Jobs In Skateboarding - Shop Worker

 Jobs In Skateboarding - Shop Worker

Looking from the outside in it may seem as if jobs in skateboarding are few and far between, but once you delve deeper into the possibilities there's a plethora of careers surrounding our favourite toy. We hit up as many people as possible to investigate deeper to ask ‘What do you even do?’, so hopefully you’ll learn something new and find helpful ways to get into our so-called skateboarding industry. 

You've got to start somewhere, a whole lot of our previous interviewees began their journey into the skateboarding world by working at their local skate shop. Kizzy at Note takes us through her day-to-day below. 

What's your name?

Kizzy Yuill

What is your current role and who do you work for?

I work at NOTE skate shop in Manchester, official title is probably just 'Worker'. Or according to one customer over email "mindless warehouse packer".

What is it that you actually do? / What takes up a majority of your work time?

Pretty much anything that needs doing around the shop or for the online store. A lot of time is obviously spent serving customers and advising on board setups, I also do a lot of packing and posting out the online orders, answering emails, checking off any deliveries, organising the stock room as well as helping to data input new products on the back end of the website. 

Until recently NOTE had two shops just around the corner from each other, one for hardware and one for clothing/shoes so my time was split pretty equally across both shops, however we've now closed one shop to the public and are using it as more of an office space to concentrate on the online business. I end up doing a pretty wide variety of jobs which suit me well, I get bored doing just one thing haha.

Did you have any roles in the skate industry before this?

I used to work at cage (Projekts) for a few years doing coaching which was fun for a while, the hours were a bit more unsociable and less regular there though.

What’s the best thing about your job?

Working with your mates for sure and meeting new people in the scene. I enjoy people watching as well on Thomas Street, it's an absolute circus out there.

What’s the worst thing about your job?

When it's a dead nice day and loads of people come through the shop ready to go skate, it's pretty soul crushing that you can't skate too haha. Also sneakerheads can be pretty draining.

Any advice for skateboarders out there who want to pursue your line of work?

Lurk around and support your local shop, be friendly with everyone and be able to take a roast.