Revolutionary sports store to open in Red Bank
BY SANDI CARPELLO
Staff Writer

JEFF GRANIT staff Connor Green (l) and A.J. Colantoni in their in-the-works store, Revolution Board Room, in Red Bank.

RED BANK — Once labeled "good for nothing skater punks," A.J. Colantoni and Connor Green said they are living proof that skateboarding and surfing can lead to a lucrative and respectable future.

This December, the skater-boys-turned-entrepreneurs plan to open Revolution Board Room, a retail Mecca for skate, surf, snow and wakeboard fanatics located at 21 Monmouth St.

"We were once skateboard punks getting chased off the street," recalled Colantoni, 24, of Avon. "When we were younger, people told us, ‘You can’t surf your life away.’ … Now the whole thing has kind of come full circle."

The lifelong friends, who graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft in 1997 and Fairfield University in Connecticut in 2001, spent their post-college years seeking a life filled with action and adventure.

Colantoni, a surf and wakeboard-enthusiast who holds a bachelor’s degree in religious studies, spent the last two years riding the waves in Hawaii and Australia.

Green, also 24, of Red Bank, a former ice hockey player for the Fairfield University Stags who holds a business and marketing degree, took a job at a ski shop in Jackson Hole, Wyo., while snowboarding down the Apres Vous.

The two never dreamed of becoming business owners.

But after starting the Shore Wakeboard Academy last summer — a school that teaches the latest water-skiing technique to youngsters and adults on the Navesink River — Green and Colantoni decided to stick around the Jersey Shore for a while.

"After the summer was over, [Green] was going to go back to Jackson Hole and I was going to pursue a teaching career," Colantoni said. "But the wakeboard academy pushed us over the edge. By July we were out there giving lessons every day, all day. … Opening up a shop seemed like the next logical step."

Pouring their entire life savings into renting the Monmouth Street space, the two set out to transform the former site of Arlo Print and Color Copy into a spacious high-ceiling facility.

As they put the finishing touches on their new store, the co-owners are making sure that Revolution Board Room offers the latest board models and the most unique merchandise in the area.

"There are about a million brands out there," Green said, "so we searched for lines that no one else had."

"Revolution Board Room LLC is exactly that — the revolution against local major retail surf shops limiting the range of quality alternative products in the action sports industry," Colantoni added.

Aside from mainstream manufacturers like Hurley and Billabong, the shop owners traveled to Orlando, Fla., in search of more obscure board brands like Savier, Neversummer Snowboards, Nideker, and Gator.

Boards and equipment for wakeboarding, wakeskating, wakesurfing, surfing, bodyboarding, snowboarding, skateboarding and training boards, as well as performance apparel, will be available for purchase.

The shop will also sell hats, sweatshirts, board shorts and T-shirts to go along with the action and extreme sports lifestyle.

Extreme sports instruction in areas such as wakeboarding, snowboarding and surfing also will be available.

The lessons are seasonal: wakeboarding is offered in the summer months of June to September, snowboarding in the winter months of November to March. Surf lessons will be held year-round.

With the borough outlawing skateboarding on public property and the Red Bank Community YMCA announcing plans to put its skate park project on the back burner, the shop owners said they plan to advocate for a town skating facility.

"We view ourselves as highly motivated, enthusiastic extreme athletes," Colantoni said. "Our aim is to educate and encourage young people in northern Monmouth County."