Skates "R" Us
The Skateline Upper Paya Lebar Road store, the first in the Skateline chain, was opened in 1999. At the time, Skateline had only a mobile skate school operating out of a van. The van ferried skates and gear used to teach total beginners to skate, as well as some new skates. The need to open a skate store became apparent when the number of students asking for skates and gear was more than the skate van could handle. Eventually, a ground floor store in Tai Keng Shopping Centre along Upper Paya Lebar Road was picked. The location seemed unlikely at the time for a skate store, but the suburban address meant lower prices per square metre and a bigger skate store. Now almost a decade later, it remains the largest inline skate store on the island.
The spacious store allowed Skateline to import and stock skates in bulk for the first time. That helped to lower shipping costs and made skates less expensive. Skaters welcomed the lower prices and increased variety of skate models. The alternatives at the time were expensive skates in small, crowded skate stores. The new store saw a few years of overwhelming business, which coincided with the skating fever after the nineties.
Traveling to the store in the past few years has been made slightly more challenging by construction works along Upper Paya Lebar Road and Bartley road. The Tai Keng and Bartley MRT stations on the Circle Line are being built on these roads. The meandering roads, which shift as the works progressed, did not keep skaters away. The store still receives skaters on weekday evenings determined to get outfitted in time for the weekend. Weekends can get very busy. Many customers delay skate purchase decisions until they have seen the collection here.
 Gina, who runs the store, is an avid fitness skater. Relatively new at three years, she clocks miles like a veteran. Twice a week, Gina makes twenty kilometre to-and-fro runs from the Mcdonald’s outlet to beyond Safra Resort And Country Club at Changi Coast Walk. The new park connector now connects East Coast Park to Changi Village via Changi Coast Road which skims the perimeter of the Changi Airport runway. Gina prefers to skate early in the mornings before the East Coast Park crowds thicken, and before the sun heats up the track. |
 Ken, the other person customers often see in the store, has been skating for almost as long as the store has been in business. “Skating keeps me fit”, he says matter-of-factly. The fitness benefit of skating became clear after he started skating regularly. Ken, who did not enjoy jogging, found that he no longer struggled to pass the 2.4km run in the IPPT (individual physical proficiency test) during national service. At the peak of his routine, Ken skated seven days a week.He has since toned down the frequency, but makes it a point to enjoy the freedom on wheels as regularly as he can. |
Note for customers who drive:
Store address:
296 Upper Paya Lebar Road, Singapore 534930
(within Tai Keng Gardens)
Tel: (65)6289-4173
Fax: (65)6284-3234
Opening Hours:
12.30pm to 8.30pm daily
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