It's been a few years since there were bicycle and skateboard shops in the City of Pottsville, Leo Schwartz, city business privilege tax administrator, said Monday.
However, a sales and service shop specializing in both, Pottsville Bike and Board, will hold its grand opening at 10 a.m. Saturday at 125 W. Market St.
"There was no competition in the area and we picked a very good spot to put one. Because of the traffic, this spot is unbeatable," the owner, John Brock, 56, of Orwigsburg, said Monday.
Representatives of the Minersville Skate Park Association, which is working to establish a skate park in Minersville, will be at the grand opening Saturday to sell baked goods, James Domlesky, association president, said Monday.
Brock became a member of the association in January.
"He's down to earth. Nice guy. He said he'll do what he could to help us out," Domlesky said.
These outdoor sports are becoming more popular locally, since the City of Pottsville installed a skate park at Gen. George A. Joulwan Park in 2007, according to Domlesky.
"So this is a great idea. It's a growing sport. Towns don't realize how much it's been growing in the past couple of years," Domlesky said.
"The closest bike shop is in Shoemakersville and the closest skateboard shop, I think, is in Hamburg. So there's a void around here," Brock said.
The last skateboard sales and service shop in Pottsville was Exclusive Skate Shop, which opened at 306 W. Market St. in 2002 and closed in 2004, according to Schwartz.
The last bicycle sales and service shop in Pottsville was Chain Reaction Bike Shop Inc., which opened at 1413 W. Market St. in 2005 and closed in 2006, according to Schwartz.
On Monday, Brock was setting up the store in the heart of downtown Pottsville, across the street from Roma Pizza at 116 W. Market St.
He said he had more than 50 skateboards in stock and more than 70 new bicycles, including dirt bikes, mountain bikes and BMX bikes.
Bicycles prices from range from $329 to $3,200 and complete skateboards range from $129 to $159, he said.
"It depends on how fancy and how fast you want to go," Brock said.
Brock and his three part-time employees also do repairs and restorations.
"Right now, I'm in the process of restoring a 1929 Shelby bicycle," he said.
Born in Meadville, Crawford County, in 1955, Brock said he and his family moved to California when he was 10. From 1990 until 2002, he said he worked in film and television production as a set designer and technical adviser. Notable projects he worked on included the 2000 Nicholas Cage film "Gone In 60 Seconds."
"I was involved in setting up the garage scenes," Brock said.
In 2001, he worked on the TV series "Junkyard Wars" for TLC.
In 2007, he moved back to Pennsylvania. He worked for Waste Management in Pittsburgh as a maintenance supervisor from 2007 to 2009. After that, he worked for Ride the Ducks, a land and water sightseeing tour of Philadelphia, as a maintenance supervisor from 2009 to 2011.
Brock said he's always been a bicycle enthusiast.
"Being a little short, I'm only 5'6'', it doesn't make me very competitive in anything like football. So I went out on bicycles and ran away from all the taller guys," Brock said.
Last year, he moved to Orwigsburg and decided to open his own bicycle and skateboard repair shop.
"We made that decision in October, after I examined the area, basically the general vicinity, from as far south as Orwigsburg and as far north as Kulpmont. We saw there was a shortage of bike shops," Brock said.
While sporting goods stores at local malls may sell skateboards and bicycles, Brock said the area needed a shop which specialized in these products.
His store will be open six days a week: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
The store phone number is 570-622-4884.