ENCINITAS — After 27 years of providing the community with skateboards along Coast Highway 101, McGill’s Skate Shop is moving to a new location in Encinitas.
The iconic business is in the process of moving from its previous location at 335 South Coast Highway, where it was for nearly three decades, to 140 South Encinitas Boulevard next to Lazy Acres at Moonlight Marketplace.
McGill’s will remain available to customers at its original location until the new storefront opens in late February or early March,
The shop is owned by skateboarder Mike McGill, inventor of the McTwist (front flip combined with a 540-degree rotation) and longtime member of the Bones Brigade.
The Bones Brigade, arguably the most influential group of skateboarders in the world, consisted of Encinitas residents McGill and Tony Hawk, along with Rodney Mullen, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, Tommy Guerrero and Stacy Peralta. For 10 years, the industry-changing cohort broke new ground with tricks and skateboard movies, including one of their most popular videos, “The Search for Animal Chin.”
McGill told The Coast News the move was made due to increasing rents along Coast Highway 101. Also, since the skate shop doesn’t rely on walk-ins, McGill said relocating made financial sense.
“My new shop will be almost the same size as the retail space I have now, but I don’t need all the office space as I did before when I distributed stuff,” McGill said. “We’re looking forward to modernizing the store and making all the skate-related displays. With the help of some of my skate friends in the trade industry, they’ve been helping me the last month designing and building stuff. It’s really exciting, and I’m looking forward to the new store opening at the end of February with a grand opening in mid-March.”
McGill said he loves Encinitas and looks forward to continuing to serve the community by promoting the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA Skate Park and other free skate parks worldwide.
McGill’s Skate Shop offers roughly 600 boards, including minis, longboards, street, vert, pool and vintage boards, including 10-inch-by-30-inch Powell Peralta boards McGill used to ride in the ’80s. The shop is also stocked with all the necessary equipment and gear, such as bearings, wheels, trucks, helmets, pads, shoes and clothing.
