This summer we had the chance to hit the road with adidas Skateboarding, stopping at skateshops and doing demos at their local parks around the Northeast. During each stop we spoke with the shop owners to get their insight about what it means to have tours come through their town.
New Brunswick, NJ
We started in New Brunswick, the home of NJ Skateshop where Chris and Steve have been celebrating 20 years of holding it down for the community. This stop included a huge giveback before the demo, with boards, shoes, and safety gear being handed out by Super Skate Posse and some of the team.
“It’s important man, it means a lot. Aside from helping move product, the real thing is just that emotional connection. That one to one connection, meeting kids across the country and across the world that’s most impactful. When NJ opened 20 years ago, I kid you not, we were doing about forty demos a year. Now adidas is the only demo we’ve had in 2023. At some point it became where you had to be able to get to the place in a van from LA. They just weren’t coming East anymore. Having teams come through to bring everyone together was so helpful to build our scene and our community.”
-Chris Nieratko
Reading, PA
From New Brunswick we headed to Reading. A small Pennsylvanian town where JD has been holding down Holistic Skateshop for the past eleven years. JD was around for the start of the magazine back in Philly so it was cool to catch up with him and see all he’s been doing for his local scene. They definitely don’t have a lot of pros passing through there. You could see how much this visit meant to everyone by the full autograph signing at the shop, and the very hyped demo at the old metal prefab park.
“I think it means a lot to the kids, and that’s really what matters. No matter how old we are now, when we were teenagers we got into skating because we saw it in magazines or videos. So you’d watch skaters from videos, or see photos of them, but to have them come to your hometown to skate is unreal. As shops we do so much to support these brands on a grassroots level. You can do all the marketing you want, but when the kids walk through our doors we’re the ones telling them what we skate. So to have those brands come back in the doors, it goes a long way. Kids are going to remember this for years and when you make those memories it goes a long way towards selling products, which is what keeps skateshops open.”
-JD Turner
Philadelphia, PA
After Reading we were hyped to get to Philly for a few days to see some familiar faces and skate some classic spots. Our first night they had a Superstar art show at Nocturnal Skateshop where local artists used shelltoes as their canvas. It was a solid turnout and we were able to see some old friends and make some new ones. Spirits were high during our stay, and not even locking the keys in the van after the demo could kill the vibe. Shoutout to the homie that brought us cases of cold brew coffee and CJ for the case of silver bullets that made waiting for the locksmith a little easier.
p- Landi
As you likely know, the city is in the process of destroying the last remaining plaza they have. It’ll probably be dirt by the time you’re reading this, which made it all the more special to get a late night session at Muni with the squad. The demolition of the plaza has been going on for weeks and every day there’s a little less left. People have been finding new ways and things to skate amongst the rubble and Daewon was no exception, quickly setting up a sketchy half pipe only he could’ve seen.
Wilmington, DE
Wilmington is home to Kinetic Skateshop, which is owned by Brannon John, who also owns Nocturnal in Philly. It was a short stay in Wilmington, just under 24 hours, but we were able to stop by the shop and hit some street spots before pulling up to the park for the last demo of the tour. Jonathan and Felipe were playing S.K.A.T.E at the last spot before the demo and when we got to the park the competition continued for everyone to watch. A local announced the whole demo, no megaphone, just yelling out skaters from the team along with locals’ names as they killed the park.
“I’m always just really hyped when a brand comes out and does a demo and puts on for the kids because it excites them to skate, and that’s the whole point. The basis of our business model at Kinetic, when we started, was supporting brands that will come do demos. The whole idea was, how do we get the California dream to come to Delaware? The brands that come do demos on the east coast to hype skateboarding, do good for the community, and make a reason for the biggest gatherings of the community are awesome.
No one opens a skateshop because they love retail, they open a shop because they’re gigantic nerds behind the counter critiquing kickflips and we love it, it’s awesome. We used to get five, six, seven demos every summer coming to Wilmington, now we maybe get one or two over a year. It’s changing though, big brands are starting to do tours again. I think they realized that skateboarding is the point, a fashion show is not. The shop employees in Philly will say they’re indifferent, but when Daewon walks in the room they all fan out. We are all fans of skateboarding. The coolest cool guys downtown are fans of skateboarding and will be impacted by the people they’ve grown up watching in videos. It’s changed, the videos are different, you know I grew up watching the same video a thousand times. Nowadays kids grow up watching a thousand videos, but if they get to meet someone from one of them it’s impactful.”
– Brannon John
Washington, DC
D.C. was the last stop with no real demos or plans besides hitting the plaza and some spots for some last clips, photos, and a few impromptu autographs. We were staying downtown only a few blocks from the White House and more importantly Pulaski. After seeing the rubble of Muni, it was amazing to see a thriving and beautiful plaza scene in D.C. Since we didn’t have anything official planned with Brian at Crushed Skateshop, we decided to ask Matt Milligan about why he feels tours are important in the year 2023, and the differences from when he first started getting in the van.
“I went on a lot of tours with New Deal. My first tour was probably ‘94 or ‘95 and from then on there were
tours happening every year. All of those tours from the mid nineties to the deep 2000’s were just companies that got their riders together, put ‘em in a van, and drove around. You visited skateshops, did demos, street skated, slept eight people in a hotel room. Gas station food, no food, corn dogs, whatever was available, you made it work.
If I compared the tours from the 90’s to what we have going on now, they have the same feeling to be honest. Maybe the budgets have changed a little and we’re staying in nicer hotels, having nicer meals.
“We’re not all piled into the Motel 6 and eating Taco Bell, but if you take meals and hotels out of the equation it’s the exact same feeling.“
It’s skateboarding, and that’s what matters. If we were on this tour and there were only Motel 6’s and Taco Bells, we’d still do it. Everyone here would still be like, “Sign me up. Can we meet new people? Can we see smiles and stoke kids out? Can the kids stoke us out?” That’s what it’s all about. I don’t think the mindset has changed, visiting skateshops and skating with the kids hasn’t changed. Being a part of the community hasn’t changed either and I think that’s what was missing for a long time.
Another key aspect for me personally is the skateshops. Adidas coming and supporting the shops supports skateboarding on a bigger level. Those communities benefit from us just coming in and being there. Like, Daewon is gonna sit down and talk to every kid that wants to talk to him at every demo. That provides a lasting impact. That’s what makes a kid that might be interested in skateboarding become a lifer. Or it makes someone that is already a lifer, just completely fulfilled with the skateboard dream. That goes a long way.”
-Matt Milligan
We took eleven days to drive from New York to Washington, DC and we drove back in six hours. It was an amazing way to travel the Northeast and truly spend some time with each of these communities. Thank you to everyone who came out, every skateshop that put on for us, and everyone at adidas for welcoming us into the van. Looking forward to the next one already.
