Surf Shops: Your Surfing Lifeblood

Everything you’re ever going to need for your surfing life can be found at your local surf shops. From wax to board shorts to a new surfboard, it’s all there. However, I highly recommend going to the shaper directly for the surfboard.

The best shops are going to have shapers that they contract out to to make all of their boards. Becker surf shop down in Hermosa Beach contracts to James Wheatley and some other guys. I highly recommend Wheatley shapes.

I’ve got two boards from this guy and they are amazing. One Pod and one standard shortboard are all the doctor ordered. And he can fully customize everything. I upgraded fins and got graffiti painted on the pod and it looks sick. There paint guy can work some serious magic.

Definitely check your area for every shop you can find as some will hook you up while others will stiff you on everything. I find that the smaller shops are more likely to hook you up since they need the cash and referrals.

You also want to make sure your shop has tons of surfboards in stock. Some stores will only have a few and really don’t have a surfing focus. They just use the name to attract customers and then sell them on apparel or skateboards as the markup on surfboards is typically really small.

Your shop should have surfboards from their personal shapers along with some pre-made boards. You want to make sure they have every style from shortboards to stand up paddle boards so that whatever your flavor they got you covered.

One sure fire way to check the quality is to see the quantity and quality of wax they carry. Typically if they have Sticky Bumps, Mrs. Palmers, and Sex Wax in the current season’s style you should be good to go. I have been to too many low profile stores with wax from every season except the current one. If they can’t keep it in stock, there not worth your time.

In Galveston I recommend Underground Surf Depot and in California, Becker is definitely your best bet.

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