Wake N Skate has closed?

I was tryna look at some boards on their site but I'm just getting a message saying their closed.

What's the deal ?

They went bankrupt 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's now owned by a bank... Unfortunately. This means I have nowhere to go just kill time anymore...

Sucks. I tried to go on yesterday but it froze up and today I got that message. What a bummer.

i just heard today. i was bummed too.

This is a very sad day they had one of the nicest if not the nicest wakeboard pro shop the tri-state area. Does anyone know what happened? They seemed to be doing fine by switching to go with AXIS boats and selling boards like crazy.

My guess is that despite business booming like crazy over the summer, winter hit and the sales just stopped. They were always real slow when I'd swing by on my trips home from school, but they were always slow in the winter, so I dunno. I might ask Micah about it next time I see him, but that feels like a rude question to ask, so we'll see.

This is a big blow to the area, since now we all have to rely on internet boardshops to get our gear. Smith Mountain Lake has a huge wakeboarding community, so the loss of a local shop means that growth of the sport in the area is likely to be stunted, since it makes it more difficult for locals to get their hands on equipment. Not to mention most of the guys I ride with were either sponsored by Wake'N'Skate or bought their gear there. Very few people around here buy stuff online, because it was just easier to get it from that shop. It also sucks because WNS was one of the primary sponsors for VT Wakeboarding.

I was talking to one of the former managers there, and he doesn't think that the bank will liquidate the merchandise, so hopefully someone with a lot of capital will come along and buy the shop and get it going again, but I dunno.

Originally Posted by wakeboardern1

My guess is that despite business booming like crazy over the summer, winter hit and the sales just stopped. They were always real slow when I'd swing by on my trips home from school, but they were always slow in the winter, so I dunno. I might ask Micah about it next time I see him, but that feels like a rude question to ask, so we'll see.

This is a big blow to the area, since now we all have to rely on internet boardshops to get our gear. Smith Mountain Lake has a huge wakeboarding community, so the loss of a local shop means that growth of the sport in the area is likely to be stunted, since it makes it more difficult for locals to get their hands on equipment. Not to mention most of the guys I ride with were either sponsored by Wake'N'Skate or bought their gear there. Very few people around here buy stuff online, because it was just easier to get it from that shop. It also sucks because WNS was one of the primary sponsors for VT Wakeboarding.

I was talking to one of the former managers there, and he doesn't think that the bank will liquidate the merchandise, so hopefully someone with a lot of capital will come along and buy the shop and get it going again, but I dunno.

Hopefully they can restructure and this all works out. It's justa shame to see a such a great shop go under.

Nick, that is a shame.....such a cool shop with plenty of inventory to choose from. (maybe that was part of the problem?)

Hopefully someone will start up a new store in that area.

Its a sad day when one of the biggest board shops in the country goes under, but as Nick said, there is hope that it will be bought and keep going. We'll see, but it really sucks for the area, the riders, etc.

If your local shop is still going, your lucky, give them all the support you can. We need these shops.

Times are really bad for us boardshop owners.
We were down 60% for 2010 and so far 2011 is not any better.
Support you local boardshops when possible.



Sorry to hear about wake n skate.

Does anyone know what cause Wake N Skates ultimate bankruptcy? They seem to do very well in the summer and slow in winter just like any other wakebaord shop.

EVERYTIME that you buy online, you are casting a vote that you DO NOT want a local board shop. ALWAYS buy from your local shop, if you have one.

^^^ WakeNSkate had a great online store. Just Sayin....

Yeah. they were working hard at getting their online business off the ground, and that's where a majority of their board sales came from.

I know why it went out of business now, but I'm not entirely sure that it's my place to say. Maybe Micah will run across this thread (he's posted answers involving wakenskate here before, but I dunno if he cares that much). Suffice it to say, when it slows down in the winter here, it REALLY slows down. A ton of businesses on SML tend to declare "bankruptcy" during the winter and then come back when it warms up. That's not what WNS did, but it happens a lot here that shop owners can't afford to stay open during the winter. The economy becomes beyond bad for all of the businesses in the area as soon as school starts back up and the tourism dries up.

http://www.boattrader.com/listing/20...-A-22-97488760

Saw that there boat was up for sale a couple days ago.

Wake and Skate will soon reopen as WakeZone with a new owner.

BTW - My wife, son, and I just moved to SML. Let me know if anyone needs a 3rd. Cheers! -Doug

That's good news glad to hear that.

WakeZone is the name of a Cable Park in Ok.

http://www.cablewakezone.com/

Jeff,

WakeZone is already open in Wake'N'Skate's old shop location from what I've heard from my friends that live at the lake. Just cause there is a cable park called WakeZone doesn't mean that there can't be a boardshop called that as well. I think that's what you're getting at, if not, my mistake.

There was actually another Wake'N'Skate boardshop out in Cali that had no affiliation to this one.

Just telling it like it is, not getting at anything.

HUM - they were all closed up early Saturday and Sunday when I was at the bridgewater. I think I heard the new owner got the wakezone.com domain name...

There are also 366,000 google hits for wakezone. A house boat rental in AZ, a coffeehouse in NC, etc...http://goo.gl/EzvjG