Dan Dziuban and Frank Langone grew up skating together in the Springfield area. After college Frank decided to move out to California for a year. While he was there he noticed lots of different and creative skate shops. When he moved back to the area he approaced Dan with the idea of opening a shop. He told him of all the cool shops out in Cali, and imagined how awesome it would be to have one of their own. The two got their money together and decided on a location. The only thing left was the name. Dan was currently attending Westfield State college, and was taking a criminal theory class. After writing the name so many times, he though the name “Theory” would sound pretty cool as a shop name, and approached Frank with the idea. Once he heard it he knew it was a perfect. Shortly after their friend Adam Noonan came up with our first logo, which they called the “donut logo”. Once they had the name and the logo they were all set to go.

On July 17th of 1998 Theory Skate Shop opened its doors to the public. The first shop was located at 532 Main St in West Springfield, MA. They held a huge sale the first night and stayed open until midnight. Barry Scott came in on the first day to give them his sponsor me video, and became the first Theory team rider. Later that month the Vans Warped Tour came to Northampton, MA and Theory had its first booth there. It was a good experience for Theory, and a good way to help grow the shop as Dan and Frank flyered the hell out of the place.

In the spring of 1999 there was a push for a local skatepark from a few kids in West Springfield. One of those kids was Eric Rzegocki, who later became a long time employee of Theory. The location was chosen to be at Cooks Park and Dan and Frank decided to take on the project. They were so excited to get a park in town that they started the build in our friend Seth Cassidys garage. All of the ramps were moved onto the location and they finished building the West Side Skate Park by the end of the spring.

Soon after the park was opened Dan and Frank hosted a couple of demos there. The first was from Powell Skateboards which included Theory team rider Toebee Parkhurst, who still rides for the shop to this day.

The summer of 99 brought around another Vans Warped Tour to Northampton, MA, Dan and Frank decided to make their first shop skateboard to help promote Theory at the event. The board, which was blue, yellow, and grey, featured the Theory T logo and was made by Penns Wood.

With the shops first deck out of the way, and its team growing, Dan and Frank decided to do something to bring everyone together. At the time there were a few team riders, all of who were getting footage together for a video which was being made by Adam Clarke, who rode for Theory as well. The team got together and decided it would be a cool idea to make a shop video, and put all the footage to use.

In 2000, the filming and editing had finished, and the first shop video, titled “Thesis” was completed. The video featured Toebee Parkhurst, Adam Clarke, Anthony Labosco, Gary Smith, Barry Scott, and a host of other skaters from the area. This video was really the first of its kind in the northeast.

On November 11th Theory held a premiere for the video at City Stage in Springfield, MA. Being the first shop video Theory made, they really had no idea what to expect for a turnout. Amazingly, the entire venue was sold out. Over 530 people filled the seats, leaving only the stairs for some to sit on. It was by far Theory’s biggest shop video premiere yet.

In 2001 Dan and Frank decided it was time to try and open another shop. They started to look for locations and found interest in the Connecticut area. In the search they came across a shop by the name of Twelve Fingers, whos owner, John Bias, was looking for someone to take over his business. They got in touch with John and decided it would be worth a try, and opened up the second Theory location in Marlborough, CT. Unfortunately there was just not enough business to stay open and they decided to close the doors in 2002.

Also that year they were contacted by the town of Belchertown to see if they would be interested in building a park for them. They took them up on the deal and built the first phase of the Blechertown Skatepark.

With the Theory team growing, and the experience of building a few parks, Dan and Frank decided it was time to find a place where they could skate during the winter. In 2002 they found a location Springfield, MA and decided it would be a good location to build a park. Construction started, and later that year Junction Skatepark was opened.

2002 also brought on another opportunity to expand. Their friend Joey had a shop in Amherst named Levels, and was looking to close his doors. We decided to try our luck in the area, and moved in to open a second shop. This endeavor lasted a little longer than our attempt in Marlborough, but unfortunately we had to close our second shop in 2004. We have no regrets, and we met a great group of skaters and had alot of fun. We miss you Amherst guys!

Since Thesis we have come out with three more shop videos. Four Seasons was handled by Toebee Pakhurst, and Scott Stevens headed our first dvd release “Over-It”, and our third video “Ten Years After”. Junction has gone on to hold a ton of demos, and we have put on alot of our own over the years.

We thank all of our families, friends, employees, and most of all customers for all the support they have given us over the years. Without all of you we would have never been able to do it!