“It was pretty depressing to hear,” employee Ian Austin says from behind the counter. “But I’ve been coming here since they opened when I was 10 years old, so it definitely hit me pretty hard.”
Regardless of which location you went to, The Point was a special spot for many skaters. For many of us, it was where we built our first complete and started skating from step one. For others, it was somewhere to catch a sesh in the bowl or just chill and shoot the shit. No matter who you ran into, everyone was friendly and down to chat because that’s the kind of community and culture the place had cultivated.
“I built my first board up there,” says local skater Michael Vines. “That was more than five years ago. I skated on and off until I got to uni, and now I’ve been skating consistently for six or seven months now.”
Sadly, The Point has been slowly but steadily shutting down its locations for a while now. Fairview’s closure comes just three months after Roanoke, and the Deep Ellum spot closed its doors about a year and a half ago. The shop made a post on Instagram addressing the final closure.
“Running The Point has been the journey of a lifetime," the post read. "We are humbled and proud to have had the opportunity to serve you all for almost a decade. From the events, to the late night bowl seshs, to all the people that experienced the joy of setting up their first complete, we are grateful for every day and the memories made along the way. We will be forever changed for the better having been a small part of DFW skateboarding history.”
The post’s comment section quickly filled with nostalgic skaters, all reflecting on the good times shared in the shop while grappling with the reality check that comes along with any significant change like this.
“My childhood skateshop, this hurts to see. thanks for the memories,” one user commented.
“Thank you for everything. Y’all inspired me to believe in myself within skateboarding," wrote another customer. "The shop is what brought me and my husband together. The late night sesh’s were the thing I would look forward to the most some weeks.”
There are a few other skate shops scattered throughout Dallas, but The Point was truly a beast of a different breed. Where else could you pick up a new board and take it for a test ride before it ever touches concrete?
“It’s the end of an era for sure,” Austin says. “It was basically everything for the community. It helped a lot of people get into it and start that whole skateboarding journey. Just too many things stacked up on top of each other and it had to go down.”
After this Saturday, The Point will be gone for good, so stop by while you still can. Plus, everything in the shop is on sale until it closes, so you can wipe your tears away with a new half-priced T-shirt.
