Surfside shop moves inland

COSTA MESA — A 17-year Balboa Peninsula retail tradition is coming to an end in the next couple of weeks, but Surfside Sports owners are looking forward to a new beginning on 17th Street and Orange Avenue with a huge bump in square footage and more retailers for their loyal customers.

During the past several months, there have been many changes at the shopping center in the 200 block of East 17th Street. Rite Aid moved to the west corner last November and Panera Bread recently opened. And, until recently, the space next to Panera was empty.

Now Surfside Sports is all set to open there, pending city permits, within the next two weeks.

The move is coming at the right time. At the end of the month, the store’s lease on Balboa Boulevard will be up. American Equities Inc. recently purchased the space, and the rent would have gone up about $2,000 to $3,000 per month, Surfside co-owner Duke Edukas said.

“They tried to lease to us, but it just didn’t pencil out,” he said as he walked around the new space.

The move also makes sense for other reasons. Edukas said about 90% of Surfside’s customers live up the hill in Costa Mesa. He and partner Paul Burnett aren’t worried about the wandering tourists because they’re not part of their core business.

“We’re going to lose the tourists buying beach towels, but that’ll be offset positively by moms and all the people who live up here coming in,” Edukas said. “We’re really excited about this place.”

In fact, Edukas said, he expects customers will be more likely to frequent Surfside during the store’s traditionally slower periods — winter and summer. Seems strange that a surf shop would be slow during the summer, but Edukas said Surfside’s local customers did not want to make the trip, fight the traffic and battle for a parking space just to browse. At the new location, they’ll miss the heavy beach traffic, and there is ample parking in front and behind the store.

They hope the slow winters on the peninsula will turn around in Costa Mesa when customers see the blown-out snowboarding section this winter. They have a full-service repair shop, plus a huge space for snowboard hardware and apparel.

Quite simply, the store is huge. Before, Rite Aid shared the space with Panera Bread. Including a basement, an upstairs area, storage and all the other nooks and crannies of retail, the store is 17,000 square feet, a major jump from 9,000 square feet on the peninsula.

The extra space allows for better displays, more retailers, more stock and more storage. Store operators can change displays more easily as the seasons change.

“It’s amazing,” said DVS Shoes representative Bobby Lockhart as he examined the store’s new shoe space. “We’re excited.”

The store’s key retailers, such as Burton, Volcom, Hurley and Roxy, will have blown-out spaces, and smaller retailers, which the store is now able to carry, will have their own spots including Factor54, Atwater, Obey Clothing and Ezekiel Clothing. At the Newport store, carrying a new clothing line meant another had to go, Burnett said.

For five years, Burnett and Edukas have been hunting for a Costa Mesa location. About a year and a half ago, one of Surfside’s two owners bought the other out, Edukas said. The space sold for about $7 million, about $2.4 million more than it was assessed at, Edukas said. Surfside owners made an offer to purchase the facility but were turned down, he said.

“We tried to buy the place, but we know our numbers, and we’d be out of business if we offered what they wanted,” Edukas said.

The new Surfside will be open on or before Nov. 11, when it’ll have its annual Snowboard Carnival. For now, Edukas and Burnett are setting up shop and looking to hire more employees.