I recently had a chance to speak with Erica Anderson, owner of the Sk8 Shack, which is just about my favorite store.  They carry all the prerequisites of a skate shop but they also have a huge selection of really cool clothes.

A lot of shops have that, but Erica really has an amazing attention to detail when it comes to merchandising. As the buyer for Sk8 Shack she really makes sure the clothing items are very easy to coordinate and mix 'n match. You have to go in and see what I mean.

While talking to Erica, I noticed one really cool deck and Erica mentioned that one of her employees had designed it. 

VJ:  So you design your own boards?

EJ: One of our employees does graphics for our boards. We have all the pro skate boards, but we also do a lot of our own $20 to $30 boards. When I opened the store I really wanted it to be a price point for kids. I didn't want to undercut anybody, but I kind of felt like, you know, this is a kids deal and it needed to be priced accordingly for them. I wasn't in the mall and I wasn't in a key location and I knew that going in, but for me it was always 'make it affordable for the kids,' because they don't have a lot of money and the parents are struggling. In this neighborhood we have a big [socio-economic] mix and I am really sensitive to that. It's the neighborhood I grew up in, and that I live in. As a business person I take that into consideration. Sales are constant and once a year we have a huge sale called March Madness and I blow out all the stuff from back- to- school, the holidays, or last summer. It gives the kids a break and it helps me turn product which can be hard in the first quarter of the year.

VJ: And how long have you been open?

EJ: Three years this month.

VJ: Does the competition [from Fresno stores] affect your business? I mean how long did it take you to feel like this would work?

EJ: Well, the first six months we turned profit, so I knew we were in the right business, but it's always scary when you open up a new business. I just really wanted to own a family business, so I could work with my kids and make it so their friends would feel comfortable coming in here, not a hangout, but a safe place. I also got involved with The Clovis Rotary – I'm a Rotarian and we did the skate park.

VJ: The one over here on Villa?

EJ: Yeah, that was our yearly project for 2000, so we financed about $150,000 of that through rotary grants, and we spent a lot of time just working with the kids, building that whole relationship with the City.

VJ: -Which must have been hard, because a lot of cities don't go for it – I remember when Madera was supposed to build a skate park and that just fell apart.

EJ: Well, yeah, the city went back and forth they weren't really sure if they wanted this in Clovis. We organized about 50 kids who all skated down Bullard through Farmer's Market to a city council meeting.  The council held an open forum giving kids exposure to the political arena. The forum gave both sides exposure to each other and realize there were misconceptions on both sides. I think it really helped get that park open, because it got the right people behind it. Getting support for skating is hard - it's not an organized team sport, so people don't think there is a profit in it, but skating can bring revenue - look at the X-games and how extreme sports are even getting into the Olympics.

VJ: I don't know why the city wouldn't want to support it, kids are going to do it anyway, and it's a positive thing, so why not make a place where they can go?

EJ: Yeah, kids are going to do it so it is better for them to have a place where they can go and at least be safe. We also have annual events. We just had a skate competition called “Skate attack at the Shack,” We also go to Prather with Element and have the “Elemental Awareness” which is a skate camp which ties in with the YMCA summer camp at Lake Sequoia in June, July, and part of August.

We bring in Pro skaters and the kids also get the whole camping experience. It's not just 'send your kids up there and we'll teach them to skate.' They also learn survival skills - cool stuff like how to start a fire, so it's a really neat experience for them. We usually have a couple of different Pros each week.

VJ: what are the age groups for that?

EJ: Six and up, so we get K though seniors in high school and even college kids, who often are mentors to the younger kids.

VJ: Do you pull a lot of business from other parts of town? you don't really do a lot of advertising.

EJ: Most our business is by word of mouth and I think I'm successful because I treat my customers with respect, not to say that our competitors don't do that, but that's been my strong point. And my customers like the personal one on one attention I can give them, which they don't usually get from other proprietors. Also, we have a really big selection for girls. I've also been really sensitive to what the people are asking for. I've focused on bringing in a variety of merchandise and creating whole looks.   It's all these things that set us apart.

VJ: (which is why you should take those ten extra minutes to go over and check them out.)

Sk8 Shack is located at 80 W. Bullard Avenue off of Minnewawa.