ESPN BMX

Mesh

The skate side of Longwood, Florida's own Mesh Skatepark.

I wasn't expecting this news at all, but sadly, Chad Degroot of Mesh Skatepark sent over word that Mesh is closing down at the end of November. According to Chad, between Mission Skatepark (his former park) and Mesh, it was a good run, but it's still a harsh blow to the Orlando area BMX community, many of whom got their start riding Chad's skateparks. Fortunately, as Chad states in the following interview, not all is lost. The skatepark may be closing, but there are new doors opening, including a BMX-friendly shop and new additions to the Deco BMX team. Read on. And if you're in the Orlando area, or heck, in Florida for that matter, get on over to Mesh for a final session, and be sure to pay full price at the door.

So what's happening with Mesh?
It was supposed to happen about a year ago. I figured out a way to extend it to now, but it got to the point where it couldn't go anymore. There are still some options out there; some people are panicking and telling me that they want to buy it. I'm still trying to work with people, and keep it going, but unless someone steps up really quick, it's going to be gone.

Degroot

Mesh owner Chad Degroot.

Do you have partners?
I have one. I had two, go rid of the other one earlier in the year, and the other one doesn't even live in this state. So it's a little bit tough.

Do you wanna talk about how this started happening?
We're a pretty huge operation, and the rent is pretty high. To pay the bills, we had the shop, which was about 3,000 square feet. And with that, at one point, we had over $70,000 worth of shoes in inventory. Shoes were our bread and butter, but with styles coming and going, it was tough. Let's just say that some of the people doing the ordering got a little order happy. We were sitting on a lot of stock, and we were definitely selling a lot, but we were buying more than we were selling. That's where the trouble started. And we all thought we had our specific duties, but that got spread a little thin where some of the partners weren't doing what they were supposed to, like paying bills on time. And that changed our situation with a lot of brands we were ordering from. So I came in, realized what was going wrong, and this whole past year, I've been trying to change that. I gave it a year, and it helped a lot. We were also a little too lenient on everyone getting into the park. Everyone got deals. The longer we were open, the more deals were handed out. I could blame it on a lot of negative stuff, but it's everything compounded that came to this.

Can you explain how difficult it is to run a private skatepark?
After doing this for almost ten years, I think the role of a private park is non-existent nowadays. It's not so much bragging about what I've done; it's just a nonstop battle with all the city parks moving in, kids not having money, every person hired at the park getting their friends in for free. It's all a trickle down effect. Dealing with a younger age group, it's really tough. Kids are just kids, and it's tough to have them as your main source of income. If you can stay on top of everything, and establish ground rules, you can do it, but holy s**t man, it's a daily test. Getting broken into, kids loading their squirt guns with pee, stealing, wrecking the bathroom, stealing golf carts from our neighbors, smashing cars. And then there's just accidents in general. A kid will pop his board up, hit himself in the face and try to sue us. From liability to bills to rent, it's definitely tough. And each year, staying afloat just gets tougher, but if you increase prices, people won't come.

Degroot

Profile's Matt Coplon, over ice during one of his many Mesh sessions.

So you're going to do a shop now?
It's still in Longwood. We're supposed to open two blocks away from the current location. I'm going to run my bike company out of there, and also to keep the scene alive. The one thing that keeps me going is when people come into the Mesh shop and say, "Damn, I wish I had a shop half as good as this near us." I don't think it's super exceptional; I just think we have the right stuff and the right variety. We're pretty choosy with what we have and people seem to appreciate that. I have a new look for the place that I'm pretty excited about. My wife goes to design school, and she's helping with it, and just having other artists chip in to make it look right. Hopefully, it will be open next month, so the transition from buying at Mesh to the new shop should be smooth. It's just the having a place to ride that we won't have. But yeah, I'm gonna stay in it.

How has the reaction been to the news?
The hardest one hit me yesterday. I went into the hardware store yesterday, and I'm sitting on line, and the lady goes, "Chad, you made my boy cry." She went on to tell me about her 12-year-old son, and how the skatepark was his life, and that I made him cry. I apologized, and tried to explain, but she definitely stressed it a few times that I made her kid cry. That was crazy. What do you do in that situation? It is really sad, but I think I've been in it so long that I'm a little more numb than most people. It's only been a couple of days so far. I just hope people don't get really gnarly. Someone spray painted the building already, and that stuff just sucks.

Is there anything you wanna say from your years at both Mesh and Mission?
A huge thanks to the in-towners, whoever has helped create the scene, and anyone from out of town who's gone out of the way to come by and ride. That's about it.

And how can people get in touch with you? Through Deco?
Yeah, e-mail me through the Deco site.

Is there anything new with the company while we're talking?
Yeah, I have two new team riders: Dave McDermott and Tom Villareal. I'll make the real announcement soon though.

Here'a a little Profile vs. Madera edit from Mesh Skatepark. I would've used the Mesh Skatepark commercial from Props, but due to some adverse language involving a goat, I can't.

Sort comments by: Most Recent | First Posted