Word on the street: Selma gets a skate shop

Published online on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Selma's skateboard park, built several years ago at Berry Park near downtown, has proved a popular venue for busting a sick grind or tailgrab.

Mike Anderson hopes popularity and proximity translate into business for his new skateboard store, Prodigy Boardshop. Anderson opened the store less than a month ago about a block from the skatepark.

It's a second outlet for Anderson, 35, who has operated Prodigy Boardshop and Shoes in Clovis' Sierra Vista Mall for about three years. Anderson said he'd received requests from customers at his Clovis store to open a new location in southern Fresno County because there aren't any skateboard-oriented specialty shops in Selma or the nearby towns of Kingsburg or Fowler.

"Skateboarders from the area are telling us it would be good because that [Selma] skatepark is always full of skaters," said Anderson, a longtime 'boarder who now rides only occasionally with his three sons and with a skateboard team sponsored by his store.

In a flailing economy, expanding a business might seem questionable. But skateboarders are a die-hard lot, Anderson said. "They may not be buying as much stuff, but they're not going to quit skating for a lack of money," he said.

The complexity of tricks that 'boarders attempt are hard on the equipment, creating a constant demand for skateboards and parts, Anderson said. "One bad landing and you can crack a deck," he said.

Opening the new store in Selma, he said, meets that need without customers having to drive miles -- or have their parents drive them -- to Fresno or Clovis for a replacement.

At about 1,700 square feet, the new shop at the northwest corner of West Front Street and Second Street is smaller than Anderson's Clovis store. But he's increasing its stock of skateboard hardware -- decks, tape, trucks, bearings and wheels -- and apparel including shoes, T-shirts and caps.

"It's a pretty competitive business," Anderson said. "The kids are pretty loyal to shops, but they'll chase price, too.

"And for a location, you really can't do better than this," he said. Second Street is the main thoroughfare off Highway 99 into downtown Selma, and it brings most of the town's skateboarders right past the store's front door and showroom windows, festooned with eye-grabbing skateboarding posters.

Anderson said the store is open from about noon to 8 p.m. weekdays, but he's still tinkering with the weekend hours as he learns Selma's business rhythms.

Teen entrepreneur

Ashley Garcia, 18, of Parlier loves vintage clothing so much that she has started her own line.

Garcia, who became a fan of vintage clothing when she was 16, has started Daisy lu Vintage, www.daisyluvintage.com.

Garcia started buying vintage clothing because it was inexpensive, but realized it had become such a passion that she wanted to turn it into a business. So, she buys clothes from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s from a wholesaler in Southern California.

She travels to Los Angeles, selects 200 to 300 pieces, packs them into her SUV and heads back to the central San Joaquin Valley. She is debuting her collection at a fashion show at 6 p.m. Saturday at Bethel Church, 946 Bethel Ave., in Sanger.

The Reedley College student and devout Christian sews a Bible passage -- often an inspirational message -- into each piece of clothing, usually in the back or on a hem. "It's subtle," she said. "I'm a Christian and want to minister through fashion."

Garcia is devoting a portion of the fashion show admission price -- $7 at the door, $5 in advance -- to the church. The rest will be used to reimburse the cost of putting on the event, which includes models and entertainment.