Surf shop expands, relocates to downtown St. Joseph

To the uninitiated, surfing on the waves of Lake Michigan sounds completely crazy. That may be one thing that attracted NBC Today Show’s Mike Leonard to come to New Buffalo in 2009 to talk to Ryan Gerard about his surf shop.

Leonard, obviously bemused by surfers who take to the waves in the winter simply because that’s the best time to ride them, reported that business was good for Third Coast Surf Shop.

Business has continued to be good enough to lead Gerard to open a new shop in downtown St. Joseph. The store celebrated its grand opening April 30.

The store, at 212 State St., is located in a building built in 1880 that offers 2,000-square feet of space, nearly three times that of the original store. The St. Joe location becomes the new headquarters for the business. Third Coast Surf Shop’s first store, opened in New Buffalo in 2005, will remain open each year from May through September.

The new store will open year round and feature a wide array of seasonal surf wear and accessories. Gerard says the move into St. Joseph came about because he wants to be in a location that offers more year round business than is available in New Buffalo.

As summer approaches, he will employ 10 seasonal employees in St. Joseph and nearly a dozen in two New Buffalo locations.

Gerard says Great Lakes surfing primarily started to gain popularity in the 1960s as the surf craze on the West Coast migrated to the Third Coast. Now that popularity has moved beyond traditional surf boards. His shop offers stand up paddleboards, skimboards, and sandboards. The store also retails online.

Opening day festivities drew hundreds of people from all over the region, Gerard says, and many local folks also came out to see what he had to offer.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Ryan Gerard, Third Coast Surf Shop