Billabong Aims for High Profile in Santa Cruz, New York
Pleasure Point is a legendary surf beach in Santa Cruz, Calif., and on Dec. 4, Irvine, Calif.–based surfwear giant Billabong USA moved in.
The company opened a 3,400-square-foot store one block away from the famous beach. This store will bring the company great strategic advantage, said Royce Cansler, Billabong’s director of specialty retail relations.
“Santa Cruz is to Northern California what Huntington Beach is to Southern California. It’s the capital of surfing,” Cansler said. “Good product exposure in Santa Cruz will elevate brand awareness in all of Northern California.”
Billabong also announced plans to move into another equally legendary locale. By spring 2005, the surfwear manufacturer will open a 4,000-square-foot store in New York’s Times Square. It will be located on the street level below the glass-walled MTV Studios, a location that frequently draws a crowd of onlookers. Billabong also will open the first retail store for its Element label in spring 2005. The 1,800-square-foot store will be adjacent to the Times Square store. Billabong also owns the Von Zipper eyewear label and Honolua Trading Company retail stores and surfwear wholesalers.
The New York Billabong and Element stores will be operated under license by board sport retailer Ed Leasure. Cansler said he was not aware of further retail acquisitions or expansions other than these flagship stores.
The Santa Cruz store will be operated as a partnership between Santa Cruz surfers Alistair Craft and Adam Replogle. It’s the first retail venture for both men. Craft owned backpack manufacturer Ally Co. and Replogle was ranked 27th on the elite Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour.
The Santa Cruz store, designed with stained-concrete floors and an exposed ceiling, will sell Billabong apparel for juniors and teenage boys. It also will sell products from its family of activewear labels.
These stores open during a time of great success for Billabong. Board-Trac, a Trabuco Canyon, Calif.–based market research company, found that Billabong’s board shorts and T-shirts were ranked as one of the top three preferred brands by survey respondents in its “Waverider2004” report. The report will be published in January. —Andrew Asch
