This skate shop was started by Justin Knoke (yes, Justin was a core skateboarder) and myself all the way back in 1999. We wanted a skate shop in a location that no one else seemed to care about. We had Altered Skates all the way up in U city, which at the time, was the only legit shop in St. Louis. We also had Splash in west county and Crestwood(Cario), Mr. Rags in Crestwood, and Soka on Manchester. Those were your only choices to buy skateboards at the time. This was before the big boom of skateboarding. There were no skate parks, no TV shows, and no Tony Hawk video games. We wanted to make the store as core as we could.

With the exception of Altered, every other place that sold skateboards were more worried about soft goods and shoes. (If you didn’t know, there is more money in shoes and soft goods then in hard goods.) But in order to get skate shoes and clothing, you HAVE to carry skateboards or those companies will not sell to you.

We decided that we didn't want companies like DC and Volcom that were already becoming wide spread in other things that didn’t seem skateboard related to us. So we left brands like that alone and aimed more at hard goods.

The first three years were the worst. I am not going to make this a bash on Justin; let’s just say he didn't do a good job trying to run a shop. After 3 years Justin decided it was best to step down. The store was in bad shape by this time. We only had hard goods and we were falling fast. So Justin called it quits on May 31st and I took over the shop on my own on June 1st - Exactly 3 years after we opened. I sold everything I had to help fund the rehab of this shop. And for the last 6 years I have put everything I have into it, and I think it shows.

We went from no shoes, to over 90 styles, from 75 decks to over 300. You get the picture. We have done what no other shop in St. Louis has done. We have survived by only carrying core skate products, and only having skateboard customers. Meaning, we know that 99% of our customers actually skateboard. They are not here to pick up trendy shoes or clothing to "look the part" because they are the part. We have not had extra help by carrying snowboards, bikes, rollerblades, roller-skates, paintball guns, Nike shoes, tight pants, and trendy clothing, and I am proud to say that we never have carried those things. This, and the fact that we are the only skateboarder owned and operated shop in St Louis should make people proud of buying product from us and supporting us.

I am very thankful for all of your support over the last 9 years. And I am 100% sure we will be celebrating our 10 year next June. I want to thank you again. You have no idea what it means to me. Infinity isn't just a job to me, it is my life.

Jason
Owner of Infinity Skate Shop