After nearly five years of business in Magnolia, owner Raine Gun relocated Rattlecan Skate & Scooter Shop to Oak Ridge North in 2016 to offer a variety of scooters and skateboards to the community’s youth. “This has always been a passion of mine; since I was young, I’ve always been a rider,” Gun said. “I wanted to embrace the community here. I’ve always wanted to be near I-45, and it worked out for us here since we’re also right across from The Woodlands Mall.” Gun said the skate and scooter shop, now located on Blueberry Hill Drive, offers a variety of street-ready pro-scooters, skateboards and longboards as well as custom-designed models. While Rattlecan originally started as just a skate shop, Gun said he then added scooters to the inventory, which have proven to be a big hit with customers. “Ninety percent of [what] we sell is scooters, but skateboards have been popular here as well,” Gun said. “We have every brand of scooter here, and we have all the parts. We offer the complete scooter, and then we offer custom-built scooters, which cost a little more.” Parts, helmets and apparel can also be found at the skate shop. Gun said he also performs repairs on any scooter or skateboard that is brought in that needs fixing. “We’ll repair anything we sell here and also fix others scooters that are brought in here,” he said. “Seventy percent of the things I do here is repairs or making additions to [equipment].” Gun said some of the scooter brands offered at Rattlecan include Lucky, Envy, North, Phoenix and Grid. The price for a complete scooter that is already made ranges from $119 to $300. “We’re pretty picky here about our scooters,” he said. “If we can’t service it then we don’t like to offer it here.” While the shop offers a variety of scooters and skateboards, Gun said he stresses that safety comes first to his customers and offers a wide selection of helmets. “I’m a big advocate of helmets and educate kids on how to wear them,” he said. “In three months we’ve sold 164 helmets.” Gun said that after customers purchase their helmets, scooters and skateboards, they can participate in a new event held on Saturdays at the shop from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. for $3. “We call it Ramps and Rails,” Gun said. “People can bring their scooters and skateboards and ride. I also like to meet with the parents as well. Every other week we’ve gotten a new ramp, and we just started a month ago.” Gun said while he knows people can buy scooters or skateboards online, Rattlecan is unique because the business interacts with the community and provides an experience. “We really strive on customer service,” Gun said. “I know you can buy things online, but when you come here, you get to try out the scooter and have a different experience.” While Gun only opened Rattlecan six months ago in Oak Ridge North, he said he would like to open up another shop sometime in the future in hopes of getting more people interested in riding skateboards and scooters. “In the future I’d like to plan to have a shop down south,” Gun said. “I’m just a mechanic, so it’s cool to see how the [shop] has grown.”

27531 Blueberry Hill Drive, Ste. 33, Oak Ridge North 281-415-8186 www.rattlecanskateshop.com Hours: 10 a.m.-7 p.m.