SKS Skating Apparel

This season, I've worked with Susie at SKS for all the apparel needs for our skating team (about 50 skaters). We've ordered a variety of items, from gloves and leg warmers to embroidered jackets and vests. Susie was so patient with us, giving us all the options we could need for each item. Because we are over an hour away from their shop, I dealt with Susie mostly through email communication. She was quick to respond to my questions, even on days that I knew she was out of the office. When I delivered the embroidered apparel to our skaters, they were thrilled with the outcomes. We couldn't be happier with our experience. We look forward to working with SKS again next year.

Susie is great to work with for swim gear and more! Having been a SKS customer for several years, I highly recommend. Susie will work with you until you have what you want for your team. And, the embroidery is the best!!

Susie and Kevin are fantastic shop owners who can meet all of your figure skating needs and beyond. I have worked with SKS for the past year, and they take care of all of my 60 athlete strong synchro pogram's apparel orders and embroidery, and we couldn't be happier!
Susie and Kevin are always ready to help with whatever we need, even when time is tight!

I happily send my students to SKS for skates and blades, and can rely on them on helping us get just the right pair. Kevin is also a fantastic skate sharpener!

I highly recommend visiting SKS Sports!

If you want any ice skating swimming or hockey apparel definitely talk to Susie and her staff. They are amazing and convenient to the local swimming and hockey area. And nobody will go out of their way to give you great customer service like Susie

Susie knows what she’s doing. I can’t even begin to express how professional my fitting was, and after her professional heat molding my boots fit me like they were made for me. They are currently operating by appointment only, so you get 1on 1 care like you are the only priority in the world while you’re in the shop. Excellent service.

The owner is so knowledgeable not just about ice skates but also about how each one fits different feet and which skate is best for your skater. She is amazing! We drove more than 2 hours from Charlotte to visit her shop and I will happily drive it again to get this level of knowledge and expertise in ice skate fitting.

Great store close to home and convenient to the pool. Susie is fantastic and always helpful! Dropped off Christmas gift parkas for embroidery on Wednesday and picked them up ready to go on Friday. Thanks Susie! :)

Great place with good selection for youth hockey. Very friendly owners that care about their customers. Also, the best skate sharpening around, very meticulous!

We use SKS for all of our swim team apparel. They are wonderful and easy to work with!

If you need anything for your skater, they'll probably have it here. They are knowledgeable and helpful. We love this place any time we need gear.

Wonderful place! They’re so knowledgeable about everything skating. Really friendly and helpful people.

Always friendly and helpful staff

So knowledgeable and friendly!

Very nice and helpful!

I will say that I am grateful at the convenience of Susie’s husband and his skill with sharpening the blades of my skates. He was very interactive. And his work was of high quality. Unfortunately, as much respect I have for Susie, there is one experience I must share, on behalf of my diabetic mother.
When I was in the store by myself or with my dad to get my skates and get them sharpened, I was treated like any other customer. Basic respect and treated well and with warm welcome.
However, my mom came in to pay for my skate sharpening when I last needed my skates sharpened. Susie was different. She was snappy to me and rude to my mother. She made my mother leave with her service dog. She said the reason why was because she was allergic to dogs.
According to the ADA:

“Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.
A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.”

And when Susie called me to inform me of my skates being ready for pick up after sharpening, she said that I wasn’t allowed in with my mother and her dog.
My mom’s service dog is also hyper allergenic but that shouldn’t matter.
I knew my mother’s rights as a person in need of a service dog then and I still do now.
What Susie did to my mother and me later through the call was not only very rude, but also discriminatory and ILLEGAL.
It is not my mother’s responsibility to abide by people’s allergies to her service dog that she has legal need for as a hypoglycemic unaware Type 1 Diabetic (which is a disease in need of medical equipment that a service dog is titled as, again from the ADA:

“... under the law, they are considered to be necessary medical equipment. They can be in public with their handler because their handler has a right to equal public access under the law, and the service animal performs tasks required by the handler to achieve that access. This means that outside of a few specific limitations, service animals are allowed to go anywhere that a wheelchair, walker or other assistive device can go. Just as wheelchairs are custom fit for their users, service animals are specifically trained for an individual’s needs through a set of trained tasks.) when the person with allergies that can be more easily worked with has a public business that trained service dogs are legally allowed to enter for the business’ services like any other person with important medical equipment.”

All in all, I agree with the high quality supply of sporting goods for skating and swimming the store provides and convenience. However, I highly denounce my mother’s treatment that was given in the store simply because of having a service dog, that she legally got and has no legal need to show Liam’s documentation, according to the ADA:

“ In situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two specific questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person's disability.”

I wish no harm to the business, but this experience I can’t let slide, especially since my mother has suffered enough indecency in public for years just for having a service dog.