Customer Notice.

He Shoots, He Scores! 

Hi folks, just me Dean here, to let you all know of some bad news (it maybe good news for some people).

After a long hard decision, it’s time for the final buzzer to sound here at the Skatedoctor shop and the shop will close on Sunday 28^th March 2010 at 5.30pm.

This decision has not come lightly, but due to ongoing work commitments, I feel that this is the needed step of action to be taken.

May I extend a big thank you to all my customers over the years, and I’m proud to been of part of various clubs and individual customers to help them with their skates.

 Skatedoctor was originally a concept idea from me, back in the late stages of 1999 and the start of 2000, when I was playing recreational hockey.

That idea got shelved for a few years until it resurfaced back in 2002.

At the time I was struggling and also my team mates to get a decent sharpen, so I went out and bought a machine from Canada and imported into the UK.

I started to do mine and my team mate’s skates and slowly the word filtered about that I could do them, the rest is history.

The shop came along in 2008 as a permanent base to sharpen skates, and has been successful to date.

My main goal was to get people to understand, there was more than the then trend of ‘get what you are given’ when it came to sharpening skates from local rinks/shops, which may of suited one person, but not everyone, hence the reason I gave that choice to my customers in which hollow suited their style of skating ability.

I’ve achieved that goal and I’ve raised the awareness of other options, and I have also noticed other rinks and shops have finally raised their game, and are now starting to provide the options people have always cried out for.

Over the years I can honestly say I’ve not had one complaint in person about my quality of sharpening, as all my customers know that if there is a problem whatsoever they can be returned and sorted free of charge. However all my customers’ skates never left the shop until I was 100% satisfied that they were right, as I took all the steps to show customers how level their edges were before and after.

I never ground into the plastics of the skate, and also never ground off the toe pick and heel of a skate blade for the figure skaters out there, unlike some other rinks/shops.

I work fulltime and the shop was a part-time hobby for me, unlike the other shops where they have to make a living, hence why I concentrated on the sharpening/repairs/tapes/laces accessories etc, so I could dedicate the time to offering a quality service as a main stream, where other shops rely on equipment sales as a main source of income, and the sharpening as a secondary income so they don’t spend so much time on a pair of skates.

I think my opening times suited the people who worked, who was at school/college etc during the day, so evenings and weekends worked well.

I’d like to thank the following for trusting me throughout as providing services for them.

• Whitley Warriors Ice Hockey Club

• Newcastle Vipers

• Billingham Bombers

• Newcastle Coyotes

• Newcastle Wildcats

• Whitley Wildcats

• Newcastle University

• Northumbria University

• Various Officials

• Whitley Bay Junior Development

• Newcastle Vipers Junior Academy

• Various Figure Skating Customers

• Various Session Skaters

And no doubt there will be others who I have forgot to list so I do apologise.

A big thanks for all the suppliers also.

Once again this decision has been very hard to make, as I feel like I’m letting my customers down.

I will say that I’m taking a break away from it at the moment due to work commitments; however I WILL be back at some point in the future.

Keep skating

Regards

Dean Clough