Niche Market | Ice Skates

In six years, Westside Skate and Stick has become a vital way station for those who take gliding, jumping, spinning and chasing a puck on ice seriously in this city.

Part retailer and part machinist workshop, the store is hidden on the fifth floor of a building in the Flatiron District like a secret clubhouse. But as the popularity of ice skating grows in the city, Westside has built a reputation on its skill in sharpening skates for the ultimate grip and glide. Depending on personal preference, weight, height and experience, for $15-$35 the staff will mold the hollow and profile of ice skate blades using a special seven-step sharpening technique called "maximum edge." Many customers bring their skates back regularly to obtain a fine edge for games. The store also offeres skate fitting and "baking," a process that molds a skate to a customer's foot.

Sitting on a bench waiting for his skates to be sharpened by the boys in the back, Larry "Ratso" Sloman dished praise. "They're on a class above anybody else in the city. And if you don't have good sharpened skates, fuggedaboutit. You can't perform," said this avid recreational hockey player, who also happens to be the author of Thin Ice, a book about a year spent with the New York Rangers.

The sound of blades grinding on a stone wheel pierces the soundscape at the store, and for owner David Healy, it's the high pitch of nostalgia. "I always remember it in the hockey shops, as a kid when you walked in you just knew, from the sound, it was like winter began again," said Healy, who spent his childhood in Massachusetts skating on ponds. 

With walls lined with skates, bulky protective equipment, sticks, and men on benches tying their shoelaces, Westside Skate and Stick has a locker room vibe, albeit a demographically mixed one. Men who play in recreational hockey leagues into their 60s, like Sloman, amble on the carpeted floor, trying on skates, while eight year olds like Phillip Fuhrman poke at gear. But the two were on the same page when it comes to hockey. "It's aggressive, you're always moving," said Fuhrman, who was wearing a Knicks' Jeremy Lin jersey. The boy's opinion was echoed by Sloman: "It's cheaper than therapy. You go out on the ice and you just forget any of your mundane problems, and then you get to hit people too, so you get all your aggression out."

The testosterone level is tempered by the likes of fifteen-year-old Alana Resnick, a competitive figure skater. She came in with her mother — a professional figure skating coach — to sharpen her edges before the weekend’s competition at Wollman Rink in Central Park. Resnick knew it was time for a tune-up because she had been slipping during her daily practices. "It wasn't sticking and biting into the ice as much as it usually does and I was skidding a lot,” she said.

While the teenager did her homework, Healy dressed his grinding wheel with a diamond and carefully labored over Resnick's skates for 20 minutes, pausing after each pass to examine the blade. A sharp and square edge is even more important for figure skaters, because of the complicated footwork required for jumps and axles.