As real as it gets: McKevlin's

Tim McKevlin and his family have been building the surf scene in Folly Beach, South Carolina for 45 years now. Along the way they've seen hurricanes and surfing bans, new technology and the influx of overseas surfboards, and generations of surfers and their changing styles. Throughout all that time, however, they've continued to offer up what surfers and shoppers along the Folly Beach coastline need most: knowledgeable and friendly service and some of the best surf-related product around.

Here's an inside look at one of surfing's true foundation stones along the East Coast.

How would you describe your store? How and when did it open?

Tim McKevlin: It’s a serious, hard-core surf shop with a sense of humor. We call it serious, because we have a professional attitude about doing the right thing for our customers, staff, and vendors. I know that sounds pretty basic, but we actually do what we say. And we think a sense of humor is absolutely necessary to maintain our sanity.

We’re pretty adamant about our philosophies and our place in the surfing industry. At the same time, we don’t push these ideas on customers or expect everyone to follow our lead. We don’t take ourselves so seriously that we can’t maintain business relationships or customer relationships with people who don’t agree with our ideals and ideas. We opened in the fall of 1965. My father, Dennis McKevlin, decided to open a shop with help and inspiration from my older brother, Ted, an avid surfer. I was seven years old at the time.

“This is our first shop," says Tim. "That’s my brother, Ted McKevlin, in the doorway holding a jar of Penrose Pork Sausages, and those are some (large) Woman’s panties hanging above the window."

How long did it take before your store turned a profit?

We turned a profit immediately because we had so few expenses. My father manned the cash box (no register yet) of our original shop. He sold longboard surfboards (at first just by special order), wax cut from blocks of paraffin, and sandwiches (during the off-season, few other businesses were open on the beach) prepared at home. There were basically zero overhead costs. There were no other employees, no rent (the shop occupied the storage room of the family’s Folly Bowling Center), and no technology expenses – not even the most primitive technology of running water!

How steady was your growth from the time of start-up to the present date? Were there any serious obstacles your business had to overcome?

We’ve had continued, steady growth. After the original space was outgrown on Folly Beach, we soon moved to a larger former liquor store. In 1967 we opened a second location in Sullivan’s Island, SC. In 1968 a location on the Isle of Palms was found, and then the Sullivan’s Island store was abandoned. Politics became a serious obstacle in the early 70’s as city officials restricted surfing to a very tiny area. My father then was elected to the Folly Beach City Council where he lobbied for, among many other things, returning the best surfing areas to the surfers. The issue was taken to Federal Court in 1976, and the other Folly officials finally agreed to open the surfing area.

In 1980 a new shop was built on Folly and then enlarged in 1983. In ’86 we opened an inland store in Mt. Pleasant, SC. At the Isle of Palms shop a period of rebuilding by the landlords forced McKevlin’s to operate out of a tiny retail trailer until May of ’89 when a new shop was completed.

A very big obstacle reared its ugly head in September of ’89 by the name of Hurricane Hugo. The storm practically totaled the new Isle of Palms location. At the Folly Beach shop the storm peeled back the roof and exposed the interior to continual downpours. What merchandise that was still salvaged was all moved to the tiny Mt. Pleasant store.

After the new Isle of Palms shop was re-rebuilt and began driving much of Mt. Pleasant’s business away, that store was closed. Finally, after the Isle of Palms shopping area became transferred into more of a hotel/resort strip, we decided to close there and concentrate all our efforts and inventory into the Folly Beach shop – where best surf in S.C. can be found.

How many square feet is your store?

3,300 square feet.

A look inside the shop.

Who are your customers? How would you describe the type of customer most important to your business? Are they difficult to please?

We have a pretty wide range of customers from 10 – 80 years old, but the most common customer is a 15 – 25 year old male. Everyone’s important. We try to dispel the clichés that some surf shops are for the elite, super hard-core guy only; we prefer to make everyone feel welcome. I don’t think they’re at all difficult to please if you’re already stocking the best surf gear and delivering great service.

How large is your staff?

We usually have a total staff of around three to four full-timers and one to three part-timers. Although it’s quieter and unnecessary during the off-season, we keep everyone (who wants to be) employed so we can hang on to an experienced, knowledgeable staff year-round. Most of our employees have been here for quite awhile.

How do you position your store in the community?

We are the longest established surf shop in South Carolina and Georgia and one of the oldest on the East Coast. Our surf community knows we’ve led the way in almost every truly functional development in surfboard design since 1965.

