1. Does everybody pay full retail price for their gear?
You can always find good deals with 20-30% on latest year and 50% on last year. Just spend your time to look around.
2. Who cares about "sport is dying" and "less people will start KB"?
I like it! Less people > more space on my favorite spots. But I don't see sweet spots getting empty, only more and more people are arriving.
3. If you own North brand, and your costs will be 100$/bar, what retail price you think will be commercially viable? 200$?
Chain looks like this:
Factory > North margin > Export > Import > Distributor > Retailer
If you give 50% margin for North, Distributor, Retailer and customs duties, you'll see 506% of factory price.
I think retail price is 300-400% from factory cost and its normal. Where have you seen other business models?