Meet Alan Idolyantes | Owner of Nickel and Dime Skate Shop

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alan Idolyantes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
The Thought process behind Nickel and Dime skate shop was pretty simple. I just happen to start aggressive inline skating again, a few friends of mine and I wanted to start a clothing store. I had space that I have been renting out for few years. I decide to make the front of my space a store front. I did this because coming back to rollerblading I reconnected with a lot of people I use to skate with. So with that being said I was reconnecting with the industry after 12 years of not rollerblading. I realized there wasn’t any type if inline skate shop in Los Angeles. Because I love rollerblading I decided to open a shop for my friends to get parts for their skates when things wear down and what not. At the end of the day i just wanted a place for my fellow rollerbladers to come to when the needed parts and the was the main part of the thought process.

What should our readers know about your business?
One main thing that sets me apart is that I am the first and only inline skate shop in Los Angeles that sell skateboards and inline skates. Getting to this point was a hell of a journey. I went from working all kinds of different jobs to get this point. The main thing is the love I have for inline skating that’s what drives me the most. I got here today by believing in my self and not worrying about what the next person has to say. My strategy was pretty savage just putting my brand in your face wether you like it not. Constantly promoting my self and making my self the face of the brand. The hardest part of this journey was realizing that having partners isn’t always needed. I started the shop with partners and now I am running the shop by myself. When My partners decided to give up on the shop I took the bull by the horns and decided to keep the shop going on my own. I want the world to know that Im a small town kid with big dreams, rollerblading may not be the most popular sport because of hate from skateboarders, but I’m here and I plan to ride this till the wheels fall off. I want the wold to know that if you do things out of love and passion noting not even hate can stop the process. Don’t worry about what other people say just do you and you will succeed.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I don’t really hangout with people for a whole week to be a host ,so I’m too sure on what I would do. Definitely go skate may be go fishing too.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wanna shout out my homies, Andrew, Chuck and Jon Julio. These guys helped me to get started.

Website: https://nickelanddimeskateshop.com

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Image Credits
Photos by Jonatan Labez