In the world of New Zealand skate- boarding, one name towers above all others. Its legacy, unrivaled. Its history, enviable. Its location, iconic. Its name, Cheapskates.

The famed skateboarding shop has inhabited its recognisable location at the top end of Uptown’s Khyber Pass for a whopping 45 years. With generations of skateboarders walking in and then rolling out its doors since 1978, it’s no exaggeration to call it an institution.

But to hear founder Frank Edwards tell it, the beloved shop was only opened out of spite.

Frank’s the definition of a character, armed with stories for days and a knack for telling ’em. He may be one of the most influential people in Aotearoa’s skateboarding history, having started not just Cheapskates, but also the manufacturing companies Edwards Skateboards, in 1976, and Boom, in 1992. But he still carries that air of skater rebelliousness about him.

And so it’s with a degree of mischievous delight that he tells me Cheapskates first opened its doors “on April Fool's Day”.

It was a desperate move. Pre-Christmas, Edwards had manufactured 3000 skateboards to supply sports stores around the country. But a supplier let him down, only delivering the crucial trucks (the part connecting the wheels to the board) in January. Post-silly season, no retailers were interested in his skateboards. 

“I went knocking on all my customers’ doors at the time. Everyone said, ‘no, not after Christmas’. I said, ‘I'm gonna have to open my own retail then’ and they said, ‘If you do that, we'll put you out of business’. I said, ‘okay’, and opened Cheapskates.”

He laughs heartily at the memory. Unlike his former retail customers, Frank was a skateboarder himself. He knew it was trending upwards worldwide and that Kiwi kids would soon want boards of their own.

“We got them on the hop,” he grins. “We had the whole summer to ourselves.”

Chasing success with Cheapskates was “a crusade”, he says, and once its doors opened he was in the unique position of being both manufacturer and retailer. He used this to his advantage.

“In my cheekiness, I didn't guarantee any skateboard made in China or Taiwan. I’d say, ‘We can sell you an Edwards skateboard and we guarantee that’.”

The policy immediately landed him in hot water after a professor of law at AUT bought a skateboard that had “fallen apart” and that Frank refused to replace.

“He said, ‘It's outside the law,’ I said, ‘I know’ and he said, ‘I’m gonna finish you off’,” Frank laughs. “The next day he came in with a news crew.”

Rather than finishing him off, the sudden notoriety saw Cheapskates taking off when TV1 news beamed Frank into New Zealand’s living rooms from the shopfloor of Cheapskates, surrounded by Edwards skateboards, talking up their New Zealand-made quality and low, low price of just $79.99.

“We had three landlines and the next day they never stopped ringing,” he smiles. “The first two weeks of Cheapskates we’d sold our cars to pay the wages. The third week we’re on the television news. It was brilliant. We were swimming in money.”

That may have quite literally been a stroke of good fortune, but the shop’s iconic Uptown location was anything but. Frank says he meticulously scouted for the right spot. 

“With only one shot we had to get it right,” he says. “We got out the map of Auckland and found the epicentre, which was the middle of spaghetti junction,” he explains. “We located it perfectly so that you can come in on the motorway system from Hamilton, West Auckland, everywhere, and land right there in Khyber Pass. We were really careful about it.”

The rest, as they say, is history. While Frank no longer owns or is involved with Cheapskates, instead keeping busy with Edwards Skateboards, Boom and the online outlet site sk8factory.co.nz, Cheapskates and its legacy still hold a warm place in his heart.

“The silliest thing I ever did was sell Cheapskates,” he muses, with a tinge of regret.

At the shop today, you’ll find Zac Lawgun behind the counter. A passionate skateboarder, he describes himself as the shop’s “all-rounder”, the person to speak to whether you’re looking to get started or a seasoned vet.

“It’s not just a skate shop for me. I'm proud to work here,” he says. “It's such an iconic place.”

He’s been skating since he was three and loves everything about the store, particularly its community spirit.

“It’s just so cool,” he enthuses. “There’s regulars and people that haven't been here for 15-20 years. A lot of tourists also come in, they've heard about Cheapskates and come to have a look. I always make sure they take a Cheapskates sticker home with them, no matter what country they're from, because skating is a community.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Frank.

“Once you've got a skateboard, you're part of the brotherhood or the sisterhood,” he says. “It gives you a freedom. Once you've got your board, you're outside the conventional realm of society. As long as you've got a bit of concrete, you’re rolling.