About EXIT real world

EXIT real world strives to provide sincere, friendly & knowledgeable service of select, premiere product offerings for snowboarders, skateboarders & patrons of this lifestyle community in which we enthusiastically partake.

Mission Statement

EXIT real world was founded by Missy Samiee in 1993 in Salem, Oregon.  Still owner operator, Missy Samiee, with husband Jake Hauswirth own and operate the shops in Salem, Portland and Government Camp with help from an amazing staff of committed skateboard and snowboard enthusiasts.  In some ways, much has changed over two decades in snowboarding and skateboarding, but much has remained the same as well.  It is still the original love of these board sports, community and products that keep EXIT engaged at the core of Oregon shredding.

History

EXIT real world was opened in 1993 in Salem, Oregon by proprietress,Missy Samiee, who still owns and operates the small chain of shred shops with husband,Jake Hauswirth. 

Missy's thesis, as an Atkinson school of business student at Willamette University, was the conceptual business model of the snowboard and skateboard shop that has earned national notoriety over many years of sincere devotion.  The plan was to provide a specialty snowboard and skateboard storefront backed by friendly, knowledgeable service for anyone and everyone--at the time of it's inception, this was a new business model for the fledgling industry of snowboarding.   Samiee's plan went straight into action when she graduated and went straight to work on realizing the business.  While the small chain has expanded over the years, the samemissionremains intact and EXIT is a pillar in it's community of skateboarders and snowboarders unlike other big box stores that have saturated the marketplace with more of the same product, but none of the same devotion.

As a teenager, Missy had visited her share of dirty, insider-only skateboard shops and knew that there was a different customer that these shops weren’t adequately serving.  Having grown up working for her successful father’s chain of Oregon based camera stores (The Shutterbug), Missy had imbibed the nature of retail practice, mastered it by education and was ready to take on her own business challenge that would support her love of snowboarding, skateboarding and fashion around it.

Growing up in among an early throng of boardsports enthusiasts in the 70s and 80s, snowboarding was an early and exciting part of culture developing in a few pockets around the US.  Missy's older brother, Chris Samiee was one of the first snowboarders in Oregon and was one of the first local sponsored skateboarders (team Pepsi, 1978) as well. 

There was quite a pack of snowboarders in Salem, Oregon, several who went on to professional careers in the sport.  Among them were Michelle Taggart (first US Olympic snowboarding team), Shannon Melhuse (world class racer), Rob Morrow (professional snowboarder and snowboard brand / manufacturer) and many early shredders who were before their time such as, Buzzy Morales, Darren Ferder, Greg Lafky and countless other early adopters.

When successful snowboarder, entrepreneur and engineer Rob Morrow started Morrow Snowboards with his uncle and cousin in 1990, Morrow Snowboards was largely responsible for bringing a healthy share of snowboard industry to Salem, Oregon.  As a major influence on the snowboarding industry at that time, Morrow Snowboards regularly brought industry types such as photographers, writers, marketers and professionals riders to Salem while fostering a boom in local snowboarding enthusiasts, employees and supporters of the growing sport.

Bonfire Snowboarding also had it's beginning in Salem and founder, Brad Steward was an early consultant to Missy.  It was in this fertile, booming snowboarding industry climate that EXIT took hold and has enjoyed many years of success.

Sitting on the sunny side of Mt. Hood's 11,249 foot tall frame and only 2 hours away from Salem, Timberline ski area has played host to droves of professional snowboarders making their way to Oregon in the summer to enjoy an endless winter.  Many of these passers by, coming up from California, naturally visit EXIT in Portland, Salem and Government Camp (snowboard training mecca).

Much has changed in the industry of snowboarding to the point that it is an equal opportunist on the ski areas.  Snowboarding has even tipped the scales in many areas to become more popular than skiing.  Reaching back to the eighties, it seems we too were pioneers of snowboarding and have enjoyed every part part of it throughout the decades and plan to continue inspiring and servicing the generations of now and of the future!

 

The Name

The name, “EXIT real world” was coined by Justin Samiee, brother to proprietress, Missy Samiee.

While working for their father's camera store,The Shutterbug,Justin noticed that when disarming the store's security alarm upon arriving to work, the keypad read, “enter real world”.  It seemed that the programmer seemingly meant, "get to work" by this phrase. 

The reversal of that phrase, "enter real world", being "EXIT real world," would signify the opposite meaning:  The leaving of work and the moment of getting back to play, specifically snowboarding, skateboarding and the free lifestyle thereof--since that was his healthy obsession at that time.