The Longboard Gift Shop & Swag department at CalStreets BoarderLabs has become a celebration of skate culture beyond the deck, a vibrant corner of the shop where curiosity, nostalgia and personality collide. What started as a few fun extras has grown into a full-blown universe of collectibles and lifestyle goods, offering everything from quirky plush toys and novelty cups to stickers, pins, patches and eye-catching desk pieces. It’s the part of the store where you find the things you never knew you needed until they’re in your hands, the oddities and treasures that make a skater’s room, office, garage or board wall feel unmistakably theirs. This department captures the spirit of skateboarding as something lived, decorated and expressed, not just ridden.
The existence of this playful category is rooted in CalStreets’ long history as one of Canada’s original skateboard shops, born in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood in 1978. From the beginning, CalStreets carried not only gear but the ephemera that defined skate identity—stickers, patches, magazines and the early swag that made local riders feel connected to a wider world. Through the 80s and 90s, as the shop became a cornerstone for Canadian skateboarding, its walls and counters were filled with oddities and collectibles brought in by travelling skaters, industry reps and artists who passed through. That tradition continues today at BoarderLabs, where the Gift Shop & Swag section channels that same eclectic energy by offering rare pieces, fun curios and modern “skate-life” items that echo the past while celebrating the present.
The department stands out because it highlights how skateboarding has always been as much a culture as a sport. A sticker on a water bottle, a novelty pillow on the couch, a pin on a backpack or a mascot plush sitting on a workbench—these small items become markers of identity. They speak to the brands riders grew up admiring, the graphic styles they gravitate toward, the humour and chaos that skateboarding has always embraced. CalStreets has long understood that a skater’s connection to the culture goes far beyond hardware, and this part of the shop is a direct reflection of that belief.
Today, the Gift Shop & Swag collection continues to evolve, offering an ever-changing mix that appeals to collectors, gift-givers and long-time fans of the shop. It’s a reminder that CalStreets remains deeply tied to the history it helped build. The shop has survived eras, trends and generations not by staying rigid but by embracing every facet of skateboarding—its art, its stories, its characters and its sense of play. This department is a tribute to that legacy, a vibrant little museum of skate culture you can actually take home, and yet another way CalStreets keeps its community connected to the roots and future of skateboarding. Whether you’re hunting for a nostalgic throwback, a quirky desk companion or the perfect gift for a skater who already has everything, the CalStreets Gift Shop & Swag department is a reminder that skate culture thrives in all the little details. It’s the laughter sparked by a novelty cup, the pride of slapping a new sticker on a helmet, the comfort of a plush toy that looks like it fell out of a 1980s skate zine, and the feeling of being part of something that’s been alive in Vancouver for nearly five decades.
