Red Deer teen turns hacky sack revival into thriving business

“I made some hacky sacks and showed them to my friends, and they said you could probably sell some of these.”

Since then, Sholdice has made and sold 130 hacky sacks and has no plans of slowing down.

Typically, it takes the teen about 10 minutes to build one of the sacks, which are made out of denim.

His cousin Sam bought the first one he made, and after showing it to Industry Skate & Snow, a locally owned snowboard and skateboard shop, they asked to carry the product.

Sholdice is part of the store’s competitive snowboard team and brought a couple of hacky sacks in to show them. The owner contacted them shortly after expressing a desire to sell them in their store.

“They’ve been getting a lot of calls, probably about two every day, and they thought it would be pretty cool to sell them in their store,” Sholdice said. “They’ve been selling out very quickly.”

The teen hopes to continue to grow his business and already has sold his product to two other skate and snowboard shops in Lethbridge and Saskatchewan. They also have a few cases on the way to another store in Cochrane, Alta.

(Image Credit: Ian Gustafson/rdnewsNOW)

Owner of Industry Skate & Snow, Tim Nelson, said Sholdice has fulfilled a big need at their store, as people have been calling frequently asking if they carry hacky sacks.

Nelson said Lincoln started by dropping off 20 at a time, but as the phone calls continued, so did the demand. He added that they’re well into triple digits for sales after only two or three weeks.

“He kept making them, and the rest is history,” Nelson said. “We are excited to see kids who are motivated to not only work with their hands but also be creative and produce something that other people can enjoy.

“It’s tough for him to because he’s still a kid. He’s young, so he wants to go drink slurpees and skateboard with his friends. It’s a good lesson. He’s learning a lot right now, having to work a little bit and take advantage of an opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Sholdice’s mother said she’s very proud of Lincoln and explained it’s been a cool learning experience for both of them.

“He and I never talked business before, so now we’re talking about the cost, how much profit he’s making, we’ve made spreadsheets to track it, and he’s trying to keep his operating cost down. It’s been kind of cool.”

You can follow Saggy Sax Footbags on Instagram at @Saggy.Sax

by Ian Gustafson

Red Deer teen turns hacky sack revival into thriving business

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