Seth Anderson forgot how much he loved the unfettered freedom of a smooth and empty parking lot.
That is until a global pandemic brought him back to in-line skating.
"When the lockdown happened, people — including myself — wanted something to get outside and do something different," Anderson said. "In-line skating gives you a different type of freedom than biking. You can go places you couldn't otherwise go and get in a great workout."
Cabin fever, shuttered gyms and nostalgia for the 1990s are leading to a resurgence of a sport that began in Minnesota 40 years ago.
Former skaters, or "bladers," as well as newcomers flocked to update gear. Stores and online inventories have been emptied of in-line skates, mirroring similar rushes for bicycles, camping equipment and even regular roller skates.
Rollerblade — the in-line skate brand founded by Scott Olson in 1980 in his parents' Bloomington basement — saw sales increase more than 300% from March to June, shipping more products domestically in May than any month in the past 20 years.
"Our sales were trending up slightly before COVID, but as soon as everyone got put on quarantine, it just exploded insanely," said Tom Hyser, a marketer at Rollerblade, now based in New Hampshire. Minnesota remains one of its strongest markets, he added. And sales at niche online companies spiked. Adam Bradley of Adam's Inline in Minneapolis, which sells high-end products to competitive in-line skaters, said he was inundated with calls and e-mails requesting skates for recreation or fitness.
"I specialize in really high-end parts, but these are people that just want to be outside and skate. They are tired of being locked up," he said. "A lot of them are people getting back into it after not doing it for years."