SnS Skate Shop - Farmington, NM

123 W. Main Street, Farmington, NM 87401

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnSSkateShop

Farmington, New Mexico sits at just under 5,400 feet elevation in the northwest corner of the state, an area commonly referred to as the Four Corners.

On March 18, 1950, the local Daily Times newspaper reported, “Persons along Main Street once again could be seen looking skyward and pointing.” For the third consecutive day, flying saucers had been reported over the town. “Fully half of this town's population still is certain today that it saw space ships or some strange aircraft -- hundreds of them zooming through the skies.”

Today, SnS Skate Shop owner Daniel Diswood says what he sees on Main Street is a bit of a “ghost town” that is trying to work its way back. “In its heyday, it used to be big,” he says, “but JCPenney and Woolworth’s closed in the late 1980s.” The main area of commerce moved to the east side of town.

Then, in 2013, USA Today reported that Farmington was the second fastest shrinking city in the United States. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas ranked highest.) Between 2010 and 2013, Farmington's population dropped by 2.72 percent. The community is driven by oil and natural gas industries. Ray Hagerman, CEO of Four Corners Economic Development, said, "When it's no longer economical to be drilling in the basin, for example, then the jobs are going to disappear and people are going to leave."

Diswood says he believes in this community and does what he can to promote small business. He started his shop four and a half years ago. After college, he worked a number of retail jobs, including some time spent at another skateboard shop. “I found it to be too corporate,” he says, “It was more about making money than supporting the skateboarding scene.”

Wanting to have a place that was all about skateboards and the customers, he opened SnS Skate Shop. In addition to a large supply of short- and longboard equipment and accessories, local artists showcase their work and local musicians come in to play. He hosts a big two-band event on Black Friday every year. When live music isn’t playing, customers can often hear the talents of area DJs who come in to spin.

While there are two skateboard parks in town and two others within a 40-minute drive, kids aren’t the competitive types hoping to go pro. Many of them are just like Diswood was growing up, “It was the purest kind of skateboarding…an anti-sport where you could hang out with friends, go whenever you wanted to and listen to music.”

His clientele is changing a bit. While many are teenagers, he sees older skateboarders who are now grown and bring in their kids. Diswood does a lot for his young customers, everything from sponsoring a number of events throughout the year to holding “how-to” and safety clinics.

In addition to the locals, Diswood sees a fair share of tourists. More than 2,000 years ago the Anasazi lived in the area in pueblo structures built from native sandstone rock. These ruins fill the surrounding countryside and visitors come from around the globe to see them. “People read all about cowboys and Indians and come here thinking this is still the wild, wild west,” he says. The cowboy and Indian stuff is all fantasy, but Native Americans still live in the community. Diswood is half Navajo.

While the dwindling population is notable, it hasn’t yet hurt business. “The hardest thing,” he admits about his small business, “is the Internet.” Kids come by with new boards and Diswood finds out they bought them online. They don’t always realize Diswood’s ability to create customizable boards and provide other incentives with purchases such as free gear, stickers or other items.

But he enjoys being at 123 Main Street. “Sometimes people give me a funny look when I tell them the address,” he says. The novelty wasn’t something he realized when he first signed the lease, “or I would have called it 123 Skate Shop.”