By Steven Fisher, Surf Expo Boardsports Buyer Relations Manager

I got up early this morning for the drive to Ocean City, Maryland. The surf was small and choppy in VB. It’s a decent drive to Ocean City up the eastern shore of Virginia and Maryland, and I took the route featuring one of the seven modern engineering wonders of the world: the 17-mile-long Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Neat!

K-Coast
I pulled into K-Coast and met with Fletcher Birch and Alana McGeehan. They’ve added some square footage since the last time I’ve been here—the store is huge and it’s rocking! Seriously, where do I start?

Each department is massive. The town saw a winter that ran a bit too long, but now that summer is here business has picked up. Guys’ boardies are doing well. Sandals are killing it and juniors’ dresses are flying off the racks. I see it in the store and on the streets: sundresses are everywhere in Ocean City. Overall board sales are slower than usual, but the surf has been flat for so long. The trend in paddleboarding is growing, though. The board brands that stand out are JS, T. Patterson, and Firewire. The hot apparel brands at K-Coast are Billabong and Volcom—both for guys and gals. Matix, Obey, and RVCA round out the good stuff. What concerns does Fletcher have for the store’s short-term growth, “Staying in stock and meeting customer’s needs—honestly.” Not a bad problem to have!


Chaucey’s Surf Shop
Chauncey’s Surf Shop is up next with a quick Q&A with Chauncey Rhodes. He’s got two stores in Ocean City. Tees, swim, hardgoods, and boards are the ticket to sales at this small store. Board sales have picked up since July 4th, as last week’s swells stacked the horizon. The long winter seemed to drag on and pulled the business with it, but “summer’s here and it’s good so far,” says Rhodes. Chauncey’s worried about what the economy has in store, but also looks to what he called “clueless pseudo surf brands” like Hollister for an erosion in sales. “I’m a little angry at how many people wear that and think its ‘surf,’” he says.

I also met with Head Buyer Bianca Miller at the big store. She echoed what I’ve heard about the trend the town is seeing in junior’s fashions. “Junior’s dresses are killing it,” she says. “Sunglasses, too, like those from Von Zipper and Electric.”

Skate is a strong category here with longboard sales doing very well, thank you. Bianca is shooting out orders as fast as the vendors can ship. “As soon as one order comes in, I’m calling to get the next ready to go.”

She says tourists are coming to OC. “Ocean City is a destination spot, so that helps. I’m seeing more long weekend trips where tourists can drive instead of fly.” More traffic seems to be flowing from the north, as well, from New Jersey and New York. My ol’ pal Blair Rhodes, Chauncey’s brother, agrees, “We’re a half a tank of gas from anywhere.”

Water Ways
Across the parking lot from Chauncey’s is a little jet-ski and wake shop called Water Ways, where I chatted with Brian Cree and Brittany Sands. They’re actually moving out of this store at the end of the month to open a new store on Fleming Island, Florida, near Jacksonville. They want to move away from the jet ski business and concentrate on wake and add more apparel and skate—good call! They definitely have September Surf Expo on the calendar—another good call!

Look for the shop to open on August 1. It’s called Pirate Wake & Skate, Brian and Brittany would love to see you!

I also made a pit stop by Endless Summer and Cloudbreak to make conversation with the staff. The skate park next to Cloudbreak is helping business and they’re doing great with Lost, Plan B, and Element.

Billabong
Last up for the day is the Billabong store on 78th street. This was a satellite K-Coast up until this year, and Fletcher Birch says the partnership has been great. At the store I met with Lindsey Encarnacion and Jenna Gurtshaw. They tell measles of junior swim are amazing, “Way beyond our expectation,” says Gurtshaw. So are the sales in juniors dresses. (See a trend here?) “We’re selling out in a matter of days,” she says. Flip flops are good, as are men’s boardshorts and tees. If anything is slow here, it’s kids apparel. I guess it’s hard to get to the kids department when all the gals are rushing to the dress racks!

In Rehoboth, Delaware tomorrow. Check back in for more fun!



Fish

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