Smugglers Skate Shop talks to Skateism

George Gray and Daniel Ozler have embarked on a real journey together: opening a skate shop in their local area. They started from scratch, both under 20 years old, and are already gearing up for their official opening day this weekend! We went along to talk to them, and couldn’t ask for a better turn out. They welcomed Skateism into their place, and showed us everything they’d been working on: all DIY where possible, and pure of heart. No two nicer guys, and you can feel their friendship in their joking around and finishing of each others sentences! Check it out for yourself…

Hey guys
George: Hi Osh.

Working hard or hardly working?
George: Hardly working.

Really?
George: Yes.
Oz: Is this [the interview]?

So, how did you guys meet?
Oz: I remember you were skating down Mundsley [skatepark] and we were like two little school girls, because we both knew each other, but I didn’t know whether I should say hello to you or not. Then I think we said hello, and messaged each other on Facebook.
George: yeah, Mundsley skatepark days.

How did you get from there, to wanting to open a skate shop?
George: It was only this Summer.
Oz: Yeah, this Summer I finished my art course and I was bumming around and didn’t really know what to do.
George: and I was having a year out too.
Oz: Yeah, and I was working a really shit 12 hour shift factory job. I really didn’t want to do that sort of stuff the rest of my life, so I thought “let’s open a skateshop”.
George: I had got myself a job at Wetherspoon’s [pub] and that wasn’t working out either so we both ended up in these dead end situations, and thought we’d rather do something more fun.
Oz: I came down to Mundsley skatepark with a load of shops [properties] and asked George which one we should go for, and we spent six months of our time chasing down a shop we never ended up getting.

Where was that?
Oz: It was just round the corner, in town, but they were just really apathetic and didn’t want to do business with us at all.
George: Yeah, we kinda got messed around.
Oz: So then we found this place that we have now, and it’s going really well.

Do you prefer it in your current place?
Oz: It’s great, we have the courtyard.
George: I love the courtyard.
Oz: It’s more of a space we can do stuff with.
George: It’s like a pirate cove, and I think that works with the name Smugglers, you come down this little alleyway and it’s, not hidden, but nice and discreet.

And what are the other shops in the courtyard like?
Oz: They’re a bit mundane. Which is quite normal for North Walsham: a recruitments agency and an opticians.
George: Good neighbours, though.
Oz: Yeah, good neighbours.
George: We’re all fighting over carpark spaces.

You gonna skate out there then?
Both: Not yet.
George: We don’t want to make any enemies.
Oz: We’ll see how it goes.

What have been the biggest surprises?
George: The way we’ve managed it, we hadn’t planned anything.
Oz: We accidentally tied things in really well. We did plan to have a theme or anything, but it ended up being like that anyway. Sofas, pallets, chairs, tied into a theme really well.
George: Anmar [Mirza]’s artwork ties it all in really well.
Oz: Yeah the first day when we saw the mural we thought…
George: It just felt real.
Oz: No longer the shitty pink hairdresses we managed to get ourselves into.
George: Codswallop hairdressers.

I think it looks great, accidental or not. What’s the vision now, then?
George: We want to be fairly diverse, we don’t want to just be a skate shop that only skaters can come into.
Oz: Yeah we want people to just come in and chill out, there’s nowhere in North Walsham where people can do that; just cafes and stuff.
George: I think students around here feel quite alienated with their surroundings, there’s nowhere where young people can come and chill out.

How’re you going to achieve that?
George: Just sell lots of cups of tea.
[laughs]
Oz: Yeah we’re just opening another cafe in North Walsham.
George: We’re going to have music playing in here and have an easy atmosphere.

Have you had much support from people?
Oz: Friends and family have done so much to help us out.
George: We couldn’t have done it without them.
Oz: There’s not been a day that me and George…
George: …haven’t received something for free.
Oz: Or been doing work ourselves without friends or family coming in.
George: Yeah everyone’s been really up for being a part of it, which is great.

Are you going to be throwing events too, or anything?
Oz: Completely, yeah. Friends in London that are into music are keen to throw events here. It’s not just a shop, it’s just a place where we can plan things and be a hub for a bigger skate scene in Norfolk. I’m just really keen to diversify the scene in Norfolk.
George: We wanted to get people’s artwork in here, even with Anmar’s thing up here, it just feels like such a creative atmosphere. We’ll be printing our tshirts in here, and I’m going to be using it as a studio for my university work. I’d love people to just come in and work on stuff.

I can’t wait to see the printed T-shirts. What about boards?
Both: Yeah
Oz: We’ve already talked about that. We’re planning to print our own boards.
George: Collaborations might be in the mix as well.

Maybe get some of Mirza’s work on a deck?
George: Definitely, he was the first person we spoke to about that.

Cool. And other than your own products, who are you stocking and how have you found collecting that all together?
Oz: Milk has been hugely help.
George: Absolutely lovely guy.
Oz: From the first phone call he was really keen to back us, and Power distributor has been a great help from the start too. It’s been such an episode, getting everything ready to buy stock and things like that, and he’s been so helpful the whole way.
But yeah, Heroin, Witchcraft, Death, Isle, keen to get all them in.
George: We’re really interested in getting more local brands in. We’re just looking forward to creating a web of local talent along with bigger and wider scope of Heroin and Death, etc.

It some seem that you are following the more independent brands.
Oz: It was intentional. We just wanted to stock the things we liked. I wanted to make a shop from the get go that I would want to go in and buy their stuff.
George: So many shops have you going in, walking around, and going out; we don’t want that uneasy atmosphere. Come in and chill out, and have a cup of tea, and then come back…
Oz: …And buy our shit.
[Laughs]

Problems in the future, what do you see getting in your way?
George: Well, the amount of money we’ve spent so far is terrifying.
Oz: Yeah, to make the shop the way you want it, you don’t realise how much expenditure you get through. But I wasn’t going to go with any half measures, we knew from the started we wanted it to be the place that we’ve always visualised.
George: It has to have an image at the end of the day, for it to be our thing, and a part of us.

Anyone you want to thank, or any promos?
Oz: I really want to thank Anmar for doing the mural. My dad (Kevin) for all the hard work he’s put in. He made so much of this stuff.
George: Lifesaver.
Oz: Without all the people like that, backing us financially too, it’s been a huge help.
George: Will Griffiths for doing the posters. Absolutely great posters.
Oz: Cheers, Will. That’s pretty much it.
George: All our friends and family.
Oz: The shop is opening this Saturday, [May 7th], so everyone is welcome to that.

What advice would you have for anyone doing anything similar? Warnings?
Oz: Don’t buy a hairdressers who stick hair to the walls.
George: Fucking disgusting, we’ve been picking hair off the walls.
Oz: Had to spend seven pots of paint getting it off.
George: Add waterler to your paint, it took us nearly two weeks of paint to do this, if we had added waterler it might have been easier.
Just go for it, jump in at the deep end, or you might regret it in the future.

Thanks guys. Good luck, and Keep Pushing…
George: Thanks alot
Oz: Yeah, cheers.