By Lisa Morgan –
I learned long ago not to let first impressions tell the whole story. Whether it’s a person, place or thing, you need to look a little deeper to get to the heart of things. And what lies at the heart of this little shop is a whole lot of passion for the Coachella Valley skating community.
When you walk into the shop you’ll most likely meet Andrew Jaymes. Fresh out of college with a strong background in marketing and apparel production, Andrew himself is a prodigy of the skate boarding community that has been nurtured by Glen Coy and his Epidemic skate shop, established in the Coachella Valley in 2001. “My history with epidemic goes back 8 years. I was fortunate enough to be part of the Epidemic Skateboard team in high school,” Andrew shared. “I was able to explore most of the west coast with other local skateboarders during that time. Epidemic’s skate program includes riders, photographers, videographers, and many others that contribute to projects centered around skateboarding.” With the presence of this skate shop in Palm Springs, Andrew carries on the tradition of providing unique and quality products to the local skate community. Andrew hopes to provide local skaters with a place to network, as well as to learn and grow in the sport as he did. Meanwhile, the shop is the place to purchase and maintain the equipment needed by skaters to hone their sport. Having been given such a positive influence and amazing opportunities through Epidemic’s skate team, Andrew jumped on this business opportunity as a chance of a lifetime. His love for the sport and what it stands for are evident. You can see Andrew and several others in the skate video on YouTube entitled “Kaleidoscope”. There is also a new full length video entitled “Blood, Sweat and 12 Years” featuring a new fleet of Epidemic skaters.
The Shop PS has something for everyone, but most especially the skate enthusiast. “Under the skateboard section, our most popular decks are Anti Hero, Krooked, Girl, Baker, and Toy Machine. We carry Spitfire and Bones wheels and Independent and Thunder Trucks. Our bestselling skateboard shoes are Adidas and Lakai. We also carry TOMS for women, which are the one for one company (meaning that for every one pair of shoes purchased, another pair is donated to those without shoes in a third-world country).”
“Our apparel section includes many brands that you cannot find in the local mall such as Thrasher, The Quiet Life, and Fourstar, which helps us compete with bigger apparel retailer and online stores. We also carry a good selection of popular skate lifestyle brands such as RVCA and Obey. We also have a great selection of accessories such as sunglasses, socks, and hats. Like I said, we want to focus on the skateboarders, but have a little bit for everyone.”
“One of my favorite parts of the shop is Brian Evens photography. As a teenager I was lucky enough to go on many trips with Brian and witnessed his photography career develop. So it is really a rad thing to walk in and see his pictures every day.” Andrew was also proud to point out, “Our first event at the Shop PS was a Baker Skateboards demo at Palm Springs Skate Park and a signing at BAR next to the Shop PS. Over 150 skateboarders from all over the Coachella Valley attended.”
The Shop PS is located at 340 North Palm Canyon Drive in downtown Palm Springs, (760) 898-8534. For more information on future events you can always visit epidemicskateboardshop.com or theshopps.tumblr.com . The link to the Epidemic Skateboard Shop’s YouTube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/epidemicpalmdesert , which contains a lot of projects epidemic has completed, including a commercial for the Shop PS. You can also follow them on Facebook at epidemicskate.
