Shallow End Skate Shop A Somers Team Client Story
It started with a simple call to see a Somers Team listing. Soon, with the Somers' help, Pete Mackay built the skate shop of his dreams. If you're looking to start a new business like Pete, ask the Somers how!
Pete Mackay, Owner,
Shallow End Skate Shop
“Everything that’s available in the shop is available on the website.”
Pete says Shallow End caters to a different crowd than the majority of Philadelphia skate shops. “We offer collector boards, shaped boards for guys that are into transition skating, kind of the grimier side of skateboarding that doesn’t have a huge representation as far as businesses in the area. I try to speak for the unspoken for.”
Pete's first business venture is a skateboard brand called Gnarhammered skateboards.
“When that brand started we were just hand cutting boards and screen printing them in my garage. Now we are in every shop in the Northeast.”
Pete is one of a collective of small business owners along the further north corridor of Frankford Avenue. Part of a larger revival of Kensington and Fishtown, they're committed to engaging with the residents and helping improve the neighborhood.
“I have a lot of people that come from the suburbs and further away to support me. Although, in the area, I have a lot of the youth coming in from Kensington who don’t have many places to go. They're a little bit rough around the edges, but I’m totally comfortable with that and I want them to feel at home here. So, literally half the time I’m here I’m feeding them, or letting them do their homework here. I just try to be that big brother they may not have at home.”
Pete’s got some ambitious plans for 2016. He wants to open an indoor private skatepark in close proximity to the shop, and is scouting a suburban location.
The shop also contributes to charity. While I was there some local skateboarder guys stopped by to collect from the bucket Shallow End Skate had set up for donations to FDR Skate Park, notoriously DIY’ed under 95 in South Philadelphia.
“It’s twice as good (as other local parks) and it’s 100% built by skaters, all the money was raised by skaters, all done by hand. If they had a little more faith in the community and in people in general and let people take pride in what they’re doing then it would have a positive side effect. So I just try to support that as much as possible and help it grow.”
The Somers Team helps local businesses grow neighborhoods.
Pete is an example of what a small business person with vision and grit can do with an affordable location in an up-and-coming neighborhood. The Somers helped him find his forever home for Shallow End Skate Shop. Let the Somers Team find your new business location.