National skate shop chain Fast Times opened their first store in Newcastle at Westfield Kotara last month.

This is welcome news to the Newcastle skateboarding community, after the closures of once popular skate shops Laate Supply, Newcastle Skate and Skate Connection which impacted a once thriving scene.

Based in Melbourne, the leading Australian skateboarding retail chain opened in Newcastle on April 11 and held a skate jam at the newly built South Newcastle Beach skatepark the next day.

Specialising in skateboard hardware, apparel and accessories, Fast Times carries hundreds of brands catered for skateboarders at a beginner, intermediate and professional level.

Fast Times head of stores Sam Owbridge says that the opening of the new store has been a huge success, as it is the first skate centred shop to open in the last two years since the closures of the big three skate shops.

“It’s been great bringing Fast Times to Newcastle,” Owbridge said.

“Since hearing about the closures of the main three skate shops in Newcastle, we at Fast Times felt it was our job to provide a new space for skateboarders to shop, hang out and come together as a community,” he said.

Fast Times hopes to bring new life back into the once popular skate scene in Newcastle, as a city that was known for creative skateboarding with its unusual street spots and influential videos, has seen great decline in interest and popularity.

“Growing up in skateboarding in Melbourne, I used to watch footage of Newcastle legends such as Simon Lyddiard and Jordan Martin skateboarding in Newcastle, thinking how cool the skateparks and spots they skated were,” Owbridge said.

The decline in Newcastle skateboarding has seen fewer people participating at local skateparks and street spots, and several Newcastle professional skateboarders such as Jedd McKenzie and Rowan Davis moving away to different cities.

Owbridge says that the Fast Times Newcastle aims to build a strong sense of community from the store through events and video premieres out of the shop.

“A skate shop that provides for its supporters is pretty much the backbone for any good skate scene,” Owbridge said.

“We plan to host launch parties for new products, host video premieres for new skate videos out of Newcastle and host events similar to what we had we our opening event.”

The opening skate jam was a free community event hosted by Fast Times, where Novocastrian skateboarders of all ages came together to perform tricks for cash and prizes, enjoy a free sausage sizzle, and spark new hype back to the scene.

“A skate shop that provides for its supporters is pretty much the backbone for any good skate scene.”

Newcastle professional skateboarder, George Richards, who was a skateboarder at the event, said that the skate jam was a great reunion for the Newcastle skate scene and had a great turnout of skaters from past, present and future generations.

“The turnout was unbelievable,” Richards said.

“It was great catching up with old friends who I haven’t skated with for years and it was also really cool seeing skaters from Newcastle who I have never even seen before,” he added.

The event also saw an influx of skaters from the Central Coast and Sydney with notable amateur skateboarders Jett Stanton, Jayden Webber and Bastian Gray also skating at the event.

Growing up skateboarding in Newcastle, Richards, who is 28, has seen a number of skate shops come and go within the area and is certain that the new Fast Times store will bring the iconic skate scene back to life.

“Since the closure of all the skate shops, it has been hard to keep being stoked on skateboarding, but the new store is definitely going to bring stoke back into Newcastle skateboarding,” Richards said.

Richards also believes that the store’s location at a shopping centre will expose the culture of skateboarding to the wider general public, attracting new people of all ages to the sport and encouraging them to pick up skateboarding.

“I think Westfield is the perfect spot for the store because the skateboarding culture will be exposed to people who might not have ever really seen it before,” Richards said.

“It will be awesome seeing new people, especially children get stoked on skateboarding.”