After being forced to close their Peterhead business due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis William and Nicola Cruden knew they had to adapt.
They took the “sad” decision to close their indoor race track Wheelie World in October last year due to rising energy costs and a lack of footfall.
The pair then turned their attention to selling hoverboards, e-bikes and scooters through their website with it proving to be so popular they realised it was time to expand the business.
They have now opened a shop in the town’s Queen Street reviving the name Wheelie World and adding more stock to their range including stunt scooters, skateboards, helmets, safety gear and also a repair service.
Energy prices ‘shot up’
Ms Cruden, 45, said: “After Covid we didn’t get the same amount of customers coming as people were scared to go out and the electric prices just shot up.
“It was toss up between putting our prices up, which we would’ve had to treble, or closing down.
“We knew putting up prices would have led us to lose all our customers we did have as everybody is struggling with money.
“We used to have a team of 10 staff on the tracks and it was so sad I had to let go of them all.”
The couple, from St Fergus, renovated and opened the former arcade building just six months before the country went into lockdown.
After reopening the rising costs, especially due to the charging needs of the equipment, and the lack of customers saw the doors close.
Ms Cruden, mum to 13-year-old Lyall, who is a keen product tester, said: “After Covid our website took off and we were selling a lot of our products online such as scooters and e-bikes.
“After shutting the track we decided we would just go with online sales.
“But it wasn’t professional working from home and constantly getting asked if we had a showroom.
“Having people turn up to the house wasn’t great so we thought let’s open a shop.
“It’s smaller premises and more manageable.”
Roller disco comeback
Something Ms Cruden is hoping to introduce is regular roller discos.
She said: “It’s something that’s becoming more and more popular.
“With the closure of the Beach Leisure Centre I think people are crying out for somewhere to go.
“We are on the lookout for a suitable space.”
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