Naperville has the image of the idyllic super-burb, filled with soccer moms and youngsters who are into traditional athletics, not that of a cradle of alternative subcultures and a hotbed for the lovers of extreme sports.
So, maybe Todd and Brian Quarles, Shakil Wazir and Maggie Ng missed the memo.
The four 20-somethings opened RQ Boardshop in the center of Naperville two Aprils ago and have seen it mutate from a good idea to what amounts to an embassy of the skateboarding and snowboarding movement.
Many youths stop by the storefront, a former crafts shop, at 226 S. Washington St. every day after school. They spend hours talking to the store’s four owners or sipping exotic soft drinks in its Bend the Elbow Cafe. It is not uncommon for the four to be invited to the birthday party of a 14-year-old regular.
“We have parents who come in thanking us for giving their kids a place to hang out where they know they won’t be getting into trouble,” said Ng, who lives in Oak Brook. “We almost feel like pseudo-parents to some of these kids. We are definitely on that counselor borderline.”
The store was born as the pipe dream of the four when they were teenage snowboarders jabbering on the slopes about how much fun it would be to run a shop together. It started to become a reality two years ago when Brian Quarles found himself just out of college and headed for a job interview.
He knew right away the 9-to-5 world was not for him.
“I was wearing a suit on the same train I used to take every day as a student,” said Quarles, who also is a vocalist for the local hip-hop band Boogie Shoes. “Suddenly, all these people that had never said a word to me were saying hello. I couldn’t believe it was the same train.”
Having grown up in Naperville and often complaining about little to do and nowhere to skateboard, the Quarles brothers knew that should be the place for the store. Naperville code prohibits skateboarding in the central business district where the store is situated, on the Riverwalk and in shopping centers and other public spaces.
RQ Boardshop (the RQ standing for nothing in particular) began to develop a following soon after opening. Ng said youngsters throughout the Chicago area now make their way to the store to see the latest in boarding accessories and gather in the cafe decorated by Chicago artist Dzine. Kids recline on a couch in the cafe sampling soda such as Jarritos from Mexico or the mouth-staining Brainwash.
The store holds five snowboarding competitions a year at an area slope, sponsors skateboarding and snowboarding teams, and even held a fall contest in “fingerboarding.” Todd Quarles said 70 youths turned out to see their peers use two fingers and tiny skateboards to do tricks on a miniature ramp.
Some Naperville kids spend so much time in the shop, Todd said, that their parents come in saying how much they have heard about the four business partners at home. RQ typically relies on word of mouth to bring in customers. In back-to-school promotions, it has called itself “The store that’s been watching your kids all summer.”
Geoff Carr, 13, and 14-year-old Dustin Lingemann, both of Naperville, were customers in the store’s first week and have made appearances most days since.
“I’m here probably more than I’m at my house,” Geoff said.
Dustin said RQ has become known as the top place for kids who are into to skating, as well as for those who simply want to hang out. He said the store stopped being just a store for him a long time ago.
Seventeen-year-old Doug Stalker said he is either skateboarding, in school or at RQ. He said he spends so much time in the store that his mother felt she should check it out.
“Now she comes in just to talk to Todd,” he said. “She thinks he’s the greatest.”
Does RQ have the stamina to remain in Naperville for the long haul? Brian Quarles thinks so.
“I pulled up behind a mini-van with a `Skateboarding is not a crime’ sticker on it,” he said. “I guess we’re breaking through.”
