Business & Tech

Seekers of NIKE SBs Line Up Outside Los Altos, Santa Cruz Skateworks

Some will buy the new skateboard shoe to wear; others say the shoes sell for $160, but resell for at least twice that.

Last week it was Harry Potter that had lines of mostly young women waiting for days for the opening of the last film.

This Friday young men lined up outsidein downtown Santa Cruz and in downtown Los Altos, planning to sleep out overnight for another new release: the latest shoes from Nike.

"They are sick!" said Chris Samson, 23, from Marina. He wasn't talking about the mental state of his fellow shoe-gazers. He was referring to how nice the shoes looked.

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"The color is dope. Cool."

Santa Cruz's Skateworks has 15 pairs of the new NIKE SBs, which will be sold Saturday at 10 a.m. Several of the boys and men in line started out in Los Altos at the other Skateworks, which only had seven pairs. While there were at least six young men in line at the Los Altos Skateworks in the morning, by 6 p.m. Friday they were nowhere in sight and there was no line.

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Sales of the limited-edition shoes are called Quick Strikes and they attract a lot of attention from people like Samson, who owns 78 pairs of various shoes, many of which he values greatly for their beauty, while some bring a different kind of value on eBay.

Old shoes, such as the original Michael Jordan Air Jordans, can bring thousands of dollars to collectors.

"These were inspired by my favorite movie, Space Jam," said Miguel Favela, 16, of San Jose who was first in line Friday in Santa Cruz, after realizing he wouldn't make the cut in Los Altos.

"They pay tribute to the original Air Jordans with polished leather and an icy sole."

The guys munched slices from across the street and sat on beach chairs. They planned to take shifts sleeping in cars, while their friends held their places.

All of which made store owner Billy Strubing, 59, happy.

"We haven't had something like this in a long time," said the man who started this shop 23 years ago because his sons were into skateboarding. His son, Jason, now runs the Los Altos store.

"I"m not all that into shoes myself," said Strubing. "But in today's economy I love anything that is ringing the register."

- Los Altos Patch Editor L.A. Chung contributed to this report


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