About

I created Speedcubing.org in 2019, spotting the gap in the UK market for a speedcube store run by competitive and passionate speedcubers. I have competed in 18 official WCA competitions and came 2nd in the UK championships 2019 for 7x7x7. I believe that it is best for cube stores to be run by fast speedcubers because otherwise how can they know what cube is best for other cubers?

I started cubing in 2012 with a horrible store-bought cube, I got my times down to around 1:20 within a few months but had very little knowledge of the speedcubing community or the existence of speedcubes. In 2014 when I moved to secondary school I met other speedcubers and learnt about speedcubes and various techniques to improve, I then got a speedcube in October 2014 and my first solve was 42 seconds, about half what I used to average!

The group of speedcubers started a cubing club. While everyone else left, I kept at it and found myself leading cubing club for the next five years with a new cohort of students every year. After seeing how students would buy rubbish overpriced cubes each year, I felt I could offer something better so I began selling 3x3x3s at £5, initially the MF3RS, later the YuXin Little Magic and eventually the  Meilong. My speedcubes would often become very popular all of a sudden in October and I found myself at one point having to organise a pre-order service because I didn't have enough stock to keep up. At one point I had 10 people trusting me with a pre-order they had paid for! They all got their cubes in the end. Now having left my secondary school I estimate that 20% of students there still own a cube originally bought off me. Hopefully some are still being used!

Cubing club 2018 poster:

House cubing 2020 poster (unfortunately it was never finished):

In 2019, my local bookshop suggested I try selling some cubes outside their shop. It was in a reasonably good location for the public to see so I gave it a go. I would ask people walking by to scramble my cube for me, solve it in 10-15 seconds and then offer speedcubes with their solution guides. They were brilliant and flexible and even allowed me to leave a few cubes in their store, although they only ever seemed to sell when I was there.

My cubes are just about visible in this tweet of theirs:

And here I am on their twitter page doing my first full day,s trading

Unfortunately Bookpotato closed down at the end of 2019 (otherwise I would link their website)

I quickly saw the opportunity and started looking for other markets. It was a bit more difficult since other markets would charge a fixed price while Bookpotato just charged me a percentage of sales, which was a lot more risky but I still gave it a go and within 3 months found myself at the NMTF national young traders final in Stratford Upon Avon

I am pretty sure that was my stall there but you can't really see anything unfortunately:

I kept doing these market stalls every so often and I took the opportunity to make this video at my school Christmas fair in 2019:

 

In late 2019 I began to create the website, originally Speedcubing.org.uk and later in October 2019 I got the Speedcubing.org domain. I switched over to Shopify and began to build my store, originally with a small range of products but I was determined to get all new cubes as they came out. This meant I soon built up the range of products and grew the store. I also began selling cubes on Ebay, although I have to charge higher prices there.

When lockdown was announced in March 2020, the market stalls had to stop. I did run a few stalls when it was allowed but this meant I was forced to build my online business. Now everything reopened I still do market stalls but I do them far less frequently than before.

In 2022 cubing competitions finally resumed in the UK and I was determined to sponsor one. At Weston Super Mare Spring 2022, Stevenage Spring 2022, Wakefield Spring 2022 and Chester Spring 2022 I brought a giant rucksack full of cubes for people to try out whilst I was there competing and left a note saying: "I run speedcubing.org but I am not allowed to sell any cubes at this competition." In June 2022 all my work paid off as I was able to sponsor Cheltenham Summer 2022 and to this day that stall is still the best performing market stall I have ever done. I continue to sponsor many official WCA competitions around the UK and often have a stall full of cubes for people to try but I also continue nurture my passion and compete.

Currently I am studying politics at Loughborough University but with the growth of speedcubing.org, my main priority has become the business. Ultimately, my goal is to run the business full time and once I finish my degree, I hope to open up a physical location for cubing in the UK.

Cubing as a whole has grown massively in the past few years and I don't see this growth stopping. Despite all the competitions being available to register for, Stevange January still filled 200 competitors in a few minutes! I hope to continue supporting the speedcubing community and providing all the best speedcubes at reasonable prices.