Almost 15 years ago, Jeff Greenwood was living in Seattle when he realized the emerging skate scene was seriously lacking documentation. After having photos rejected by some of the larger skate magazines, Greenwood created a website and print zine to cover the vert scene and skateparks popping up around the Pacific Northwest. He now boasts having the world’s largest online skatepark directory.
In 2008, Greenwood started a skate shop to cater to tranny board customers and promote smaller companies. Transworld Business got a chance to talk to Greenwood about what it means to be a Concrete Disciple.
What’s the story behind the name?
To come up with a name I tried to boil down my love of skateboarding to its lowest denominator and came up with ‘concrete’. Then I just applied Disciples as an indicator that we literally worshiped it. You know, what good is a board if you haven’t got anything to ride it on?
“You know, what good is a board if you haven’t got anything to ride it on?”
What makes Concrete Disciples different from your average skate shop?
We carry products for pool riders, skate park riders, and any kind of tranny riders. We carry primarily larger boards and wheels and have a far better inventory of those products than most shops. We have always been down to help the little companies so we have a much larger stock of companies most people haven’t heard of. We carry a lot of the top brands as well, but pick mostly tranny riders’ products from their product lines.
Tell me a little bit about the skate park directory; how did it get started, how does it work, and where do you plan on taking it?
There were a few skate parks popping up in the Seattle and northwest before anything got going anywhere else in ’95-’96. No information was to be found in mags so I started putting a listing together to help spread the word. When I first made the listings in 1997 there were already about 25 parks in Oregon and Washington before there were like 6 in California. Most of them sucked but we’d go out on a road trip just to find and document any piece of crap along the way. Now our directory is loaded with thousands of skate parks around the world in 78 countries. Obviously there are way more then we can get to on our meager budget so its been the Concrete Disciples readers who have been filling in the international parks. There are several great directories for various individual countries but no one but us has anything as far as a one stop place for all parks around the world. Our new directory has just a couple more bugs to iron out with our language translator, then we’ll have our phone apps built in the coming weeks.
Have you considered opening your own skatepark?
Considered it? Yes. Do I want to have one? No. It seems like it would almost be impossible to run one these days with a public park down the street almost anywhere in the U.S.
What was your background prior to opening the shop?
I got hooked on skateboarding really young in the 70′s but never saw any mags or tricks until 1982, my mind was blown by seeing pictures on my friend’s wall from Thrasher magazine. We started skating everyday after school on janky quarter pipes, then the natural progression started up and I haven’t let up since.
What influenced the Concrete Disciples business model?
Necessity. Concrete Disciples’ website had a really big following and it became a heavy burden to keep it running without income. I tried affiliate programs but got very little return on how much promotion we gave our affiliates. Eventually I started selling products for my friends’ small companies and kept it growing. Last year I moved into the real realm of a skate shop by carrying a much broader offering of companies and product varieties.
What percent of your inventory is dedicated to:
- Hardgoods? 75%
- Men’s apparel? 10%
- Women’s apparel? 0%
- Accessories? 15%
- Footwear? 0%
What brands would you most like to collaborate or partner with and why?
Around two years ago we got to do a collaboration with Spitfire wheels. We’ve been close on a few others.
What has been the best-selling product category in recent months?
Hardgoods. Within that category its been a pretty solid mix of decks and wheels.
What are your best selling brands?
I sell a lot of Bones wheels and Creature decks.
How big is your staff?
Just me in the shop. I have done everything top to bottom except some of the promotional material artwork.
My partners and I run Concrete Disciples online content but none of us are paid like a full time employee. We’re paid more like a 1/5 time employee who works full time at it. We torture ourselves over it. We do it for the love of skateboarding, I guess.
We are online only. Occasionally, we have customers pick up orders. I have shipped orders around the world this year.
What kind of qualities will you look for in a rider representing Concrete Disciples?
Someone who loves skateboarding, and rips, but is not arrogant or cocky about it.
What kind of relationship do you have with the West Hills community? Do you give back or sponsor any local events/organizations?
West Hills has a really limited scene and our presence is more of a national and international internet entity. We have had some events (Pro/Am death races, Skate Jams, Fund Raisers) but they have been all over Southern California.
We have sponsored many events in other states, we have given dozens of cash donations to skate parks that are raising money and also to DIY skate spots. We’ve helped raise money and promote events at all levels as a media outlet.
I use the term “we” in reference to Concrete Disciples as a whole which includes my partners on the media aspect of our website Christian Cooper [BLKPRJKT] and Ray Zimmerman (MRZ). We have been operating in the negative the entire time. We all usually work a full time job and our spare time is put into Concrete Disciples. It has too show our love and dedication to skateboarding. Or it shows we are complete idiots.
“It has to show our love and dedication to skateboarding, or it shows we are complete idiots.”
Why do you think West Hills’ skate scene is so limited?
Its purely a residential area in the farthest place away from Los Angeles and still managed by L.A. We get no love from City Hall.
At what point do you consider yourself successful?
I already consider myself successful. I have a pretty damn good life.
Looking back to when you first opened the shop, what do you wish you knew then that you know now?
I should have started the skate shop a long time ago. I used to say I never wanted to have a skateshop, now I really enjoy it!
TAGS: concrete disciples, jeff greenwood
