Both advanced and recreational skaters will want high-performance ice skates

For those customers who want to buy the perfect pair of recreational ice skates for casual skating, you should offer a range of affordable, fashionable, and comfortable skates for men, women and children. Figure skaters or frequent recreational skaters often fit boots and skates separately, so offering a selection of boots and blades will boost your appeal to serious skaters.

I recommend: Jackson Skates has a search function to find the perfect skates and Ultima blades for figure skating, ice dancing, or advanced recreational skating. They also offer GAM and Proflex brand skating boots. Riedell Skates offers a wide range of skates, boots, and John Wilson and MK blades for beginner, intermediate and advanced skaters. The leading manufacturer of ice hockey skates, CCM, also sells blades, apparel, equipment bags and other ice skating equipment for hockey.

Be sure to have an ice skate sharpening machine that fits your needs

Skate sharpening machines are the key to maximizing the performance of ice skates of all kinds. Your clients and customers who buy skate sharpeners are savvy and serious skaters; they will demand high quality ice skate sharpening machines to keep their skates at their high-performance best.

I recommend: Wissota Manufacturing Company manufactures skate sharpening machines; skate holders to hold the skate in place for sharpening; a cross grinder to big sharpening jobs; a skate straightener to fix bent blades; grinding wheels; instructional videos; travel cases to protect your ice skate sharpening machine; and other ice skate gear. Redi-Edge Ice sells a range of ice skate sharpening sets, ranging from a team skate sharpening set with seven ROH sharpeners, to a pocket skate sharpener. They also list specialized ice skate sharpeners for goalies. Breakaway Products offers a full range of products, which includes the SkateMate pocket-sized ice blade sharpener, the SportMate blade dryer, a lace puller and replacement ice skate laces.

Ice rink owners, operators and managers need a variety of ice rink equipment

Maintaining an ice rink and providing a smooth skating experience requires vigilance and hard work. Fortunately, there are many products and services to make the job easier.

I recommend: Ice Rink Supply specializes in the building and maintenance of permanent and temporary ice rinks. They also provide rink refrigeration pipe grids, chillers, rink perimeter boards, hockey dasher boards, ice resurfacing machines and other maintenance equipment, ice building and ice maintenance products, skates, and other ice sporting industry accessories. Zamboni sells a variety of ice resurfacers. Magic Ice USA has new and used ice rink equipment, and has an experienced staff to provide consultation on all aspects of ice rink operations.