Abb and Jennifer Grumbles, East Texas natives, moved back to Lufkin from California in 2015 to start The Roofing Company; little did they know, they would be opening a new skate shop less than seven months later.
Main Street Skate Shop opened on First Street in Downtown Lufkin on Oct. 15, a month earlier than the Grumbles thought they would be opening the store.
So, we sat down with the duo to find out more information on the skate shop and why they opened it. Keep reading for more of our interview!
Are you from around here?
Abb: Pretty much all our lives. We moved out to California for a while, but we moved back here.
What made you want to open a skate shop in Lufkin?
Abb: Several people’s asked me that, and I just think, “Why do anything? Why open anything?” I guess you could say it’s for the kids and because there isn’t one here. It was the opportunity.
Jennifer: When we were thinking about opening a skate shop we didn’t even know about the new skate park that’s opening in Lufkin. We just decided we wanted to do that a few months ago. Since then we’ve had a lot of people come in. We’ve sold about 20 boards. We’ve sold some clothing. Mainly the kids want our shirts that Abb designed. We’ve sold a lot of hardware like wheels and bearings. Everyone is just so excited that we’re here, that they have somewhere to go now.
Why Downtown?
Abb: I’ve always said, “Put your cart in front of your house.” You have all kinds of stores for baseball here. Soccer is starting to sprout up, and you have all kinds of stores for soccer, even football. But where can you buy anything about skating? You have to travel to Tyler or Houston. We wanted to open a local mom and pop shop, not a chain store, to bring it back to what it’s supposed to be. We already had the roofing company– that’s what pays for the skate shop, and we live here, too. It was opportunity.
Jennifer: We like downtown. We had planned to open it in another building as an old style arcade, pizza, and skate shop, but that fell through. So, we decided to open it in the building we had.
Do you like skating?
Abb: I used to skate a lot in the 80s and 90s, but I stopped skating. I plan on learning again for the youngsters.
Jennifer: I don’t know how to skate, but I did learn how to put together a board.
When are you open?
Abb: Everyone keeps asking that, but our hours are kind of flexible right now. We’re officially open Wednesday through Saturday now, but we might change it.
Jennifer: We aren’t really open on Mondays and Tuesdays, but people still come in. I’m here for the Roofing Company, and when it’s not too busy I can let people come in to look around and buy. This one guy came in this morning and got some wheels and bearings. He said, “So how long do you plan on being open?” I said, “You’re like the second person to ask that.” Like, do you go into business thinking, I’m just going to do this for a month and quite? No, that’s a weird question. I don’t want to close next week.
What is your favorite thing about owning a skate shop?
Abb: Talking to people my age about 80s style skating. Like, I got a guy who comes in here and helps me out sometimes with roofing houses, and he’s younger. He’s in his 20s, and he can talk to the younger kids who come in here. He knows all the names of the skateboarders now. I don’t know who they are; they’re after my time. But when the older people come in, in their 40s, we can have good conversations about the 80s and 90s. So far, the conversations with people my age about the old days are my favorite thing about owning a skate shop.
More on why the Grumbles are doing what they are doing:
Abb: As far as the money, we aren’t doing it for the money, we’re doing it for the kids. Not to make money.
Jennifer: We pretty much sell and re-buy We do make a little bit, but we take the profit we get and turn around and use it to buy new product. Or we go to Houston and pick it up.
