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The end of Barcelona’s rule?

A local skateshop talks about running a shop in the current — but fading? — skateboarding capital of the world.

Inside of Rufus Skateshop in Barcelona.

 

Any skateboarder will tell you that a good skateboarding shop is so much more than a store that sells skateboards. The skate shop is a business, of course, but it’s also a hub for any local skateboarding community. Even if a shop offers low prices, if that’s its only draw, the shop simply won’t make its mark on the skate community.

In Barcelona, finding skaters to connect with sure isn’t difficult. Although Barcelona’s status as a skateboarding paradise might be waning slightly, it remains one of the most popular cities in the world for skateboarding. And of the plethora of skateboarding spots that Barcelona offers, MACBA is unofficially the most iconic and famous spot. What big skate video in the last 10 years hasn’t featured at least one trick at MACBA? What pro hasn’t thrown something down the big four or filmed a line on the long ledge? Perhaps the only other skate spot that rivals MACBA’s prestige is Love Park in Philadelphia — but that’s been un-skatable for several years now thanks to the city of Philadelphia’s decision to prohibit skateboarding there and ticket any skateboarder who should be so bold. Fortunately MACBA remains a skateboarding haven.

If skate shops are the epicenter of a skateboarding community and MACBA is the center of the Barcelona skate scene, the skaters and workers of Rufus Skateshop could have the best location in the world. Rufus is located quite literally right next to MACBA, the center, so to speak, of the skateboarding world. But having a great location is only half the battle in selling boards and connecting with local skaters. The location also puts pressure on the shop in the sense that it has to be ready for busy days filled with customers stopping in on their way to skate MACBA. It’s not uncommon for skaters to need a skate tool to adjust the hardware on their boards or need new bearings after breaking their old ones while skating MACBA. Fortunately, Rufus is right there for them.

“[If] you’re skating and you break your board or you need a tool or you need a bolt or you want to hangout and watch a video, you can come here,” Juan Issa, one of the workers at Rufus, says.

Issa, originally from Argentina, came to Barcelona three years ago, and like any skater who comes to Barcelona, he was amazed to be able to skate all the famous spots, especially MACBA. But perhaps Issa arrived just a few years too late. Barcelona is probably still the king skateboarding city in the world, but its reign and power are gradually, steadily slipping away. If a downfall were in store, ironically it would be the over-popularity of Barcelona at fault. For skateboarders, the city was once a bountiful green pasture that’s now been overgrazed and left quite literally destroyed. Take the famous ledges at Sants Station for example. Most of the ledges and many of the floor tiles are strewn with cracks and missing chunks of concrete — the punishing result of ceaseless grinds and slides.

But aside from physical destruction, even great skate destinations like Barcelona have a limited life span. Part of skateboarding’s allure is always finding new places to skate. Eventually the famous Barcelona spots become dull. Skaters want to see new spots in the videos as pro and amateur skateboarders have already done a litany of tricks at every famous Barcelona spot. Barcelona is still one hell of a place for skateboarding, but part its enchantment amid the skate community is growing stale.

“It’s passing into the past. It’s getting old for the pros. Six years ago, all the teams came to Barcelona for filming, not just only for the fact that you can skate seven different spots in the same day,” Issa says.

Summers were the time when pro skate teams would frequent Barcelona, but the last few summers, especially last summer, have been quiet, Issa says. No doubt that’s a troubling sign for Barcelona’s skate future. There’s a sizeable skate scene in Australia, and China has even been hailed as the next Barcelona. China has plenty of ripe skate spots and, thanks to the comparatively low popularity of skateboarding in China, skateboarding is far less restricted there. Skaters still have a good deal of freedom in Barcelona, but less than before it became a skateboarding Mecca.

Even MACBA, Barcelona’s crown jewel, has recently seen increased police presence. The famous long ledge near the museum’s entrance can now only be skated Tuesdays and Sundays. Attempting a session any other day could result in police adding another board to their collection. Issa says he never hears of anyone complaining about the skateboarders at MACBA, but police and skateboarders are like cats and dogs. Blame the police or blame the skaters if you like, but for some innate reason they just can’t coexist peacefully. “It’s like a little war between the skateboarders and the police,” Issa says. “If you stop skating when they pass, it’s all good.” If any particularly menacing officers are passing through and skaters need a place to hide, Rufus provides a perfect hideout to take refuge.

Below: A quick look at some of the skate spots at MACBA.

In addition to serving as a haven from police, a good skate shop has to be a cool place to hangout; it has to have a good vibe. Workers and business owners out there looking to make profits through rip-offs should be selling used cars. Rufus is a business, after all, but if there isn’t a real personable relationship between the shop and its customers, chances are the shop won’t stay in business long. Most shops aren’t in it for the money. They’re in it because they love skateboarding and they want to connect with the skate community. Issa understands this, and when it comes to selling products, it’s a symbiotic relationship between the skater and the shop.

“We are not only selling our products. We are giving our help. If someone comes to buy a board, we’re not only giving a board. I’m trying to give the best product I can give … If you help other people, in the end they help you,” he says. “When we buy the products we know the price that we buy them for, so we don’t try to push the price to double or triple. We try to put the product at a price that’s good for you and good for us.”

Issa estimates as much as 90 percent of customers are from other countries. One day saw customers from 17 different countries, Issa recalls. If skaters are still traveling to Barcelona, that’s a sign that the city’s not receding from the global skateboarding stage.

Rufus isn’t the biggest shop in Barcelona, nor does it have the most history. The shop opened in 2009, but this satellite location at MACBA opened only four months ago. Compared to some of the bigger Barcelona shops, which have been open for 15 years, Rufus is a newcomer. But Issa says it’s not the shop’s goal to be the biggest shop in town. The shop would rather focus on bettering the Barcelona skate community, and, when it comes down to it, providing a good place to hangout that also sells skate goods. 

Yet even if Barcelona is fading from the limelight in the skateboarding world, you couldn’t tell after walking by MACBA. Even though police have limited skating MACBA in its entirety to two days, even though it’s more rare now to spy a pro or big-name team throwing down a session, MACBA is still buzzing with skateboarders on any given day.

“For me, nothing compares to MACBA,” Issa says. Undoubtedly a lot of skaters agree, and hopefully that won’t change.

Below: Juan Issa of Rufus Skateshop talks about the shop’s upcoming video and how the shop holds a different outlook on its skate team.