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The Good Room
Indie skate stores are closing across Aotearoa. The Good Room is doing it old school, with a real shop, real people and kids saving up for a new board.
Indie skate stores are closing across Aotearoa. The Good Room is doing it old school, with a real shop, real people and kids saving up for a new board.
The sounds of a miniature skateboard tapping, scraping and sliding bounce around the shop. Matt “Sarge” Sargent-Clarke, the shop manager, hasn’t stopped doing fingerboard tricks for the duration of our conversation. It’s not distracting, it’s adding to the vibe.
He’s spent 10 years as a sponsored skater for The Good Room, and three years managing the store. Sarge, along with the owner Dan, live and breathe skateboarding.
“We’ve got an authentic vibe of a classic skate store. We’re not corporate. You can come in and hang out,” Sarge says as he steadies his fingers for another kick-flip.
Around them, the store is stacked with boards, streetwear and knick-knacks that the pair hand pick from a mixture of indie and big-name brands like Nike SB, Toy Machine and Brain Dead. Out the back is “The Goods”, a boutique print room focused on affordable bespoke designs and small runs with the goods available online and in store.
Indie-owned skate stores are closing across Aotearoa, squeezed by the constant need to compete with low-cost online and big-box retailers. Even with these challenges, The Good Room focuses on the physical store, rather than online as “Instagram doesn’t pay the bills”.
Owner Dan Williams says the Bay’s skating community is the heartbeat of the store and the reason they’re still here.
“It’s an unspoken rule in the skate scene. You give back. You do it for the culture.”
“If we weren’t here, where would they [the community] go?”
Five years ago, skate-style burst into the mainstream when skateboarding joined the Tokyo Olympics. This was a great time for the store, with a new generation of skaters coming through and apparel selling fast.
Now, the best sellers are the hard goods: the boards, trucks and wheels.
“Kids save up and come in to buy a new board. They’re all hyped up and we get to help them pick,” says Sarge.
Retail is in Dan’s blood. He worked in his parents’ stores during his early years, and like all angsty teens – he hated it.
“I grew up in business and worked with my dad as a teenager. But as a teenager, I hated it. Now I realise the opportunity and learnings. I miss those days.”
Before owning The Good Room Mount Maunganui, Dan owned its sister store in Pukekohe, Auckland. When the rent was doubled, he, his wife and their sausage dog Cecil closed the store, and officially took over the Mount business in 2018.
“I grew up in business and worked with my dad as a teenager. But as a teenager, I hated it. Now I realise the opportunity and learnings. I miss those days.”
The Good Room’s story stretches back further still. It began as a menswear store in Wānaka, and the second iteration was a homegoods and skate store on McDonald Street, owned by Glenn and Hailey Smith. That store was most famous for having a mini ramp in the warehouse, sitting proudly alongside the stock.
In 2012 the store moved to its current home at 12 Prince Ave. In 2018, Glenn became lead designer at LOWER, and Dan officially took over as owner.
“We love the Mount,” the 44-year-old says.
“We’ve got great neighbours. And great neighbours become good friends. It’s hard for everyone [in retail] but we’re here together.”
The store is a destination. Somewhere that feels real, and people love it.
“The Good Room is somewhere people come, end up in a conversation and find some new brands or their new favourite board,” Dan says.
Along with selling hand-picked skate and street gear you can’t find anywhere else in the Bay, The Good Room sponsors a number of local skaters, hosts events and the team were integral to the design of the Tauranga Destination Skate Park.
Every year, the team puts on free events and hosts competitions to keep the culture alive—most of which focus on the next generation of skaters, the “groms”.
“We got a grom team of kids we sponsor. When you’re 10 years old, you see a 15-year-old kid that’s shredding, and sponsored. And that’s who you look up to.”
Recently, they’ve hosted a “Huck or Nuck” jam with Nike SB, a fingerboard comp with Rebel Finger Boards and last year the National Skate Comp at the Skate Park they helped design.
Sarge and colleagues Glenn and Kaleb consulted with the Tauranga City Council to make an “actually mean” skate park that “new skaters and older shredders” can hang out at.
“We got a grom team of kids we sponsor. When you’re 10 years old, you see a 15-year-old kid that’s shredding, and sponsored. And that’s who you look up to.”
“We got to throw out the bad ideas, and include some really good ones,” says Dan.
It’s not unusual to see skaters out past dark, and that’s thanks to the team’s good idea of including floodlights in the design.
Skating doesn’t make anyone rich, but that’s not why Dan does it.
He says they’re lucky enough to go to work and be themselves. But the main goal is to keep improving.
“The shop doesn’t have to be revolutionary but we can keep making it a little better,” he says.
We’ve been yarning, laughing and browsing for the past few hours. A customer comes in looking for a new pair of shoes, and ends up in our conversation—inviting us all to an upcoming DJ night and record swap.
And that’s exactly what to expect from The Good Room.
Come for the gear. Stay for the vibes.
thegoodroom.co.nz
The Good Room. Open 7 Days. 12 Prince Ave.
