| Dan Dziuban and Frank Langone grew up skating together in the Springfield area. After high school and 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 our friend Adam Noonan came up with our first logo, which we called the "donut logo". Once we had the name and the logo we were all set to go.
On July 17th of 1998 Theory Skate Shop opened its doors to the public. Our first shop was located at 532 Main St in West Springfield, MA. We held a huge sale the first night and stayed open until 12 midnight. Barry Scott came in on the first day to give us his sponsor me video, and became our first team rider. Later that month the Vans Warped Tour came to Northampton, MA and we had our first booth there. It was a good experience for us, and a good way to help grow the shop as we 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 we decided to take on the project. We were so excited to get a park in town that we started the build in our friend Will Cassidys garage. All of the ramps were moved onto the location and we finished building the West Side Skate Park by the end of the spring.
Soon after the park was opened we hosted a couple of demos at the park. The first was from Powell Skateboards which included one of our team riders Toebee Parkhurst, who still rides for the shop to this day.
The summer of 99 brought around another Vans Warped Tour to Northampton, MA. We decided to make our first shop skateboard to help promote Theory at the event. The board, which was blue, yellow, and grey, featured our T logo and was made by Penns Wood.
With our first shop deck out of the way, and our team growing, we decided to do something to bring everyone together. At the time we had a few team riders, all of who were getting footage together for a video which was being made by Adam Clarke, who rode for us as well. We 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 our 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 we had a premiere for the video at City Stage in Springfield, MA. Being the first shop video we made, we really had no idea what to expect for a turnout. To our (and City Stages) amazement, we sold out the entire venue. Over 530 people filled the seats, leaving only the stairs for some to sit on. It was by far our biggest premiere yet.
In 2001 we decided it was time to try and open another shop. We started to look for locations and found interest in the Connecticut area. In our search we came across a shop by the name of Twelve Fingers, whos owner John Bias was looking for someone to take over his business. We got in touch with John and decided it would be worth a try, and opened up our second Theory location in Marlborough, CT. Unfortunately there was just not enough business to stay open and we decided to close the doors in 2002.
Also that year we were contacted by the town of Belchertown to see if we would be interested in building a park for them. We took them up on the deal and built the first phase of the Blechertown Skatepark.
With our team growing, and the experience of building a few parks, we decided it was time for us to find a place where we could skate during the winter. In 2002 we found a location Springfield, MA and decided it would be a good location for us to skate. We started construction and later that year Junction Skatepark was opened.
2002 also brought on another opportunity for us to expand. Our 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 two more shop videos. Four Seasons was handled by Toebee Pakhurst, and Scott Stevens headed our first dvd release "Over-It", and we are currently in production of "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!
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