P Rod Opened a Skate Shop Today

[artichoke]

why cant he just open a true skateshop

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GDfToFcJ2J4

[Hatechild]

why cant he just open a true skateshop

True Skateshops don't make $$$. It's a sad reality.

[bothersome]

I beg to differ.

[FuZZ]

oh don't get me wrong, i would hope that the overwhelming majority of people coming in skated and were looking for the brands that were different, that were associated with skate, etc. i know there are some questionable brands that can't claim true skate, but those brands are also offering a feel that the volcoms, element, matix, rvca offered before opening up everyone with a "board sports section"

there was a time when skateboarders looked different than the masses. now the look is the masses. obviously, true skate is going to want to look different again. there has to be a backlash soon, and these brands catering to specialty are turning down larger distribution as i write to be there waiting for the legit skateshop retailer to accept them.

or we just became what we fought so hard not to be.

as trickwood in wa, spot in fl, cowtown in az, satellite in boulder, liberty in ca, beach zone in nm, pharmacy in ca/nv what brands they're locs are asking for and what brands the sheep are coming for. its coming...

[Bubblegum Tate]

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um are you sure? if sure that sucks...boutique shops ruin skateboarding more

[close]

shit is so gay . I saw a set of Diamond bearings in this lame ass street wear / boutique
they had no boards but bearings and grip cuz it was diamond . how lame is that .
Empire needs to put a stop to that .

[close]

without diamond empire will be bankrupt

[close]

What happened with Force trucks? I went to their site but it was just some ads from 2006 and 2007...

what do you expect from trucks made in china

[H8R part 4]

real shops can make money, its just harder for someone to keep it real and stay broke.
i'm sure riding walls has been doing it a while and makes a decent living but if he opted to go with a boutique shop, he stands to make a hellvua lot more money.
the nicer the store the more they can charge.  this goes for every type of business, not just skateshops.
 

 

[artichoke]

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um are you sure? if sure that sucks...boutique shops ruin skateboarding more

[close]

shit is so gay . I saw a set of Diamond bearings in this lame ass street wear / boutique
they had no boards but bearings and grip cuz it was diamond . how lame is that .
Empire needs to put a stop to that .

[close]

without diamond empire will be bankrupt

[close]

What happened with Force trucks? I went to their site but it was just some ads from 2006 and 2007...

[close]

what do you expect from trucks made in china

Well, ace seems to be doing okay.

[dudebro]

My shop may not be the cleanest spot but we cram as many boards,trucks,wheels,shoes shirts and stuff we can in there, offer em up for a little cheaper than most, give everyone a spot to set up boards and watch a few videos or just stop in to shoot the shit. I come from an era where shops were a little cluttered and offered a good vibe towards anyone who skated. I can see the appeal of a boutique but they feel so awkward.

agreed. i think shops can find a good balance between the two: the selection, prices, legit and knowledgeable employees/owner, scene upkeep, welcoming atmosphere of a "traditional" skateshop with the presentability and merchandising aspect of a "boutique" shop. i haven't been down to your place in years but i think 35th North is pretty a pretty good example. customers are going to be more accepting and willing to pay (especially for higher priced items) if the merchandise and buying enviroment is presented well. obviously every scene is different, and the grittier the better might work in some places, but you can buy the same shit in pretty much any shop for pretty much the same price.

[carbonite]

Hey, whatever happened to Gino reopening his shop?
It's back-to-school time already.

[SNAGGLETOOTH]

Active is pretty Core and seams to keep shit real...not sure if they're making $$ though, but there's one in every city there's a Tilly's.

[Trillz]

Hey, whatever happened to Gino reopening his shop?
It's back-to-school time already.

Sit tight.

[Bubblegum Tate]

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um are you sure? if sure that sucks...boutique shops ruin skateboarding more

[close]

shit is so gay . I saw a set of Diamond bearings in this lame ass street wear / boutique
they had no boards but bearings and grip cuz it was diamond . how lame is that .
Empire needs to put a stop to that .

[close]

without diamond empire will be bankrupt

[close]

What happened with Force trucks? I went to their site but it was just some ads from 2006 and 2007...

[close]

what do you expect from trucks made in china

[close]

Well, ace seems to be doing okay.

becuase they have a decent amount of people who ride & support them on the other hand force is just randomly there I still see Zered & Devine with venture's

[Trillz]

Peep the Nike SB site if you wanna see photos of Primitive.

[Cheapboarder]

Looks actually like that one guy said. A whole bunch of his sponsors stuff and his friends stuff. Rob, Carroll, Sheckler, and Chris Roberts"(?).

[Paper Crane]

Active is pretty Core and seams to keep shit real...not sure if they're making $$ though, but there's one in every city there's a Tilly's.

i can't believe i went to apply at the boutique in chino hills.

