Southern Man Surf Ulladulla
HOW AUSTRALIA’S #1
FASTEST GROWING
ONLINE SURF SHOP
CAN HELP YOU LOOK AND SURF BETTER
Dear Surfers,
Welcome.
I’m Marty, Head of Ecommerce here at Southern Man.
Let’s not beat around the bush here.
You’re on this website because you’re hungry to get better at surfing.
And not hear my life story.
If you are interested in that (and I’m stoked, really).
But here’s the short version…
My grandparents purchased Southern Man a little over forty-seven years ago from a guy called David Mathews.
Surfing wasn’t as popular then, the town was small and our store was quiet.
At the end of the seventies, alongside my grandparents, my parents hustled and brought clothing and surfboards from the back of suppliers’ cars, until they built a small local client base.
Over time, their growing team, my brothers, my wife and I put our years of knowledge of buying quality surf gear into action for more and more fellow Australian surfers.
Fast forward to today, and…
We have two huge stores and we are one of the fastest growing online surf shops in Australia.
The man still stands
Back in our very First Edition of Smorgasboarder we had a close look at an iconic surf shop on the NSW South Coast- Southern Man Surf Shop in Ulladulla. The same store that began some 38 years ago has most recently undergone one massive transformation. A ‘facelift” would be an understatement, there’s been more work done here than on Shane Warne’s face.
A New Shopping Experience
In 2011 Southern Man Surf Shop had not only moved premises down the road the new Woolworth’s Centre, but has also created a whole new shopping experience. The store has been segmented into unique shopping zones that individually cater to men, women and children showcasing the latest from the likes of Billabong Quiksilver, Roxy, Rip Curl and Rusty.
Undeniably one of the biggest brightest and freshest surf store on the entire South Coast, the new Southern Man Store is a feel-good story amongst all the recent economic gloom.
Kent Saunders explained the move and how the new store has been received.
“In 2011, after 28 years in our old location we found that we had outgrown the building. Further to this, in our existing space and location we were unable to provided the shopping experience that our core customers needed.
For the above reasons we looked for a larger store. With the help of retail architect and avid surfer Jim Buda, we wanted to redefine the way people will
think of the ‘Surf Shop’ in the south coast for the next ten years.”
The original surf shop, Ulladulla ~ Established 1974
Aside from all the bells and whistles, the store and it’s team headed by Juanita and Kent still remain true to their roots. You’ll still find superb surf product from all the best surf brands.
“We’re still the same privately-owned coastal country town surf shop we’ve been since 1974. Our Greatest strength continues to be our personal, informed and down-to-earth customer service. Our strong sense off family still remains with my wife Juanita, son Martyn & Dani , along Chloe and Phoebe making up our team. ‘It was a terrific team effort bringing the new store to fruition. Everyone has put in some enormous hours and we also couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Toni Ashcroft VM, Bruce Turner, Adam and Jenn from GSM as well as Charissa of Otis, and the guys at MP Constructions who were able to bring the project under budget on time.”
We won Australia Surf Industry 2013 Fitout of the Year
The newer Southern Man Surf Shop, is located in the Woolworth’s Centre at T7 119-122 Princes Hwy Ulladulla, just 200 metres down from the old store closer to the centre of town. Another thing is that remains unchanged is the opening hours- Seven days a week, rain hail or shine – except Christmas day.
As for the old site of Southern Man Surf Shop, it has recently been refurbished by the Saunders Family into Rip Curl Ulladulla. Privately owned, with the largest range of RIp Curl clothing, accessories, surf hardware, wetsuits and over 150 surfboards, softboards, Malibu, funboards and sups. The legacy continues and a surf shop still stands in the same location for over 30 years!