Family-friendly shop for the board-obsessed

Kameron and Jason Shadrick’s shop is one of the few businesses where loitering isn’t considered a crime – instead, it’s encouraged.

At the Shadrick’s Merit Board Shop in Coeur d’Alene, the owners can tell how well their business is doing based on the number of people lounging on the store’s couch, watching board videos on the TV and talking shop with the employees. In a store that offers boards and gear for skaters, snowboarders and wakeboarders, reverence for the boarding cultures is a prevalent and shared belief among the staff and customers alike. So, any off day can be quickly assessed by a headcount.

“In Coeur d’Alene there is nothing like us, we’re trying to be our own place. When we opened there wasn’t anything really locally owned for a skate shop,” said Kameron, who opened the shop with her husband in July 2007. About the loitering, she added, “If people don’t come in just to talk, we’re like, ‘What’s wrong?’ ”

The Shadrick family has been immersed in the boarding world for more than a decade, having first worked in board shops in Mammoth Lake and the San Diego area. After the couple decided to start a family, though, they wanted to be able to raise their children in a more family-friendly environment and moved to North Idaho about five years ago. Once in North Idaho, Kameron and Jason, a graphic designer in his other job, decided the time was finally right to follow through on one of their long-held dreams.

“About two years ago we saw a hole,” Kameron explained. “Snowboarding is my husband’s passion. We saw something missing in our town, a place where people who love snowboarding and skateboarding come to hang out…We wanted to be a place where we could be cool in the industry, and at the same time be totally clean. We are a very kid-friendly, mom-friendly kind of shop.”

Merit was designed to be a boarder’s nirvana. In addition to the laid back TV area, several of the shop walls are lined with board decks, there’s a full repair shop in the back and a variety of clothing and equipment occupy the rest of the narrow floor space. The store boasts one of the best selections of skate goods in the Northwest, featuring brands such as Almost, Baker, Black Label, Zero and Merit shop decks for about $35, while also carrying the exclusive Nike Skateboarding shoes. Merit’s snowboarding gear comes from Burton, Rome, Gnu and others.

“We all live and breathe skateboarding over here,” said Kyle Harris, one of Merit’s six employees. “We have a huge following, especially within the skateboarding community,” he added.

Beyond the merchandise, though, the owners based their business on supporting the skating community. The board shop has a skateboard team, plays host to free skate sessions in the parking lot during the summer and snowboard jams in the winter, and helped the nonprofit organization Boarders for Christ build the only indoor skate park in the area, the Skate Barn on Prairie Avenue. The Shadricks promote boarding sports at every turn, even funding a local skateboarding movie, “Amateur Hour,” that showcases local talent.

“We like skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding, pretty much anything standing sideways. So we are sharing our passion with you,” the shop’s MySpace page reads. “A true locally owned and operated board shop with family values.”

The Shadrick’s commitment to being family-friendly extends to everyone who enters their shop. “Our employees and our customers are everything. We might be paying the bills, but it is their shop as much as ours,” Kameron offered.

And given how fervently many boarders regard their sport, Merit’s sales haven’t taken a hit by the economic downturn. “It’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” Kameron offered, referring to the sentiment shared by the shop’s regular customers.

Of course, the record snowfall didn’t hurt either. “Once all the snow came, then the floodgates opened up. We feel very fortunate,” she said.

However, the couple said they never expect to become rich off the board shop; they’d rather offer above-average wages to their employees and equipment at reasonable prices. “We want to be able to pay our employees enough so that they are not stressed and have to quit college,” Kameron said.

As for members of the boarding community, the store has been one of the biggest activists for board sports since it opened.

“They carry the best equipment, the high-end stuff, at good prices, and they care about the kids,” said 22-year-old Mike Miller, a regular at Merit who also directed the “Amateur Hour” movie. “They definitely are a big advocate for local skaters.”

Even though the Shadricks now own and operate a small business, that doesn’t mean it’s all work and no play, Kameron said. “Merit doesn’t seem like work. It’s just who we are,” she said.