LIHU‘E — When Greg Tipps and his family, including wife Nadine and son Mason, decided to take the plunge and open a surf shop in Lihu‘e, the decision was a leap of faith and something to do during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I always wanted to have a surf shop,” Tipps said. “When I was laid off from my other jobs because of the pandemic, Nadine and I decided to go for it.”
The fruits of that decision done months ago paid off Saturday when Style Surf opened its doors to the public following months of toil transforming the “yellow store” into the sleek, contemporary-looking surf shop that features state-of-the-art components that were designed and created by Tipps, including a fashion corner that could stand alone on its own merits.
“Everything was yellow,” Nadine Tipps said. “The ceilings, the walls, the floors. This was a major repainting job.”
Jaime Arreola, retired from Duke’s Canoe Club on Kalapaki Beach, said Greg Tipps used to work at Duke’s before the pandemic curtailed operations at the popular eatery.
“He was in construction,” Arreola said, taking the time to take in the craftsmanship in the shop located at the annex behind Ace Hardware that houses Inkspot Printing, Daylight Donuts, Po’s Kitchen and Smiley’s restaurant. “He also worked for Elizabeth Freeman, doing a lot of construction for her, too. This place is sick!”
Freeman also visited the Tipps family during the construction phase of Style Surf.
“Greg is a consummate craftsman, and literally everything in his store is hand-crafted by him,” Freeman said. “He’s even making his own special board stands. It looks awesome.”
Tipps said he wanted Style Surf shoppers to be able to look at the boards, not just see them hanging from poles like other shops.
“This took months of experimentation and design thought,” he said. “But, we finally settled on a 45-degree angle that would allow shoppers a full view of the board and look at all the things they miss if it’s just hanging. We also designed a tool and a board rack that would allow shoppers to actually see the contours of the board, unlike having to stand the board on slippers and trying to eyeball the board.”
Style Surf is broken down into three major sections — surfboards, including body boards; the fasionable surf clothing lineup; and accessories, including stacks of surf wax.
Some of the well-known lines include the Style Surf line of logo wear ranging from stickers, shirts, tank tops and caps in trucker or flat-bill style, fins by FCS and Future Fins, leashes from FCS and Creatures, traction pads by Futures and Freak, Science bodyboards, and bodyboard leases by Gyro, surf racks, and surfboard bags by FCS and Creatures.
Nadine Tipps, who is only at the shop on Saturdays, built up the fasion corner to include brands like Quiksilver and Roxy as well as the extensive Style Surf wear in men’s shirts and women’s tank tops.
Surfboards are the heart of Style Surf, and Tipps carries three lines — Red Spot Surf Co. with shaper Maurie Gyenes out of San Clemente, California, Vesso Surf Co. with shaper Kerry Tokoro made in Hawai‘i, and for the big boards, Dennis Pang Surfboards with shaper Dennis Pang of O‘ahu.
“Style Surf has 40 boards,” Freeman said. “That’s the largest selection of boards on the island. The first thing you’ll notice is all the boards are white. Greg says he has always ordered his boards white, or ‘clear’ as he calls it, passing along some savings to customers. He can add his own color accent, and is happy to add color accents to the boards for an additional fee.”
Freeman said that, as a lifelong surfer, Greg is focused on the shape and the ride of the board.
“The worst board I ever rode was the one I shaped,” Tipps said. “I leave the design and shaping to the professionals. These are boards I use — Red Spot just picked up signing from Kaua‘i surfer Bethany Hamilton, who started posting on social media, and Alex Smith, another Kaua‘i surfer. I use Vesso on the corals, and if I need a big board, there’s the Dennis Pangs.”
Style Surf is open Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed Sundays.
w Info: 808-431-4900
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
And do you guys make your own boards in the shop? The kind that turns into fiber glass. From a cloth you place over it, and spreading some chemical over it until that substance dries. Then it turns solid. Or you guys buy your surf boards from some where else?