Funny thing about surf shops, most don’t stock many surfboards. They’re time consuming to order, take up a lot of space, and offer little profit, but if you’re a surf shop, you really need to have them. The boards represent less than 35% of our sales and over 45% of our inventory cost. I think our commitment to surfboards and shapers is why we are respected by so much of the surf community.

As far as the community at large goes and our involvement in the community, we’re typically one of the go-to guys around here when a local church, school, charity, or the city has an event that needs support. We enjoy giving back. It just makes you feel good. And, of course, we’ve always been one of the biggest supporters of and contributors to our own local surf organizations like our Eastern Surfing Association district, the Christian Surfers Association, and our Surfrider Chapter.

Customer loyalty stretches far beyond Folly Beach locals. Jimmy Buffet (holding a sick looking CI single fin)  is a frequent shopper whenever he has a gig nearby.

How do you handle the competition? Is competition fierce or friendly in your town?

Sometimes customers will try to imagine hard feelings among the local shops, but for the most part, everyone gets along fairly well. We constantly refer customers to our competitors for brands or items we don’t sell. Our philosophy is to carry brands that other stores don’t have whenever possible. We have exclusives with quite a few companies, and we avoid companies that like to saturate an area. This is probably one reason we get along – our competitors don’t have to look over their shoulders wondering if we’re going to try to copy what they have on their racks.

What percentage of sales does each product category account for (i.e. apparel, footwear, hardgoods, etc.)?

Surfboards represent 35% of our total sales. After that, Men’s Clothing and Accessories takes 20%, while Women’s Clothing and Accessories (9%) and Footwear (9%) are the next biggest categories. Wetsuits account for 6%, Hardgood Accessories 5%, Hardgoods other than surfboards (Skateboards, Skimboards, and Bodyboards) 4%, Services (not really a product category yet still a substantial part of sales) like rentals of boards and movies as well as surfboard repairs make up 4% of sales, Eyewear 3%, Boys Clothing and Gift Certificates 2% each, and Media (art and dvd’s) only 1%.

What are your best-selling brands in each category?

Surfboards: our McKevlin’s private label, Lost, Channel Islands, and Sharp Eye for mid-range and shortboards. Our best-selling longboards are Allison and Bing. Clothing for Men and Women as well as Swim for Women: Lost and Rip Curl. Footwear: Reef and Rainbow. Sunglasses: Electric and VonZipper.

What’s your most important brand? Is that also your fastest-selling brand?

Lost: no other surf shop in our area has it. It’s also the only clothing we sell that’s strongly supported by its surfboards. This gives them unquestionable credibility. Yes, they’re also our fastest-selling brand. Not only does the clothing sell well, but the boards typically have a loyal waiting list of customers for us to call as soon as they arrive.

How important are reps, and who are your best reps?

Reps represent the lines of trust between a company and a store. A dishonest or unhelpful rep can and sometimes does bring doom to the company he represents. Far too many vendors seem to choose their reps based solely on experience rather than actual performance. Overall, though, we’ve been lucky to have met quite a few exceptional sales reps. There are even a large number of new, young reps picking up steam who have all worked at surf shops (this should be a pre-requisite) in the past and have an amazing grasp on how to deliver real service. But, if I was forced to narrow it down to the top two, I’d pick Frank Russell of Lost and Brad Williams of Rip Curl.

What makes retailing in your region different or unique?

The southeast in general and South Carolina specifically is a little slower to accept new and unconventional styles of clothing. This presents an interesting challenge in that we don’t like to alienate the majority of our customers or bore the more daring fashionistas either. In retailing surfboards, however, for a small area with inconsistent surf, there are an amazing number of very progressive, talented surfers who are very much in tune with and enthusiastic about radical surfboard design changes. A shop’s surfboard selection here demands top priority.

How seasonal is your business? What is your peak season?

Spring (March & April) marks the beginning of our busy season. The summer months (May, June, & July) are generally the very best. The most active period of hurricane season (August & September) means hefty board sales. December is a fair month for us because of holiday sales. January, February, October, & November are usually very, very poor months.

Not only are we seasonal due to the nature of our inventory (very much surf, little street, little skate) but also because of our location. We're directly across from the Atlantic. When the waves are good, we can hear them from our counter. What makes our warm months so good is exactly what makes our cold months so bad - location.

On top of that, there’s only one road on and off Folly Island. No one “passes through” here on the way to anything else or “accidentally” drives by our shop. Despite the lack of sales during these months, we keep a full staff employed and continue regular hours seven days a week (We close Christmas, New Years Day, and Thanksgiving). Customers deserve dependability and consistent service.

