Surf shops ride big wave of changes on Delmarva

Surf shops were once a place for people to simply buy a board.

But with surf chic entering the mainstream long ago, Delaware and Ocean City shops have broadened their appeal, with many doubling in size — just like the growing tourism towns in which they are found. 

"You can get a major vendor T-shirt online at 10 million locations at the mall, but you can’t get a K-Coast T-shirt anywhere but here," said Mark Pugh, co-owner of K-Coast in Ocean City.

Pugh and Chris Shanahan founded K-Coast in 1989, but it wasn't easy at first. 

When they opened, the duo had more of a volleyball presence because the Somerset Street store was near the sand volleyball courts in Ocean City.

Now, K-Coast has three locations: one in north Ocean City that focuses on the "old surf shop feel," a two-story store on 36th Street that is more commercial and an outlet location in West Ocean City.

"You have to differentiate yourself between other shops, and you need to do that by creating your own brand," Shanahan said. "And that’s what we’ve done."

In the U.S., the first surf shop was established in 1950 in Manhattan Beach, California, according to Encyclopedia of Surfing's entry on the "Surfboard Shop." 

The encyclopedia's author, Matt Warshaw, is a lifelong surfer and former editor of the magazine "Surfer." He was curator of the "Encyclopedia of Surfing" and "History of Surfing."

Warshaw said movies such as "Gidget" in 1959 and "Endless Summer" in 1966, along with bands like the Beach Boys, helped bring surfing into the mainstream.

"I wouldn't call that (movement) surf culture, but you have a viable commercial base," he said.

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The way surfers talked and dressed was organic, he said, and people were attracted to a lifestyle in which people were able to lay out on the beach and play in the ocean.

Early surf stores focused mostly on selling one brand of surfboard, Warshaw said, and these stores were referred to as "core" stores — short for hardcore. 

The "core" surf shop transitioned in the 1980s, Warshaw said, when stores realized selling just surfboards and wetsuits was not as profitable as selling clothes.

That transition was only strengthened when surfers like Kelly Slater, Andy Irons and Mick Fanning became household names.

The brands they represented during most of their careers — Quiksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl — became very desirable and staples at surf shops. 

Warshaw said the brands became popular outside the surfing community, and stores that were able to capitalize benefited.

"People would come in to buy flip-flops and T-shirts and that was where the money was," Warshaw said. "And if you didn’t figure that out you went out of business. The ones who didn’t adapt didn’t make it."

Now, kids and adults file onto the boardwalk and side street stores. While they may snap a photo of a cool-looking surfboard, it's the fashion and other merchandise that attracts the nonsurfer.

As the surf shop expanded, the stores capitalized by selling clothing with their own logo on it, pouncing on the popularity of their brands.

On Delmarva, there are now at least 16 surf shop companies with at least 24 locations between Ocean City and the Delaware beaches. Each shop has a custom vibe carried through by some into their branded clothing. 

"There's still a lot of crossover products between all the different surf shops, but our shop, our buyers, are able to put their own taste in it," said Dale Loeser, owner of Quiet Storm Surf Shop in Rehoboth Beach.

"So we can have our spin of products of what we see and what we like."

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Quiet Storm was founded in 1984 in Ocean City. Today, there are four locations: three in Ocean City and one in Rehoboth Beach.

The Rehoboth location became so popular that Loeser relocated to Rehoboth Avenue five years after it opened in 1995. 

In 2000, he moved it across the street to the current store location, then expanded that location three years ago to incorporate space next to the store.

Once a fringe sport reserved for those in California or Hawaii, the sport has grown in popularity to the point that surfers can be found anywhere the ocean borders the continent, especially Delaware and Ocean City.

"The allure is similar to the way that we are attracted to cowboys and the west," Warshaw said. "It's global now. Surfing can never go out of fashion because, at the bottom of it, it's about hopping in the ocean."

Keeping up with the times

Pine trees, instead of condo units, shaded the beach in north Ocean City when Frank Gunion established South Moon Under. 

The Ocean City shop, founded in 1968, was during the "height" of traditional surf culture on the East Coast, according to Gunion. His store existed as what he described as a "purist" shop for 15 years. 

"And then we decided to add more clothing and more staff," he said.

The staff wanted a good, year-round income, Gunion said, so they started selling skis and ski wear. Then South Moon Under opened a location in Washington, D.C.

"We found that store needed to focus on clothes to be successful," he said. "We added a lot of clothing, and that is how we moved away from surf and into clothing. We are not a surf shop anymore, we are an apparel store for men and women."

