Revolution Skate Shop's purpose is and always will be to support Rollerblading. We are skater owned and operated by James Johnson and Gretchen Boone. We are no different than you are, we stand beside you proud to be a rollerblader.

The concept of Revolution began in our hometown of Juneau, Alaska. Back then, I would buy REMZ directly from Kato, when he ran REMZ out of a small office in San Diego, hand making each skate individually. I would call Kato to order my skates, we became friends, and I'd share with him my ideas to open a "skate shop." Kato told me about his experiences working in a skate shop in Switzerland, it always sounded amazing. Then, during one of our conversations, he cut me off, and said, "James, you have to just do it. Stop thinking, and just do it." Kato was right.

Revolution officially opened in July of 2002. Revolution started off being strictly an online skate shop, operating out of a small warehouse in Alaska. We grew each year, and had a vision for something more. Our vision was to have Revolution be a real walk-in storefront, and be a foundation to build a strong skate scene on top of. At the time, Daily Bread Magazine wanted to run a story on Revolution and Alaska. We flew Dustin Latimer and Mike French up for the story, and spoke with them about the Arizona skate scene. Arizona had a huge scene, year round sunshine, an infinite number of skateparks, but no shop to tie it all together. Arizona was perfect.

In 2005, we made the decision to move Revolution to Arizona. It's rare to see a shop 100% dedicated to rollerblading. We've had rollerbladers from all over the world come to Revolution just to "see" the shop. It's amazing, we love seeing their expressions when they first walk into Revolution. In a short year since the move to Arizona, in 2006 Revolution won the "RFCC Retailer of the Year" Award.

Gretch and I have sacrificed all that we have for Rollerblading. Since Revolution began, it has been solely owned and operated by Gretch and I. No outside investors, no huge bank loans, and no one backing Revolution but us. We built Revolution from the ground up. Our vision has not changed. Revolution is more than just a skate shop, this is our lifestyle. We could not be more proud of what our skate scene has become, and this march marks our 3 year anniversary of the "Revolution Thursday Night Skate" Sessions. We will always work to promote rollerblading, always promote the skaters themselves, and see that our industry has a future. Revolution is our life.