[Comrade]

There's no skateshop in my town. It's not that small of a town either (around 150 thousand people). There was one, but it got run out of business by the wack West 49 mall store. A boutique-style store opened up relatively recently too. That store supports the skate scene a lot, and it'd be tight if it was an actual skateshop, but the owner is some die-hard hipster. He is doing his best to keep it a "streetwear" clothing store. They just recently started carrying boards after a couple of years in business, because kids kept asking them to. I personally think the whole "hipster skater" type trend/gimmick is pretty lame.

[bothersome]

There is something to be said to try and find other avenues of bringing more people in your doors, offering hard to find brands and appealing to a different demographic than just skaters. You do stand to damage your rep in certain circles depending on what you bring in. It's a slippery slope, the type of product you carry dictates the customer base. I don't really want a bunch of street wear dudes hanging out but if they stop in every so often and maybe you have a diamond shirt they couldn't find anywhere else well thats fine.
Hopefully when we move to a bigger location we can clean it up a little, but I'm not trying for the super minimalistic look. Just less cramped racks and a nicer presentation.

[skate_bored]

Heres how i see it....

The shop i work at opened almost 5 years ago and was set up with a "boutique" feel but carried strictly skate brands and even avoided Nike SB for the first year or two. After a while, the Diamond shirts would start bringing in some street wear guys, and then the Nike SBs did the same thing. Since these products are moving pretty quickly, and we're the only place in the city that gets them, then we continue ordering more. The skate stuff stays stocked up, and even more so now because we have a lot more money from the other demographics that shop with us. We still only play skate videos all day, and welcome all people into our store. And while there are some days that we sell more SBs than completes, thats the kind of thing that keeps us in business and allows us to sponsor a few local skaters and give away boxes of product at an event. I think it all balances out and the skaters still know they have a place to come, whether they want to hang out, watch a video, get a new board, or ask about spots. Also, the owner and employees all skate...night sessions after work go down a few nights a week at least.

[FuZZ]

skate_bored

i think your description & shop is the near future of skateshops around the country. it can be a balance. maybe i am too apocolyptic, but really, the brands that made skate shops money have moved on. isn't it time for skate shops to move on also? they should be the ones moving on first and searching out the next brand...keeping it fresh & different.

[Sleazy]

well, it's nice to live in a city that has both and anything is better than the shit in the mall. i had the misfortune of walking past a zummies the other day and all the patterns and zero logo's gave me a head ache.

[Cthulhu!]

Try walking into one. With a bearing emergency and the only place to get them for miles we had to buy some reds there.

Employee: Blah bah blah, Welcome looking for anything in particular
Me: We need some Reds
Employee: Oh what are those
Me: The bearings......
Employee: Oh, those are over here, are they these?
Me: No, its the ones that say Reds on the box.
Employee: Oh ok thanks Dude

Its depressing really. This girl had no idea about anything. Now all the kids around the area have no where else to go but there. Making the little kids complete retards.
 

[MexicanSpaniard]

Try walking into one. With a bearing emergency and the only place to get them for miles we had to buy some reds there.

Employee: Blah bah blah, Welcome looking for anything in particular
Me: We need some Reds
Employee: Oh what are those
Me: The bearings......
Employee: Oh, those are over here, are they these?
Me: No, its the ones that say Reds on the box.
Employee: Oh ok thanks Dude

Its depressing really. This girl had no idea about anything. Now all the kids around the area have no where else to go but there. Making the little kids complete retards.
 

I bet she knows a lot about DC and Etnies though.

[artichoke]

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Try walking into one. With a bearing emergency and the only place to get them for miles we had to buy some reds there.

Employee: Blah bah blah, Welcome looking for anything in particular
Me: We need some Reds
Employee: Oh what are those
Me: The bearings......
Employee: Oh, those are over here, are they these?
Me: No, its the ones that say Reds on the box.
Employee: Oh ok thanks Dude

Its depressing really. This girl had no idea about anything. Now all the kids around the area have no where else to go but there. Making the little kids complete retards.
 

[close]

I bet she knows a lot about DC and Etnies though.

If it's a boutique she's probably more interested in nikes and new balance, but the point still stands.

[The Math Professor]

Try walking into one. With a bearing emergency and the only place to get them for miles we had to buy some reds there.

Employee: Blah bah blah, Welcome looking for anything in particular
Me: We need some Reds
Employee: Oh what are those
Me: The bearings......
Employee: Oh, those are over here, are they these?
Me: No, its the ones that say Reds on the box.
Employee: Oh ok thanks Dude

Its depressing really. This girl had no idea about anything. Now all the kids around the area have no where else to go but there. Making the little kids complete retards.
 

  Was she at least hot?  My buddy and I used to go to FTC (the old location) all the time to watch the girl behind the counter climb up the ladder to grab us the decks we wanted to check out which just so happened to be at the top.  Sometimes you gotta make due with what you got.

