New York is a city of specialists from foodies to academics, laborers to shopkeepers. Every Wednesday, Niche Market will take a peek inside a different specialty store and showcase the city's purists who have made an art out of selling one commodity. Slideshow below.

Westside Skate and Stick
174 Fifth Avenue, 5th Fl.
New York, NY 10010

Tony Lynch peered at the blade on the ice skate for a few seconds and then looked up, chuckling.

"Yup, you're right. You've been skating on a goalie cut," he said across the counter to Cory Heinz. "How'd you like that?"

"It was terrible," groaned Heinz. "I knew the minute I stepped onto the ice because I slid about four feet sideways."

"Let's get you back to a player cut," said Lynch.

Heinz, who plays hockey in a recreational league twice a week at Lasker rink in Central Park, bemoaned his decision to get his skates sharpened by a competitor. "If only you guys weren't closed on Mondays!"

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.

Midday News: Federal Court to Review Motion to Drop Adams’ Charges, Egg Prices Fluctuate, and What to Expect at Mayor Adams’ Wednesday Federal Court Hearing

Powered by Wave AI