Coureur Goods Helps Expand Skater Culture in Portsmouth

It had been eight years since Portsmouth’s last skate shop, Identity, closed, leaving a gaping hole in the city’s skate culture. That is until Ian Coughlan opened Coureur Goods in the fall of 2021, providing a new haven for skaters.

Coughlan was a co-owner of Orchard Skateshop in Boston, but in 2021, a more flexible pandemic rental market presented the perfect opportunity to open a new skateboard shop, this time in the heart of downtown Portsmouth. “We’re not just selling stuff in the store. We’re selling skateboarding as a culture, as an activity, as a community,” he says. Coureur Goods boasts a wide assortment of shoes, apparel and skateboards, from global brands to local NH startups. Coureur also sells its own lines of clothing and skate decks.

There have been several instances when a hot new shoe had customers lined up outside Coueur’s door. “Sometimes you’ll show up in the morning and there will be a line of people who have been there for six to eight hours,” Coughlan says.

Coughlan says his main mission, though, is to bolster Portsmouth’s skateboarding scene, which is expected to expand with the new skate park being built off Route 33 in Portsmouth. He and his staff encourage passersby to stop in and chat or to take a seat on their leather couch and watch the newest skate video. This attitude toward customers has led to a fair share of regulars. “Kids come in and they’ll spend two hours here after school,” Coughlan says. While the staff of Coureur Goods are required to have an extensive skateboarding resume, they also make it a point to welcome customers who aren’t as experienced. Newcomers are made to feel comfortable asking questions of Coureur and to use the store as a gateway into the greater skateboarding scene.

The staff at Coureur often coordinate community events, such as Go Skate Day, video premieres and an anniversary party for the store’s second birthday. “If we weren’t doing these events, we would just be a store that sells you stuff. We would lose part of what people like about us,” Coughlan says. For more information, visit
coureurgoods.com.

Written by Ben Marotta, a student at University of NH-Manchester and a participant in the Young Reporters Project, a joint venture of Business NH Magazine and UNH-Manchester to introduce students to journalism.