Boarders mean business
If you stand real still and hold out your hand with a sticker to give away, they will come – up from under the freeway, out from the snow- blanketed forest, in from the glass mirror lake. Skateboarders, snowboarders and wakeboarders are grinding and soaring through a culture all their own, one that is growing in Spokane by leaps and bounds. Jason and Kim Cline, new owners of Local 77 in Spokane Valley, are two peas growing in that pod. The couple took over the skate and snowboard shop in March and have nestled into their niche. Jason Cline tells us what they have in store.
Q What is the most important element of owning a skate and snowboard shop?
A Products, employees, image – it’s all part of the equation in making the store run the way it should. You’re providing a service to the costumers, and image is definitely a big part of that. We want to try to get as many people as we can stoked on the sports.
Q What is the common advice costumers seek?
A It’s different with different seasons. With snowboarding, it’s stance step-up, brands and technical knowledge. Skate is a little different because those kids come in knowing what they want. As far as the little kids who are just getting into skateboarding, it’s mostly the parents trying to figure out what’s best for their kids.
Q What plans do you have for Local 77? What changes will you make in terms of brands, products, community outreach and image?
A We definitely want to do some more comps, you know, skate comps during the summer, and get kids stoked on it. Snowboarding, the same thing. We have a skate team right now and a snowboard team. Our skate team actually just put out a video; Bruce (Moore) from Nxstep just made that. And, I’ve already brought in some different brands that the other guys didn’t carry, such as Sessions and Innes and the more core skateboard companies like Black Label and Anti Hero. For snowboards, we’re bringing in Rome and a little brand called Dinosaurs Will Die out of Vancouver, B.C.
Q What types of sponsorships, if any, will you offer and how will you choose who receives those?
A We like to offer them to the younger kids, the high schoolers, around 18 years or so, but (laughing) right now we just got a guy who’s 30 and he can just rule it. Normally, the kids turn in a video, some footage of themselves, and we pick and choose from there. We’re definitely looking for some younger kids doing stuff that nobody else their age is doing.
Q Do you plan on doing any events on the mountains this season?
A We plan on doing a Demo Day with Burton in January. And we got hooked up with a guy named Tim Vorpahl who’s got a contract for the next three years to have a rail jam down by the (Riverfront Park) Clocktower for First Night. (See Page 3 for details.) There’s a bunch of different guys involved in it: Alpine House, Imagination Graphics, The Nothing. We’re going to have probably 30 riders, and it’s going to be more of an exhibition rather than a contest. But we’ll still do stuff for best trick, best bail, crowd’s favorite.
Q How would you characterize the skate and snowboard culture in Spokane?
A I think it has room to grow. There are more events that can be put on and there is a lot more support that can be put toward getting more kids involved in it. It can be a little more positive; we should try to get another skate park in the Valley. We have YMCA, but it would be nice to have something like Hillyard or downtown. I think there’s a ton of room to encourage the kids to pursue skateboarding, snowboarding or wakeboarding.