Wreck N’Shrew of the Windy City Rollers (North Central rival of the Cincinnati Rollergirls) is taking her love of roller derby from the roller derby arena to the business arena, with the opening of her new skate shop Rebel Rebel Sport Shop located in Wicker Park in Chicago, Illinois.
Sporting Goods stores that sell roller derby equipment are difficult to find, let alone a Boutique location that specializes in roller derby. Most derby players rely on the Internet to purchase their goods which brings it’s own headaches of not being able to try out their purchase beforehand unless a league mate has the same item. Of course if the item does not fit, or is not something you personally like, then you have to pack it back up and mail it back to the vendor and wait for it to come back.
Wreck N’Shrew chooses what gear to keep on hand in the store based on what her contemporaries are using and what equipment right now is hot in the derby world. “Right now there’s a big trend in triple-8 knee pads,” Wreck N’Shrew said. “They’re great pads, a lot of people like to use them, but they’re not right for everyone.”
Rebel Rebel stocks the hottest brands known to the sport such as Riedell, S*One Helmets, Antik Skateboots, Gumball Toestops and more great products for skates, protective gear, clothing and mouth guards.
Cincinnati does not currently have a shop like Rebel Rebel, but with the Cincinnati Rollergirls, Black-n-Bluegrass Rollergirls, the Cincinnati Battering Rams (upstart men’s team) and the Cincinnati Junior Rollergirls who began in the spring a shop like this could do well. The more that people see the sport and are exposed to it the more interest it will garner and people will want to take a shot of learning it, and being on a team.
Quotes from Preeti Upadhyaya of Northwestern.
Rebel Rebel Roller Derby Skate Shop
2048 N. Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL60647
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