Blades Board and Skate is a class act.

Blades sometimes catches slack in the skater community for being a “corporate” shop.  

The “core” elitists can gripe all they want.  If you are looking for the absolute best customer service, a HUGE variety of shoes and skateboard product, and a genuinely nice store to shop in, then Blades is a place to check out.

Fantastic Skateboard Selection For Every Level of Skater

Blades carries an affordable selection of completes, which are boards that are already set up with hardware, as well as a wide selection of trucks, wheels and bearings.

Sorry these are not updated photos!

Skateboard Decks: REAL, Enjoi, Flip, Alien, Almost, Chocolate, Zoo York, 5Boro, SHUT, Krooked, Blades, Consolidated, Foundation, Mystery, Zero, Habitat, GIRL, Skate Mental, Toy Machine

Skate Shoes: Fallen, Vans, Adidas, Nike SBs, Circa, Emerica, Supra, DVS, Lakai, DCs, VOX

Longboards: As the popularity of Longboarding grows, it would be cool to see some other brands mixed into their usual stock of Sector 9s.  They sometimes carry Earthwings too and some SHUT oldschool stuff.  Would love to see some local brands, like Bustin.

Two Locations

NOHO Downtown – 659 Broadway, NYC        (212) 477-7350     

Upper West Side – 156 West 72nd St, NYC   (212) 787-3911

Our favorite of the two stores is the Upper West Side location.  Of course we live uptown, so it’s the most convenient, but as a local…. I just like this store better.  It’s busy, but never too busy.

#1 Customer Service

We’ve been to every skate shop in Manhattan.  While we don’t pick favorites, we definitely can say that when it comes to service and convenience, Blades is on the top of our list.  We visit the Upper West Side location regularly.

Chuck and George, the managers of the Upper West Side location are avid skateboarding enthusiasts, yet they are cordial, unintimidating and they type of personable role models that you’d want your kids to look up to.  What really amazes me, is how much pride they take in their job.  They recently put a lot of work into redesigning the UWS store and the new layout is fantastic.  On a daily basis, the staff of both Blades locations are quite meticulous at keeping the store tidy and the boards neatly displayed, and the displays change frequently enough to keep me curious to see what’s new. 

Why?  Because the owner empowers his employees

I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard really great things about the owner, Jeff.  He encourages his staff to more then just ‘dudes working in a skate shop’ and the pay off is evident when you walk in the door. Many of the shop decks were designed by employees of the store.  Some of their designs are amazing works of art.

Just yesterday, Joe and I hit up the West Side Blades looking for shoes.  As can be expected of this establishment, the staff was 100% on their game.  In fact, Joe was completely on the fence about buying shoes, but when he was asked “Hey why don’t I go grab them in your size so you can check them out?” he couldn’t say no.  Joe loves his new grey Adidas.

Part of the skateboarding community

I’m a moderator for a local Skateboarding Meetup Group.  On about a monthly basis, we have our social mixers at the Blade’s Upper West Side location after the store closes.  They host our little party after hours, hook us up with Pizza, skate videos and a nice little discount.  Our Meet Up group really appreciates that the staff and the owner host this event for us.  Thanks guys!