commentary

okay. by now hopefully everybody knows the shop is officially closed. it was a fun 6 plus years..for real..i had a good time..but it was just time. it was burnin me out. i always had pretty high hopes for the success of the shop, and for the most part it was a success..many friends came and went..blah, blah, blah..i could go on, simply put, if you have a few good memories from it all then it was a success..over a year ago i started thinkin about closing the shop, we just werent busy enough to make it happen, even when i moved the shop to lowell, part of that was planning for closing around september '09 , it would have been nice to have been able to just put somebody in there to work and i could go on and do something new, but it just wasnt workin out like that. it just looked to me like skateboarding in general was headin in the wrong direction again, all washed out and cheesy, i mean theres some tv show on the disney channel now about two skater kids, mtv has had at least 3 shows about skaters, a whole pile of lame crap on fuel tv, and tons of big name skate brands in department stores..and thats not just it..it was like skateboarding was gettin bigger and more acceptable which was poising it to be a sport, and then i think about the time jake brown fell outta the sky at the xgames the publics interest fell with him. it was like it got so huge again that it was destined for an even bigger fall than ever before. skateboarding wasnt keepin kids off drugs, or keepin kids off the video games, it wasnt making better people out of the youth, it wasnt a healthy alternative means of fitness, and it increasingly had worse and worse role models..as much as any pro wants to say "i aint no role model" they are.i got real discouraged about skating. i didnt see it being a positve influence on kids, and i wasnt at all pumped about taking part in it. i mean i could do what i could from my position, but it wasnt enough. the industry, the pros, the media has way more pull than some old-school skater at the local skate shop. i understand that skateboarding has been and always should be "underground", it will always be a fringe hobby, its not for everybody..and thats my point. when everybody gets involved it gets weird. watered down, filtered out coolness that everybody wants a piece of and that messes up everything. good luck figuring that out. and like i mentioned before, i think another huge downfall for skating in general is fashion and labels. i wont elaborate on that just yet..i'll save it for another blog entry.. anyway, theres a ton of reasons the shop is closed, and of course a lack of money is number one, and then a whole list of other reasons. i give it three years before the skaters and mainly the economy can support a skate shop in gastonia, hopefully somebody proves me wrong.thanksallen

goin out of business sale

hartke 4x12 guitar cabinet $200
ping pong table $100
stereo and speakers $150
cd player $40
dvd's 1$
tshirts 5$
a few other items
sideprojectskate@aol.com
thanks
allen

shop clip...

random...

I got this really
old skateboard
at Goodwill
one day for $5,

it says a lot about
skateboading to me...

Welcome...

thanks...
allen