“I was [at Eisenbergs] every weekend from 9 a.m. to midnight and ended up turning pro when I was 16,” Peitzner said. “In 2010, I flew to the biggest competition in roller blading in Amsterdam. While there, my sponsor offered me and my friends the opportunity to travel, as long as we wanted, through Europe.”
Buoyed by the popularity of the sport, Peitzner eventually started Carriers Clothing, a clothing brand for skaters. However, when he was at skate parks, skaters continually asked him where he got his skates, and he told them about his friend who owned a skate shop in Peru.
“One day, my friend from Peru said, ‘Start a skate shop,’” Peitzner said. “He gave me all his wholesale contacts. I contacted them, and I started my business with $1,000.”
The business started online in 2017, progressed to a mobile business then to a brick-and-mortar location on K Avenue in Plano in 2018. In November 2022, due to increased volume, he moved his business across the street to a larger location, 1420 K Ave.
“When the amount of interest started going up, I was too afraid to invest in more products. So, people would come in for a certain size; I wouldn’t have it. Those were missed opportunities,” he said. “One day I decided to take out money from my savings and invest in enough product where, whenever someone comes in, they don’t leave empty handed. The moment I did that was the moment I realized I could afford to move to a bigger shop.”
The shop stocks a wide range of inline skates, roller skates, wheels, ice skates and protective gear. They also service skates and offer skating lessons.
“The goal is to keep people motivated to skate. We have so many genres in skating, a new person can come in and be overwhelmed,” Peitzner said. “We ask them as many questions as possible to get them into the right skate for what they want to achieve.”
With the benefit of hindsight, Peitzner said he realizes that when he was 10 years old, rolling around on his first pair of inline skates, he was setting out on a pivotal adventure.
“I found community in skating—a place I fit in,” he said. “In skating, there’s no coach; you are mainly self-taught. That proved beneficial for the shop because I learned how to build my own website. I barely graduated high school, but the moment I wanted to pursue running a business, I learned everything I needed to do, and it turned out pretty good.”
Carriers Skate Shop
1420 K Ave., Plano
469-367-0083. www.carriersskateshop.com
Hours: Mon. closed, Tue.-Thu. noon-8 p.m., Fri. 12:30-8 p.m., Sat 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m.
