LEWISTON – For Joshua Nagine and Timothy McNaught skateboarding is their life.

And one thing they’ve learned from their combined 25 years of skating experience, amidst the ollies and alley-oops, is that you shouldn’t buy a board from someone that doesn’t ride.

They believe it’s better to buy from someone who knows the ins-and-outs of the industry, someone who loves the sport and someone who skates.

The 29-year-old Nagine added that you wouldn’t want to buy Mary Kay products from him because he knows nothing about them.

Nagine and McNaught recently opened the first specialty board shop in the Lewiston-Auburn area. Twin City Boarders Inc. located at 199-201 Main St. has been open for almost three weeks.

When entering the skate shop, lines of vibrant shiny skateboards along the back walls immediately catch the eye. To the right, colorful T-shirts and sweatshirts hang from the racks and shoes are displayed against the wall. Glass cases are lined with skateboard logos that cover patches, stickers and wallets. A cool breeze trickles from the air conditioner and music rocks from the speakers.

Located at the heart of the downtown skateboarding scene, it’s the perfect place for skaters to dodge the heat and take a break.

And for the two young entrepreneurs, that’s exactly what they intended when they opened the new store. They wanted to give kids a place to watch skateboard videos, chill in the air conditioning and talk about riding.

It has only been a few weeks, but already they have regular customers. There’s about six or seven that frequent the shop everyday.

“As a small shop, we try to offer a big variety for the kids,” said 23-year-old McNaught.

Over 70 large T-shirts hang from the homemade racks, none of them have the same design. Some bare the logo for Anti-Hero and Element, others represent Zero and Habitat.

“It’s all about preference,” McNaught said.

About 130 to 150 different skateboard decks – made by different companies, endorsed by different riders and ranging in every color – are arranged along the walls. There are even long boards for distance rides and termite boards for small riders. Although they haven’t made their initial snowboard inventory, they plan to have between 40 to 50 snowboards available throughout the year.

Nagine and McNaught know that boarding is a growing industry and they see potential in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

Lewiston has a lot of good street skating and the town’s coming up, said Nagine.

According to the National Sporting Goods Association Web site, the number of snowboarding and skateboarding participants ages seven and older has increased faster than any other sport since 1997. While only 6.3 million people were skateboarding in 1997, the number of participants rose to 9.7 million in 2002. And for snowboarding, it was even more drastic with 2.8 million participants in 1997 to 5.6 million in 2002.

Nagine and McNaught have big plans for the future of Lewiston’s skateboarding scene. Next year, they want to host amateur skate contests and set up a skateboard camp. Right now, they’re in contact with city officials to find space and money for a skatepark.

“We’d like to see more professional or amateur riders coming from Maine,” Nagine said. “And the only way we can do that is to support the kids riding and give them a place to ride.”

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