Fast Rolling

Skating's wheels of fortune

Just as pedestrians were getting used to the sidewalk intrusions of skateboarders, cyclists and joggers, they had to make room for another mobile urban menace: roller skaters. The U.S. now has an estimated 28 million of them, and a Gallup poll has found their passion to be the fifth most popular participation sport among teenagers, ahead of tennis and skiing.

There is now a Girl Scout badge for proficiency in roller and ice skating, and at the Pan-Am Games in Puerto Rico earlier this summer there were 16 roller events --ten of which were won by Americans.

The sport is also producing some big winners among companies that make skates and related equipment. Until recently, the industry consisted of three or four firms that together had seldom sold more than a million pairs a year. Now skate sales are running at about 300,000 pairs a month, and new suppliers are plunging into the field.

The key to the sport's growth has been the improved quality of the skates themselves. Equipped with the quiet and smooth-rolling polyurethane wheels and precision ball bearings that were developed for skateboards, the new skates have better traction and more maneuverability than the noisy metal strap-on models that kids used to rattle around on. Says Harry Ball, 61, president and owner of the California-based Sure-Grip Skate Manufacturing Co., which this year will double its 1978 sales of over $5 million: "The new skate is no longer a toy but a piece of athletic equipment."

Costs range from $50 for the cheapest models, which are like running shoes with wheels, to $400 for custom skates with high tops for maximum ankle support. Dayton-based Snyder Roller Skate Co., which outfitted the U.S. athletes at the Pan-Am Games, makes precision-built skates for professional rollers. Sales of its basic but still pricey ($109 to $175) models have risen by 30% in the past year. The roller boom has spawned a flock of sidewalk entrepreneurs who rent skates from the backs of vans. But the people who are really cleaning up, besides the equipment suppliers, are rink operators. In fact, they claim that their efforts to scrub up roller skating's image have been a major factor in the sport's success. Says George Pickard, executive director of the Roller Skating Rink Operators Association of America, whose membership has grown from 500 to 1,640 in nine years: "We have worked hard to build up the industry and undo the roller derby image."

The U.S. now has over 6,000 rinks, some of them family operations, others run by chains. The average rink costs $450,000 to build and offers a 15% to 20% return on investment. While operators may spend lavishly on elaborate sound systems, disco lights and lounge areas, many have tried to hold down their capital costs by converting supermarkets, bowling alleys and warehouses into rinks.

With the disco and physical fitness manias both playing such a large part in the sport's growth, skating has attracted not only sporting goods outlets but also major retailers like Macy's and Marshall Field. They now sell not only skates but also items of rolling paraphernalia like arm and knee pads priced at $5 to $15 a pair and $10 visors that light up at night for safety. Roller fashions are also in demand. Chicago Designer Roberta Jakus' "Roller Rinx" line of satin, spaghetti-strap tank tops and shorts and jackets are selling at $43 per outfit. One manufacturer is preparing a line of skates that look like cowboy boots but carry a city slicker price tag: $200. A current fashion at roller rinks is old skate keys color-plated with disco colors and hung around the neck with gold chains or satin ribbons. A charming bit of nostalgia for those whose hearts (and pocketbooks) remain with the old metal skates of childhood.

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