Boards for Every Season at Skokie's Shred Shop

With walls lined by longboards and snowboards and staircases held by skateboard lined railings, Skokie’s Shred Shop is a skater and snowboarder's paradise.

Owner Chris Bachman started Shred Shop as an online only company in 1988. As its popularity grew, he opened a location in Skokie. As popularity continued to increase, Shred Shop moved around to bigger and bigger spaces. Now the shop is located in a 10,000 square foot space at 3801 W. Oakton St.

Originally skating and snowboarding in Kalamazoo, Mich., where he grew up, Matt Thommer, manager at Shred Shop, made his way to Skokie’s Shred Shop six years ago. 

When Patch asked Thommer which season brings the most business, he simply responded, “Yes.”

Shred Shop is the biggest skate and snow shop in the Midwest, and it’s prepared for all seasons. 

“We’ve got a lot of customers who do a lot of things,” Thommer said “A lot of snowboarders skateboard and vice versa.”

The store sells skateboards, longboards, snowboards, clothing, footwear, sunglasses and more.

Thommer said stand-up paddle-boards have had the most recent sale jump, as paddle boarding has been growing. “[Paddle boarding is growing] just like snowboarding did in the nineties.”

Shred Shop’s staff knows the business personally. Thommer said he has been skateboarding and snowboarding for over 20 years, and he’s tried almost everything in the store. “If we have it, I do it,” Thommer said.  

Thommer said Shred Shop is something that brings people into Skokie. They have customers of all ages, from all over. 

“We’re definitely a destination. There’s a handful of ma and pa skate and snowboard shops, but nobody’s as big as we are,” Thommer said. “We are that small shop. We’ve just been around forever that we’ve grown to the size we’re at now.”

And what’s Shred Shop’s goal going forward? “We like to make sure people are having as much fun as we are,” Thommer said.