éS Footwear

Shop Interview: Anonymous

Shop name: Anonymous Skateboard Shop
Year shop opened: 2000
Owner’s name: Fat Nick and Brotha Chris
Your name and job title: Owner / Art Fag
Address: 5334 Sidney Road, Cincinnati Ohio 45238
Phone: (513) 651-3767
Shop hours: Monday- Friday 12:00 noon - 8:00 pm, Saturday 12:00 noon - 6:00 pm, closed Sunday
Web site: Anonymous

How’s the shop doing?
The shop is doing really good. We started out in a part of Cincinnati called Clifton, which is the cool college area of Cincinnati. That turned out to be a mistake. The older skaters were running out customers by always kickin’ it in our small 500 square foot shop. Parents didn’t want to come due to the lack of parking, plus they just thought it was a ghetto, which, of course, it’s not.

Anyway, we moved to the West side of Cincinnati, which is were we actually grew up. The kids were just getting into skating and I am proud to say we helped create a whole new generation of skateboard dirtbags. We moved into a 2000 square foot palace with a four foot tall, 23 foot wide mini ramp in the store. Also, I’m proud to say Anonymous is the only skater-owned shop in town!

Who is your typical customer?
Right now, it is the 10-16 year old crowd, which is perfect.

Do you have any interesting shoplifting stories?
Hmm….only at the old shop, where some kids were kickin’ it all day. They shoved a pair of sale shoes into one of their bags. After they left, one of my kids told me that they just did something funny. So, I skated down the hill and caught them at the bus stop. I went through their bags and found a pair of stolen shoes. I threw all of their shit into the street and banned them from Clifton for life. (As if I had that power.) I think it worked, because I haven’t seen them since.

Do you get any crazy people coming in off the street?
It just so happens the other day I was in my shop all alone i-chatting Chris Sullivan, a designer at Alien Workshop, to get ready to call the police, because I felt like I was about to get robbed by some crazy 40-year-old. It turned out he was taking down his pants to get out a hidden pouch of money to buy a helmet. He wanted a helmet with a face guard because he took a dive on his bike. So, I sold him a skate helmet and a small elbow pad that he wrapped around his chin. Then he bought child-sized wrist guards and taped them on. It was crazy.

Name the most popular skate videos currently playing in the shop.
Instrument Skateboards from Cincinnati just finished an eight-minute vid featuring Gary Collins, Kokomo Joe, Alex Davis and James Frankhouse that the kids like a lot. Also, of course, the Baker video. Other than that, the kids are young and just want to skate in front of the shop or on the ramp.

Do you do any special events like video premieres, signings or demos?
Now that we own the building, we have barbecues in the Summer and try to get some teams to roll through to skate the ramp. A small concrete park we designed is gonna be built in Delhi, down the street from the shop. We’re also putting on the first-ever filming contest with five shops having their teams film for four days. Then we’ll show the video at a huge party. It should be interesting. Check our Web site for updates on that one.

Who are your shop team riders?
Gary Collins, Kokomo Joe, Sammy Holton, Chad Zellner, Doug Korfhagen, Dave Caddo, Devin Abner and hell, I’ll claim it, Alex Davis.

Do you have any shop team riders who are flowed by éS Sales Reps or team flow?
Sales Rep flow to Devin Abner, 16 and rising.

What’s the best part of running a skate shop?
Getting to do whatever I want, filming for videos, having a ramp inside the store. Owning a shop has pretty much been a dream of mine since 20 years ago when I first picked up a board.

Which éS shoes sell the best in your shop?
The Accel, of course, and the Kostons work out well for us, too.

What’s the best part about éS?
They are some of the best shoes made. éS has, in my opinion, always ran a pretty tight ship.

Shop Interviews, Interview.