What’s the biggest challenge to your store? How are you tackling that hurdle?

The biggest challenge for us is the influx of cheap overseas surfboards and the more expensive but equally repugnant pop-out surfboards. To combat the overseas crap, a local shaper, Todd Sutz, shapes private label mid-size beginner surfboards for us that sell for mostly under $400. And, to combat the mass-produced pop-outs, we take every opportunity to educate and inform our customers. We’ve printed t-shirts, given away thousands of stickers, erected two 8’ No Pop-Outs signs on our building, blasted info across the web (including our “No Pop-Outs” Blog), distributed flyers and tide tables that explain our philosophy, as well as publish a three-time yearly newsletter that helps present our arguments.

What’s your store’s biggest asset? Why?

Our biggest asset is trust. We’ve been here a long time (45 years in 2010) and have a reputation for telling it like it is. People know we don’t just tell them what they want to hear to make a sale.

On a related note, one of the events we put on yearly to recognize how we value our loyal customers is our Customer Appreciation Sale. It’s always held the Friday before our Back-To-School Sale. After the shop closes at 6 PM, we re-open from 8 – 10 PM just for our local, loyal customers. They get the word about the secret Sale only through our newsletter, Lines. Our sign even still says, “Closed.” For these customers everything except surfboards is 40% off (including items that were already marked down). As they enter the shop, each customer tucks a raffle ticket (which they cut out of their newsletter) into our drawing box. Every 10 minutes we draw a name, and the winner gets a backpack or board bag stuffed with hundreds of dollars of surf merchandise contributed by the shop and our vendors. Also, we have other prizes that we randomly hand out during the night. It’s a quick, two-hour period when the shop is packed with locals (most of whom know each other) who we consider part of our shop “family.” It’s not just a Sale – it’s turned into a social event.

A look at last year's sale.

What’s been the shop’s best selling item, the thing you can’t keep in stock?

The McKevlin’s private label surfboards. We receive a shipment at least every month – twice during some months, yet we’re always trying to rush Todd to bring more and more quickly. The idea of a great-priced beginner surfboard that’s made in the U.S. by an experienced shaper is a no-brainer. Instead of being stuck with a Nerf surfboard or a piece of trash made by people who don’t surf, we’ve found the customer will always choose the REAL surfboard.
 

A visit from Bing Surfboards: Matt Calvani (owner/shaper of Bing Surfboards) and Margaret Yao (team rider/manager) talking withTim McKelvin and Annie O’Brien (she’s an Assistant Women’s buyer, and she mans the shop's Facebook site).

Has there been anything that hasn’t been selling that’s surprised you?

I’ve made plenty of buying mistakes over the years. There are thousands of things that I thought would sell that weren’t very well received. Terry cloth polo shirts and several unnamed surfboard brands come immediately to mind.

How has the general economy affected your store? What’s the mood of shoppers these days?

In the past, “surf” has always seemed fairly insulated from general economic trends. I believe the severity of our recent economic gloom combined with the recent “mainstreaming” of surfing have contributed toward our “feeling” the effects of our weak economy this time. Shoppers have been more cautious and more conservative at times, at first. Now, they appear to be taking an almost “I’ve had enough of this being bottled-up and thrifty” mood. Suddenly, I’ve seen almost a knee-jerk reaction among some customers where they’re spending almost “too” freely. Maybe they’re spending less on mundane items and saving it for “fun stuff.” Our August and September had record-breaking numbers!

What category do you see the most growth in?

I believe, once the dust settles (literally) over the imported, mass-produced surfboards (prices should be rising) and the pop-out, molded boards (buyers become better informed); surfboard sales at core shops will go through the roof!

Drew Brophy conducting a seminar at the shop.

What’s your definition of good customer service?

Treat people better than you ever expect to be treated yourself.

If you could be king for a day, what would you have the industry do better or differently?

First, I’d send all the surf industry vendors who have no real interest or roots in surfing to a dungeon located deep within the earth’s fiery core. Second, all the companies remaining must take an oath to “create – not imitate” and pledge to assist their retailers – not compete with them online or through their own company stores.

I think the major difference between a “shop” and a “store” is that the shop offers service and services – not just merchandise. We operate the longest established call-in surf report in S.C.; we take care of our customers’ surfboard repairs, provide surf lessons, offer surfboard consignments, free demo fin rentals, surfboard demos, surf video premieres, surfboard, bodyboard, and dvd rentals, and we provide personal, friendly help with anything and everything from warranty issues to special orders to assisting with any and every aspect of every item we sell.


 

The man at the helm: Tim McKevlin