Local shop hopes to help grow rollery derby

WASILLA — Tucked away on the lower level of the Shops Underground at Lakeside is the 2N1 Skate Shoppe.

A 300-square-foot space that boosts a large love of everything roller derby. Opened in July 2011 out of their home, Stanislawa Wierzbicki, also known as Shocker Khan, and partner Justin Dieters began filling a growing niche market.

“I got tired of buying things on the Internet that didn’t fit,” Wierzbicki said. “Getting charged horrendous amounts for shipping. I got tired of it and thought I could do this on my own.”

So began the journey into the retail business. They started off with only a few core products, selling them to friends and teammates on weekends.

“We actually started off really small with just a few items,” Wierzbicki said. “Then people started asking me for more and more things.”

But running a store out of your house comes with a whole different set of problems. Inventory can sometimes take over your living space. Mixing business with your home life can cause a fast burnout. Then there is convincing companies you really are a business. Wierzbicki said it was difficult at first.

“There were some companies that wouldn’t sell to us because we were running it out of our house, but we didn’t have the customer base at that point to open a store,” she said.

Now the 2N1 Skate Shoppe has a customer base and some employees.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Wierzbicki said. “We have a couple employees and we can be open during the week.”

For Wierzbicki and her partner, having day jobs has also helped. There isn’t so much pressure to turn a profit, she said. Plus, she said she thinks the way they went about opening and running the shop has helped.

“I think the way that we did it where we started off really slow in our house and just took the profits and put them back into the shop has worked,” she said.

Neither Wierzbicki nor Dieters have taken a paycheck from the business.

“Aside from a few freebies from skate and clothing companies, I haven’t been paid,” Wierzbicki said. “We just put it back into the shop because it is our passion.”

She said eventually they do want to make a profit and would like to see some money coming from it, but for now it is paying for itself.

If you’re not into roller derby you probably don’t even know the store exists. It’s small and tucked in an out-of-the-way spot. They haven’t done any large marketing campaigns or advertising. Word of mouth and skater loyalty has helped this business grow, and that is what they are counting on.

“I am kind of banking on the loyalty of people,” said Wierzbicki. But that loyalty has to be earned, and 2N1 Skate Shoppe is well on its way to doing that through involvement in the sport of roller derby.

“We go to all the bouts around Alaska so people are actually able to try things out and purchase them,” she said. “I’ll give them good deals. Plus we offer free shipping anywhere in Alaska.”

Wierzbicki also supports the sport through boot camps and helping other people start leagues in their town.

“I am going down to Wrangle in a couple weeks,” she said. “They started a league there and in Petersburg. I am also talking to a girl in Ketchikan.”

For Werzbicki, she said it’s just amazing that these tiny little places are getting into roller derby. “I actually have to look some of them up on the map.”

The store for Wierzbicki is just an extension of who she is and what she does. There wasn’t a whole lot she didn’t know before they opened their doors.

“I had been skating for a couple years involved in roller derby,” she said. “I had gone to different conventions and different boot camps, so I had learned a lot about the different components of different skates and different gear.”

That was the easy part. What she found hard was figuring out what customers really needed verses what they want. She said she has become proficient at being able to look at someone and estimate her clothing sizes.

“That was the learning curve,” Werzbicki said. “The different sizing in pads and the different clothing.”

She also said its been a challenge learning what wheels will work best for her customers.

“We have so many different types of wheels. The type of wheel you are going to like depends on your skating ability, what level you’re at, your weight, what you’re going to be doing, the floor you’re going to be skating on,” she said.

Werzbicki said she has learned to listen to people and find out what they’re skating on now, then try to be the wheel expert for them.

Werzbicki and Dieters hope to expand their inventory and customer base, but want to stay a core shop and support the sport as much as they can. Both realize that if they can help grow the sport their business will follow.

2N1 Skate Shoppe is in Suite B21 at 1451 E. Parks Hwy., Wasilla. Contact them at 355-5567.

Contact Robert DeBerry at robert.deberry@frontiersman.com or 352-2266.