Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
COLUMBIA — A local skateboarding business opened a second location on Oct. 11 in downtown Charleston. Bluetile Skateshop and Bluetile Print Shop, owned by David Toole, have been in Five Points for almost 25 years. The skate shop sells skate accessories, apparel, footwear and more. The print shop sells its own T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. The business opened its second location on Spring Street near St. Philip Street in the Holy City. For Toole, expanding was always a dream. “I've always ... said if I could open another store in South Carolina, (it) just seemed like Charleston is the place,” Toole said. However, this dream came true only after a unique situation presented itself. Toole has a friend who owned Continuum Skateshop at 49 Spring St. After experiencing some personal family struggles, Jack Abbott asked if Toole wanted to continue the Continuum Skateshop legacy through Bluetile. “The opportunity was there,” he said. “It was just kind of like ... let's risk it.” Toole said the move was finically risky, but due to the circumstances and skate scene in Charleston, he couldn’t pass it up. “(Abbott) offered me kind of a turnkey situation where ... we're not exchanging any money or anything, until we get things off the ground,” Toole said. “And if it doesn't get off the ground, we can back out ... So it's a very, very low risk scenario but still very scary.” This second location will help alleviate the over-inventory issue Toole is currently facing as the Columbia store hasn’t been selling as much as before. “So, here's the win-win. We can just move in, we can bring the inventory, and we don't have to spend any money. We're just splitting the inventory,” he said. “It gives us two doors to move the same merchandise. That is one of the wildest moves I’ve ever made.” Even with the grand opening occurring over a week ago, General manager Kobi Ference said that everything is going better than expected. “Our first weekend, we crushed it,” Ference said. “We had a full board wall. And next thing ... I’m having to drive back up to Columbia to grab more stuff (to) bring back to keep the shelves stocked.” Despite the financial and personal risks, Toole believes there is room for more growth and expansion. “I feel more excited about the shop now than I did 25 years ago,” Toole said. “Just to see the evolution and the change and the growth ... it gets more and more exciting as the years go by.”
