Killer Dana’s Carrie Bloom and Mike Foster earlier this month had dinner at home together on a Friday night for the first time in a long time.

“We didn’t know what to do with ourselves,” Bloom said.

“It felt kind of awkward,” Foster added.

That’s because after signing a lease on what was previously occupied by a Rite Aid, it was a mad dash between January and March to get the over 7,500-square-foot store ready for its March 1 soft opening. It was long days and nights moving in inventory, merchandising the store, and getting a deal done to resurrect the Thrifty ice cream counter left behind by the building’s former tenant. Today, the new Killer Dana consolidates two former Dana Point stores, offices, and a warehouse under a single roof in the Lantern Bay Village Shopping Center.

The recently opened store gives Killer Dana visitors ample parking and creates efficiencies across the surf retailer’s team of about 25 – from the front office and shipping to the retail floor associates.

“We were fragmented where we were, with the two locations,” Foster said. “Now, everything is under one roof – shipping, receiving, accounting. The efficiencies that we’re going to gain are going to help tremendously.”

Foster and Bloom are partners with Leigh and Steve Dunn on Killer Dana.

Creating a Sense of Place

A major feature neither of the previous stores could tout before is a Thrifty ice cream counter, staffed by a former long-time employee of the Rite Aid previously in the building who Foster was able to track down through social media. There were also multiple discussions with Thrifty and its distributor before Killer Dana got the green light to reopen the counter.

“Having the ice cream shop has added such a great vibe to the store,” Bloom said. “It’s so much fun and is going to be a great spot for us to offer the community as well as for them to have meetings.”

That includes a recent birthday party for one of the Salt Creek Groms, named the Lords of Dana Point, along with various local associations and schools that have expressed interest in holding meetings in the store’s seating area.

They’re also thinking about offering coffee and may sell packaged snacks for surfers coming in for their wax and rentals.

Bloom also had the idea of bringing the 1971 Volkswagen camper van used by Killer Dana for events into the store and parking it, which has proven another conversation starter for visitors.

“It is a gathering place for people to talk and tell stories,” Foster said. “When Carrie said she wanted to put it in the store, I thought it would be way too big and didn’t think it was going to do what she was thinking, and I was 100% wrong.”

The partners are also making sure the store offers local history across the building’s walls.

There are two projectors playing old films of people surfing Killer Dana, along with Bruce Brown films.

“We want to tell the rich history and surf culture of Dana Point, along with all of the local legends,” Foster said. “Dana Point was such a core of surf innovation and that story’s not told enough, so we want locals and tourists alike to come in and leave knowing the history.”

What’s Selling

The new store is a fresh start for the surf retailer, especially with last year marked by inflation and unseasonably heavy rainfall for Southern California.

“The first two quarters (of 2023) it was ugly. It was scary, but we made up a lot of ground. We lost money, but it was under what we expected,” Foster said.

In September, Killer Dana debuted a refreshed online shop for the growing e-commerce business. Although online sales are a smaller percentage of sales than brick-and-mortar, it’s a growing channel, the two said.

When it comes to what’s popular, Killer Dana is the top-selling brand and private label continues to expand with cut and sew, Bloom pointed out.

“The industry’s changed so much and I think what private label does for shops like us is it gives us something to compete with the brands online, because the brands have such a big presence online,” Foster said.

Killer Dana’s also bringing in new names to the store, including Roark, Fasthouse, Troy Lee Designs, Hammies, Pura Vida, and Thread.

Local brands, such as Florence Marine X and IPD, further help keep the store assortment unique.

On the hardgoods side, Channel Islands, Bill Hamilton, and Guy Takayama are popular at Killer Dana, with O’Neill a big mover in wetsuits.

A rental business adds another revenue stream that continues to expand, with Killer Dana recently finalizing a deal with Hilton Grand Vacations to be a local vendor for beach rentals. That adds to other partnerships with local hotels, including the nearby Ritz-Carlton.

Looking Up

The new Killer Dana, revised online shop, and rentals business is looking up this year for the surf shop.

Foster said the partners expect sales to surpass last year’s performance, particularly due to the savings created by centralizing all business function in one location.

The two said everyone from the city and other surf shop owners along with friends and family have been supportive throughout the move-in and opening process. Friends often brought them lunch and dinner during their long days getting the store ready for opening, while others volunteered to help move or bring materials.

So far, feedback in the initial weeks of being at the new location has been encouraging.

“It was a lot of work, and we love it,” Foster said, “but for other people in the community to come in and say this is going to be the heartbeat of Dana Point, it gives us the warm fuzzies, so hopefully it translates to sales.”