Surf’s Up for SoCal Surf Shops

When surfers are in need of wax, new fins or other gear, they’re not heading to the local mall.

Surf shops have long served as places of community and a resource for stocking up on the most innovative new product or technical gear to get athletes back in the water in no time. Those hubs for culture — nestled in Southern California beach communities spanning from Malibu and Santa Monica to Huntington Beach and San Diego — have since given way to lifestyle businesses that have given birth to fashion brands and an industry that now generates billions of dollars in sales from core and mainstream consumers alike.