New skate shop in downtown Idaho Falls offers patrons a cultural experience
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IDAHO FALLS – Tyler Cannon is a longtime skateboarder and skate shop associate, but the idea of opening his own skate shop was never his plan.
“Only idiots open skate shops,” Cannon tells EastIdahoNews.com. “The only reason you do it is because it’s a passion project and you want to give back to the skating community.”
The revitalization of downtown Idaho Falls is something he’s kept a close eye on over the years, and being a part of it has been a dream for a while. When a space became available at 357 A Street, he couldn’t resist.
To get in, he turned to what he knew best.
“We walked by this store and it just yelled at us, ‘This would be the perfect place for a skate shop,'” Cannon says.
Cannon Skate Shop opened on August 24. It sells skateboards and Stance apparel, a popular brand of clothing for athletes, models, designers and celebrities.
The shop’s name has a double meaning. Not only is it the owner’s last name, it’s also a reference to a military cannon because of his family’s support of and service in the military. There are several military items used in the shop’s decor and the checkout counter is made from an old skateboarding ramp.
The store also has artwork on display from well-known artist and photographer Mark Oblow. There’s a German-imported finger board ramp designed for finger skateboarding and a storytelling feature called “Brian’s Bedroom.” Take a look in the video above.
After several weeks of business, Cannon is surprised with the response.
“I’m very surprised with how many skaters there are in Idaho Falls. We did not anticipate that,” says Cannon. “We’re selling a lot of skateboards and it’s been fun to see the community gather around and get excited about it.”
Cannon got his start at age 15 working at Val Surf, now the oldest family-owned skate shop in the world.
The company sponsored him when he became a competitive skater and participated in the X Games in China years ago.
His business is now sponsoring several Olympic skateboarders, which he’ll talk more about in an announcement next week.
When it comes to the future of the business, he just wants to be a “hub for the community.”
“There’s some fun places to skate down here. We have a skate park at Tautphaus Park and there’s a lot of places people can go to skateboard, but if they can come here first, they’ll know it’s a friendly place where they can get the components they need or upgrade their board,” he says.
And in case you’re wondering whether Cannon plans to carry roller skates, blades or similar products, the answer is no.
“We are just a skate shop,” says Cannon. “Just skateboards and skate culture. We’re going to keep it super simple.”
Cannon Skate Shop is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.