Surf Style Looks to Expand Beyond its Florida Roots
Founded in 1989 with the sale of windbreakers out of the trunk of a car at a flea market in South Florida, Surf Style has evolved into the largest resort retailer in the Southeast with ambitions for nationwide expansion, including the planned opening of the country’s largest beach store in 2025.
Starting as a wholesale business, Surf Style is best known in some fashion circles for its iridescent windbreakers, which achieved cult status in the ‘90s and have inspired several contemporary streetwear labels, including Supreme and Palace.
“Retailers became enamored with the shiny fabric, neon colors, and Surf Style’s ‘Interplanetary Body Gear’ logo,” said co-founder and CEO Avi Ovaknin.
Seeing a broader opportunity in beach lifestyle, in 1990, Ovaknin opened a store on Florida’s Gulf Coast, called Way Cool, in an old Clearwater Beach mom-and-pop motel. Renamed Surf Style to capitalize on its popular windbreakers and logo, Surf Style now operates 65 stores spread across the Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi coasts.
Initially, Surf Style sold souvenir T-shirts, shot glasses, and other tchotchke items alongside Surf Style’s windbreakers and other beachwear offerings to appeal to the stores’ heavily tourist crowd, particularly those from the Midwest and Eastern parts of the U.S.
The Surf Style label’s range has since significantly expanded to include a full range of lifestyle apparel, swimwear, activewear, loungewear, accessories, jewelry, and footwear. Aligning with customers’ interests, global brands have been added to the mix and the chain continues to seek out emerging labels. Popular brands at Surf Style include O’Neill, Hurley, Rip Curl, Huk, Columbia Sportswear, Salt Life, Yeti, Reef, Birkenstock, and Crocs.
Surf Style’s stores include a full range of lifestyle apparel, swimwear, activewear, loungewear, accessories, jewelry, and footwear. Photo courtesy of Surf Style
“We like to think of our stores as one-stop beach emporiums,” said Ovaknin. “All the best brands, clothing, accessories under one roof for families to have a great vacation and shop the latest beach trends.”
As a multi-category beach retailer, Surf Style benefits by being able to flex the penetration of any given department based on trends, including the recent expansion of wellness offerings and the addition of the chain’s first pickleball items.
Footwear offerings have recently seen a major upgrade, expanding beyond flip-flops and sandals to feature a wide range of slip-on sneakers and other casual footwear. Given the category’s recent success, the chain is working on a new footwear-focused shop concept.
Freeze dried and novelty candy have also become a major growth driver as well as one of the chains’ newer differentiators.
Beachfront locations are also integral to Surf Style’s success. Beachgoers take a break from the sand to take in the air conditioning and explore Surf Style’s extensive product offering, including apparel, jewelry, and souvenir items. Customers spend over 30 minutes on average in stores.
“It is really a unique opportunity for customers to interact with brands in a way that just would not happen in their hectic day-to-day routine back home,” said Ovaknin.
“We have a captive audience,” added Ovaknin, “once you’re on the beach, you don’t want to leave, so that’s where our beachfront locations really serve our customers very well.”
The stores average about 11,000 square feet of selling space with the chain continually investing in remodels and upgrades over the years.
In 2011, Surf Style opened its first megastore, a two-story, 40,000-square-foot location boasting a 44-foot specially-commissioned Guy Harvey mural, a specialty convenience store, and a 350-space parking garage with direct access to the beach. The main attraction, however, is the FlowRider indoor surfing machine, which is a stop on the FLOW tour and the only FlowRider within 150 miles.
Surf Style’s FlowRider indoor surfing machine. Photo courtesy of Surf Style.
Expansion was boosted by the acquisition of a nine-store chain in 2006, followed in 2019 by the purchase of a four-store competitor in the fabled 30A section of the Florida panhandle. In 2021, an eight-unit chain in Fort Myers was snapped up just before Hurricane Ian struck. At the end of 2022, the chain acquired another eight stores in the Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral area which they are in the process of upgrading to meet company standards.
Surf Style is opening a second flagship in Marathon, Florida, in 2025. Rendering courtesy of Surf Style.
For the first quarter of 2025, three additional locations are planned, including the opening in March of a second flagship in Marathon, Florida. Also featuring an indoor FlowRider wave machine, the flagship will measure 55,000 square feet, making it the largest beach store in the U.S.
Surf Style is also known for its community support, recognized for investing in the rebuild of Fort Myers and Sanibel following Hurricane Ian. In Marathon, the chain is partnering with the Guy Harvey Foundation to sponsor its Marine Science curriculum for Monroe County.
Looking ahead, Surf Style remains bullish on the resort retail business with tourist visits to Atlantic and Gulf beaches maintaining the elevated traffic levels seen during the pandemic. The shift towards hybrid work is also helping improve traffic during less-seasonal periods.
Surf Style plans to continue its trajectory towards doubling its revenue every five years with continued expansion into new markets. The retailer has its eyes set on following its tourist audience off the sand and across America. For Surf Style, the wave has yet to crest.
Said Ovaknin, “We are no longer just a souvenir shop, we are a retail destination for the whole family and community.”
Learn more about Surf Style on Instagram @surfstyleinc or on its website, www.surfstyle.com.
