Ventura Surf Shop

When did you start your business?

1961

Do you consider the location of your shop a key factor to the business’s success?

Yes definitely. We’re located really close to Ventura Point so we constantly get a lot of surf traffic coming through here.

Who is your average buyer?

I don’t know if there is an average buyer- We get everybody from Dane Reynolds, to the Malloy brothers to the guy who has never surfed a day in his life.

If a total Barney walks in do you treat him with the same respect as a full on loc?

Oh yeah. Definitely. We try and teach people, lead them in the right direction where they learn from us and want to keep coming back.

What is the dumbest question a customer has ever asked?

"Do you sell surfboards?"

Do you have a mascot (ex. - An animal that roams freely throughout the building)?

Yes, “Blinky,” and “Puha” the helpful Australian Shepherd. If you know who those 2 mascots are then you’re definitely a friend of the shop.

What is the craziest return a customer has ever tried to make?

We had a guy who had a board for 4 months and came back with it broken in half, requesting a new board, blaming the glasser.

Does your store support any local surfers or have a surf team?

We Support the Ventura High School Surf team, The Salty Dog Middleschool team, We have our own surf team led by Dane Reynolds, Adam Virs, Sean Hayes, Kai & Kellen Ellison, Corey Arranbide.

What is your most annoying grom story?

Most of our groms are pretty cool actually.

Have you ever had any type of celeb roll in and make a purchase?

Yeah, George Christy (head of the Hell’s Angeles)

Have you ever pulled a hot chick/guy solely due to the fact that you own/manage a surf shop?

Yes.

How many days a week do you surf now compared to before you owned/managed a surf shop?

Less unfortunately.

Who is your favorite surfer and why?

Pancho Sullivan becasue he throws the meanest hacks. Dane Reynolds because I've personally seen him do some of the most innovative, crazy stuff.

Has a customer trying on clothes ever walked out completely naked?

Yes, some cougar lady that was trying on a wetsuit walked out of the dressing room completely naked once.

Has a person ever walked in totally blitzkrieged (really intoxicated) and tried to make a purchase? If so elaborate.

Yes. Most definitely. We had a Japanese guy come in here once super high on something. He grabbed at least 300 hundred dollars in random stuff and threw it all up on the front display case. The guy managing the shop at the time told the Japanese guy that he doesn’t want to sell him the stuff because he was too high on something. The guy left and came back 20 minutes later with a thousand dollars in cash. He jumped up on the front display case and threw the thousand dollars all over yelling “I want to spend money!!!!” The manager felt sympathetic due to the fact that the Japanese guy was so high on something and picked up the thousand dollars in bills that he threw all over for him. He then told him that he wasn’t going to sell him the stuff until the next day after he was sober. The manager ended up taking him down the street and getting him a piece of pizza.

Every store has to deal with shoplifting. What is your most memorable experience and what is your shoplifting policy?

We used to carry bathing suits. We don’t anymore because of theft. One time a girl came in here and was trying on bathing suits. A girl that worked here noticed that there were a bunch of suits missing from the hangers so she went into the dressing room to check if they were in there. They weren’t. The female customer then walked out of the shop and the female employee followed her outside and asked her to lift up her shirt. She was wearing 5 of our bathing suits under her shirt. Our shoplifting policy is please don’t steal from us. If you do we will prosecute to the fullest measure.

And last but not least tell us one of the craziest shop stories you can remember?

Refer to my answer for the "blitzkrieged" question.