Surrey’s Stardust Roller Rink is back for a limited time thanks to Guildford pop-up

Open to the public through Oct. 31, the pop-up space is located in the central courtyard of the sprawling shopping centre.

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Published Sep 13, 2024  •  3 minute read

A couple is pictured at Stardust Roller Rink in North Vancouver in 1974. A temporary pop-up at Guildford Town Centre has brought the Stardust back to Surrey. Photo by Deni Eagland /Vancouver Sun

In a 2017 article chronicling the final skate at the Stardust Roller Rink, reporter Randy Shore called the space the “Studio 54 of Surrey.”

A longtime community hub open from 1971 to 2005, the roller skating centre was the site of many a birthday party, first date and Friday night.

And now, thanks to a temporary pop-up at Guildford Town Centre, the Stardust is back in Surrey. For a limited time.

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Open to the public through Oct. 31, the pop-up space is located in the central courtyard of the sprawling shopping centre. The 1,690-square-foot roller rink features bold blue, purple and teal branding in the iconic original Stardust font, along with a disco ball and DJ booth.

A check-in desk, front and centre at the pop-up space, features row upon row of black roller skates (yes, the four-wheeled kind) as well as protective gear offered for rental. Skate rentals cost $2, with full proceeds going toward the Surrey Firefighters Charitable Society. At the end of the pop-up, the skates and gear will also be donated to the charity.

The Skate Stardust pop-up is on at Guildford Town Centre through Oct. 31, 2024. Photo by Aleesha Harris /PNG

“It’s amazing because it means so much to people that remember Stardust and experienced it,” says Kiran Deol, marketing manager at the shopping centre. So much, in fact, that on opening day on Sept. 12 Deol was surprised to see skaters lined up to be among the first to roll on the new rink.

“This morning, we had skaters lined up at 11 a.m. because they wanted to be the first to skate this Stardust, because they were some of the original Stardust skaters back when it was an open rink,” Deol says. “It clearly meant a lot to them.”

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Since announcing the pop-up, Deol and her team have been inundated with emails and messages from people who look back fondly on their time at the original roller rink.

“There have been lots of people sending us old photos of their birthday parties at Stardust, and so it clearly meant a lot to the residents of Surrey, and to the local community,” she says. “But it’s great because now we can introduce it to new fans, and new people who want to get into roller skating.”

With roller skating increasing in popularity thanks to social media — a search of the term ‘roller skate’ on TikTok returns more than 292 million videos — and skating clubs such as Rolla Skate Club in Vancouver, Deol said it was the perfect time to bring the “nostalgic moment” of the Stardust back to Surrey.

The Surrey Stardust location was the third in the chain started in North Vancouver by Mel Ross and Bud Allen in 1964. The other two Stardust locations were in North Vancouver and Richmond.

The last of the trio to shutter, the Surrey rink closed in 2005 before reopening for a one-night skate event in 2017 before being demolished to make way for a 53-storey tower.

While Deol and her team came up with the idea for the Stardust revival back in 2019, it wasn’t until earlier this year that they were able to get the exclusive rights to the Stardust name for the temporary rink space from the original owner.

“I think it was a full-circle moment for them because the first rink they opened was right here at the mall in the late 1960s,” Deol explains. The original rink was situated half inside and half outside in the old open-air space, “surrounded by retail.”

Mel Ross and Bonnie Burnside with Stardust Skating Rink memorabilia in Vancouver, BC., Oct. 15, 2016. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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A 1996 archive photo of Glen and Karen Hume who married as a result of their meeting at the Stardust Roller Rink. Photo by LES BAZSO /PROVINCE

The Skate Stardust rink at Guildford is open to skaters aged five and older, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Monday through Saturday) and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.

—With archive files from Randy Shore. 

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