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HAY RIVER - Jacky Kruger does double duty at Forward Skateboard Shop in Hay River. Not only does she co-own and operate the store, the young mother also takes her infant child to work.

Jacky Kruger operates Hay River's Forward Skateboard Shop while caring for her four-month-old daughter Daphnee. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Kruger said she has been bringing her four-month-old daughter Daphnee to the store since she was a couple of weeks old.

"It's pretty cool," Kruger said of the arrangement.

While Daphnee is playing with her toys or sleeping, her mother serves customers or works on the books.

Customers also love to see Daphnee, she said. "It's very family-oriented here in Hay River."

Kruger said Forward Skateboard Shop is a pretty casual place to begin with and caring for her daughter fits in quite well.

"It's busy, but I'd rather that than sending her to daycare," she said. "I'm not ready."

Kruger bought the store in 2006 from her sister, who started the business with a partner four years ago.

Back then, Kruger, 29, was not involved in the store at all.

She became involved when her sister was having a baby, and she worked in the store for a month to help out.

"I was enjoying doing it," she recalled.

Her sister was looking to sell the store at the time. Kruger and her boyfriend decided to buy it.

Kruger is currently on maternity leave from her other job as the French-language co-ordinator at the hospital in Hay River.

She will be returning to that job in May.

"I only work mornings at the other job and then I come here," she told News/North while sitting in the Shop.

However, she noted she won't be taking Daphnee to her work at the hospital.

Kruger said she is changing the focus of Forward Skateboard Shop a little bit.

"I'm still keeping the skateboarding section, but the focus is going to be on shoes, definitely," she said. "It's something that Hay River doesn't have."

The casual and dressy shoes will be for both men and women.

Kruger, who is originally from Montreal, said skateboarding continues to be very popular in Hay River, and she will be reordering a new selection of skateboards in the spring.

Her store also features a selection of clothing for men and women, caps, hoodies and many other items.

Each year, the store also hosts tattoo and piercing artists from Montreal.

"That's a big, big event," Kruger said, noting people start booking appointments with the artists a year in advance.

This year, the tattoo artists will be visiting from Nov. 7 to 22.