[Fongstarr.]

Was she a short Filipino chick? I think I know who you're talking about. That is Jon Igei's girl......

[ShortyGSATX]

There is something to be said to try and find other avenues of bringing more people in your doors, offering hard to find brands and appealing to a different demographic than just skaters. You do stand to damage your rep in certain circles depending on what you bring in. It's a slippery slope, the type of product you carry dictates the customer base. I don't really want a bunch of street wear dudes hanging out but if they stop in every so often and maybe you have a diamond shirt they couldn't find anywhere else well thats fine.
Hopefully when we move to a bigger location we can clean it up a little, but I'm not trying for the super minimalistic look. Just less cramped racks and a nicer presentation.

I've owned a shop since '99 and worked in it since '92. I've seen all the trends come and go. We've been lucky enough to grow from a 700sq ft space to 2500 sq ft and just opened a second shop a couple months ago. It has always been a struggle. Yes, we carry the ever so hot right now Nike SB, Diamond, Supra NS...but also Manik, Stereo, Traffic, Roger and  tons of other brands we love to support. Those scenesters help pay the bills right now, just like Bam lovers did a couple years back. They help make it a little easier to stock those brands that we believe in, but don't move so fast. A lot of big corporations have come in and used skateboarding to make more money, so I have no problem in using their money to help support smaller companies as well as my local scene.
The line between what is a true shop and what isn't was blurred years ago by the Actives and Zumies of the world. Their online destruction made it hard for a lot of shops to compete and many went away. Some have adapted to what the modern kid wants and more often than not it's probably something that most owners don't think is cool. What is cool is no matter what deck or shoe that kid picked up, he picked it up from a skate shop and not a catalog, and he is also another kid that skates. It may be for only a year or two, but maybe it's for life.

[nick vic]

Active is pretty Core and seams to keep shit real...not sure if they're making $$ though, but there's one in every city there's a Tilly's.

sorrry kid, if an active being in every city there's a tilly's doesn't alone qualify it as the farthest from a core shop, i dont know what does.  They practically are tillys, just updated. and paid off enough pros to make you think they're keeping it real. 

[Sleazy]

Try walking into one. With a bearing emergency and the only place to get them for miles we had to buy some reds there.

Employee: Blah bah blah, Welcome looking for anything in particular
Me: We need some Reds
Employee: Oh what are those
Me: The bearings......
Employee: Oh, those are over here, are they these?
Me: No, its the ones that say Reds on the box.
Employee: Oh ok thanks Dude

Its depressing really. This girl had no idea about anything. Now all the kids around the area have no where else to go but there. Making the little kids complete retards.
 

girls working in a skate shop is my biggest pet peeve. it's fucking regular.

[bothersome]

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There is something to be said to try and find other avenues of bringing more people in your doors, offering hard to find brands and appealing to a different demographic than just skaters. You do stand to damage your rep in certain circles depending on what you bring in. It's a slippery slope, the type of product you carry dictates the customer base. I don't really want a bunch of street wear dudes hanging out but if they stop in every so often and maybe you have a diamond shirt they couldn't find anywhere else well thats fine.
Hopefully when we move to a bigger location we can clean it up a little, but I'm not trying for the super minimalistic look. Just less cramped racks and a nicer presentation.

[close]

I've owned a shop since '99 and worked in it since '92. I've seen all the trends come and go. We've been lucky enough to grow from a 700sq ft space to 2500 sq ft and just opened a second shop a couple months ago. It has always been a struggle. Yes, we carry the ever so hot right now Nike SB, Diamond, Supra NS...but also Manik, Stereo, Traffic, Roger and  tons of other brands we love to support. Those scenesters help pay the bills right now, just like Bam lovers did a couple years back. They help make it a little easier to stock those brands that we believe in, but don't move so fast. A lot of big corporations have come in and used skateboarding to make more money, so I have no problem in using their money to help support smaller companies as well as my local scene.
The line between what is a true shop and what isn't was blurred years ago by the Actives and Zumies of the world. Their online destruction made it hard for a lot of shops to compete and many went away. Some have adapted to what the modern kid wants and more often than not it's probably something that most owners don't think is cool. What is cool is no matter what deck or shoe that kid picked up, he picked it up from a skate shop and not a catalog, and he is also another kid that skates. It may be for only a year or two, but maybe it's for life.

well said.
were the same, been in business since 1977. No ones in it to get rich, just to be around what we love and help our scene grow.

[ShortyGSATX]

Thanks.
Definitely not in it for the money, my wife can attest to that. I do scratch out a living though. I also repped for Black Box for a few years and just switched to a new shoe brand.
It's rad to see skateboarding from 3 different aspects (skateboarder, shop owner, rep) It gives you a whole different perspective when you talk to kids and other shops.