The change was driven by the way Gunion wanted to run the company, he said.

The more the staff was included on the decision-making process, the more they wanted to become a clothing store.

"And the vast majority of the staff was female so they wanted to emphasize women’s clothing," he said.

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In March 2016, Gunion sold a majority stake of South Moon Under to JPB Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. He remained a minority owner and a member of the company's board of directors.

Later, in August 2016, the company announced that it will  move its headquarters in Berlin to Annapolis.

Now, South Moon Under has 28 stores in seven East Coast states, from Georgia to Connecticut.

Surf-inspired fashion can be found beyond surfside communities.

Suburban shopping centers, even in the Midwest, have Tilly's, a store that sells clothes for "action sports" — particularly surfing — and opened its first store in southern California in 1982, according to its website. 

Now, there are 225 Tilly's stores in 33 states, including South Dakota, Minnesota and Kansas.

With the culture becoming a commodity, the presence of surf gear or apparel has become less unique, Warshaw said.

"And the surf shop at the mall is just another storefront," he said. "It just happens to sell surfboards instead of climbing stuff or DVDs."  

But surf shop owners at the beach say what differentiates them from the stores in the mall is a dedication to selling "hard goods" — the surfboards themselves.

"It kind of ebbs and flows," Pugh said. "A lot of times you get surf stuff being really popular inland and in malls, but we have constantly dedicated ourselves to a large presence of hard goods." 

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Loeser noted the number of surf-inspired products and brands available to consumers has increased.

When he entered the business, Loeser said only a handful of manufacturers dominated the market, such as Quiksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl.

"That was pretty much the brands people carried but, since then, there has been a lot of new brands that have showed up that have become popular, kind of leveling out the playing field," Loeser said.

Technological advances, particularly in surfboards and wetsuits, for pros soon made their way to the local surf shop. 

But it's not all about fashion. Surfers stick to their roots and still want shops that service their needs.

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A good surf shop, longtime surfer Malcolm Taylor said, has a staff that is knowledgeable of the local surf and able to fix surfboards. Taylor is the Surfrider Foundation of Ocean City's volunteer coordinator.

"They have to be involved in the surf community and promote the contests," Taylor said. "Those are what differentiates between a surf shop and a shop that sells clothing. It’s like a Wawa. Now you go to Wawa and get absolutely everything, and people have gotten used to that."

'People like those shirts'

Pugh and Shanahan got their start selling T-shirts to their Phillips Seafood co-workers in the mid- to late-1980s.

Now, to keep up with the demand of their branded clothes, K-Coast had already started working on orders for fall 2018.

During the summer, K-Coast has to use different vendors to keep up with demand.

They also have to be up on the trends, Shanahan said, to know what people want in their T-shirt.

"You would like to have the clearest crystal ball in the world to see how many T-shirts you need to sell in a season," he added. "But you never know what design is going to be popular."

Of the roughly 15,000 T-shirts sold by K-Coast, Pugh said half of them are K-Coast logo T-shirts.

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Local branded merchandise ranges from Quiet Storm tees with the Vineyard Vines whale on it to Bethany Surf Shop's T-shirts depicting a classic car with surfboards on top.

"That is an exclusive thing that we have been lucky with," said co-owner Jim McGrath of Bethany Surf Shop. "People like those shirts, and I have some good artists. Those shirts, from a clothing standpoint, have been an important part of our business — and still are."

Bethany Surf Shop opened in 1980 and expanded with an outlet location in Ocean View.

Surf shops expanded in the 1980s when companies such as Quiksilver became international brands, Warshaw said.

"That's when the big shops started to eat the small shop, when the surf shop became a place to sell beach wear, and those products became the mainstay instead of the core products," Warshaw said.

But don't ask a surf shop owner what the future holds for them.

It is impossible to see where the future of the surf shop is going, but beach locations should survive, said Quiet Storm's Loeser.

"I don't see surfing going anywhere in terms of decreasing popularity or anything like that, and I think since we live here at the beach, there is going to be a place for surf shops down here," he said. "So I think it will be good."

Surfers still need a board repair shop and a place to seek out a culture to share in experiencing the sport.

That's something the internet and T-shirt sales won't change, Taylor said. 

"Thank god surfboards, so far, seem to be one of the few things you don’t want to order online," he added. "I think the saving grace of the surf shop is that it is one of those things you want to see and feel and touch before you buy it."

On Twitter @hughesg19

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