in and out, move the map's position, and even switch to view the map in your favorite mode. And if you need directions from where you are, you can simply click the links to the left of the map and move to the Google map site, where you can enter in your location with the included address of the location you need directions to and find us quickly and easily.

AAHPERD and Texas Library Association Coupons

Just a quick reminder that we have special show discounts for online orders. Use the following discount codes to receive 25% off:

March09 - 25% off RockSports merchandise
March09S - 25% off RockSports merchandise and Free Shipping - minimum order of $50.
Use the following coupon code online only, in the checkout process, to receive your discount.

Houston, TX April 1-3rd at TLA - Texas Library Association
Tampa, FL April 1-3rd at AAHPERD - American Alliance for Health, PE, Recreation, and Dance