Editor’s Note: This is the third installment of a weekly series of pearls of wisdom from Gerry Lopez. Look for the next one to drop next week and the series to run through mid October.
Discuss the matter and state of surf shops with a surfer of Gerry Lopez’s stature and tenure–a shop owner himself between 1970 and 1980–and you might find yourself wondering, like me, whether it isn’t time for US surf shops to step it up. Esteemed surf shops, as well as other hallowed brick-and-mortar grounds of other elitist sports, may traditionally take pride in snubbing incognizant clientele, but with the turn to e-commerce-based pop-out plants and the foam revolution, among other things, it may be time for snarky shopkeepers to consider changing their tune and opening their doors a little wider (particularly if they want to survive).
“Portugal’s pretty awesome. You can’t believe what a scene it is now. The waves were fun, you know—great, great waves. But holy cow, the surf shops? Unbelievable,” says Lopez after a trip to Ericeira, Portugal.
Where you’ll find fun boards and soft-tops galore at stateside surf shops and schools, shops elsewhere rent out real, hand-shaped foam and fiberglass sticks of every shape and size. And where catchall surf lessons prescribed almost exclusively to absolute beginners are offered on just about every beach on earth, 58 Surf Shop in Ericeira, which had Mr. Pipeline smitten, offers classes galore for various skill levels and board sports. He also recounted staff being friendlier, more considerate, more helpful, and noticeably less haughty.
So what if surfing has gotten more popular or more crowded? Do we all need to be gatekeepers? Why should shopkeepers continue to chop their schnozes to spite their faces and shoot themselves in the foot by turning their noses up at newcomers? A good case in point there is Portugal itself, where Lopez and I were both fortunate enough to have spent good deals of time before the masses arrived
“It surpassed anything in California and had every base covered. Surf schools, surf rentals, they had a program that I’ve never heard of before here in America where they would rent the top-of the line surfboards,” Lopez muses, still visibly displaying bafflement at the idea. “Most rent surfboards for beginner surfers. These were the hottest boards—JS, Rusty, Channel Islands, Mayhem boards. And good surfers would come in and rent those boards just to give them a try. And I thought ‘That’s really a brilliant idea. These guys, they are already spending the money to buy boards and this is a chance for them to not have to buy them, to get to try them…’”
“I’ve never seen anything like it. Massive inventory, all the best stuff. There were several of them like that, a Quiksilver, and a Rip Curl one. But this was the Portuguese one and it was the biggest. They’ve got quite a surf industry there as well, making their own boards.”
We muse that at resort ski and snowboard shops, there is a long-established tradition of–and market for–”demo” equipment, which gets tested during the season and sold at a usually very marked-down price come spring, clearing inventory after it’s already paid for itself with demo sessions. This business model is extant because it works, and it’s a win-win for all. Something to chew on…
Related: Gerry Lopez: “Find Your Dao (It Takes a Lifetime)”
Related: How To Be A Better Surfer In and Out of the Water According to Gerry Lopez