Pride

When did you start your business?

1980

Do you consider the location of your shop a key factor to the business’s success?

Yes absolutely because TDK is in with all of the locals and it is located on the main street in O.B.

Who is your average buyer?

A really heavy local scene of kids that are into skating and surfing. We’re all about the groms.

If a total Barney walks in do you treat him with the same respect as a full on loc?

I treat everybody the same.

What is the dumbest question a customer has ever asked?

Yes- “Do you guys sell tee shirts?” (the person was standing right in front of a bunch of tee shirts. Another one is – “Do you sell passport photos and leather passport covers?”

Do you have a mascot (ex. - An animal that roams freely throughout the building)?

Yes TDK has dogs that he brings in all of the time . Any customer can bring their dog in if they want as well.

What is the craziest return a customer has ever tried to make?

A guy bought a surfboard and used it and brought it back the same day saying it pressure dinged too easily and wanted to return it. We actually accepted the return because we’re cool like that even though that was pretty ridiculous.

Does your store support any local surfers or have a surf team?

Yes we have a local grom team. Two team sets- An A & B level. One for the really young groms and the other for the highschool level. We also sponsor local contests.

What is your most annoying grom story?

I do not have any real bad grom stories because we love the groms, but I do not like groms that come in that we are already hooking up that try to get hooked up even more.

Have you ever had any type of celeb roll in and make a purchase?

Pepper the band walked in and bought some stuff. They also played a party for us in the back of our shop. I haven’t seen too many celebrities cruise down this way actually. A lot of pro skaters frequent our shop.

Have you ever pulled a hot chick/guy solely due to the fact that you own/manage a surf shop?

I have a girlfriend, but I get hit on all day long. We all do. I actually just got hit on about an hour ago. The previous managers have all been total players in here. They have pulled absolutely tons of girls out of here.

How many days a week do you surf now compared to before you owned/managed a surf shop?

I definitely surf less now that I manage a shop. I used to surf pretty much everyday , but now less.

Who is your favorite surfer and why?

As far as who I looked up to as a kid that would have to be Laird Hamilton & Gerry Lopez as well as my Uncle Titus (Kinimaka). I grew up in Hanalei, Kauai with Andy, Bruce, Kala, Danny Fuller, Roy Powers, Dustin Barca, Braden Dias, Chava Greenlee, Reef Mcintosh, Kamalei Alexander and we all pretty much looked up to Laird & Gerry Lopez. My favorite surfer is Bruce Irons.

Has a customer trying on clothes ever walked out completely naked?

Not that I’ve ever heard of.

Has a person ever walked in totally blitzkrieged (really intoxicated) and tried to make a purchase? If so elaborate.

Dude that happens all day here. I have to kick people out of here all day. It’s like putting up with a little kid trying to sell them something. This is pretty much an “O.B. thing” for sure. There are lots of bars in this area.

Every store has to deal with shoplifting. What is your most memorable experience and what is your shoplifting policy?

The other day Courtney and I were working and we noticed that there was 3 beanies and then all of a sudden 2. This cute young couple came in and was asking questions so we never would of thought it would’ve been them. I went outside after they left and saw the girl “high-fiving” her boyfriend putting on the missing beanie. I jammed down on my Creature skate and right when she was putting the beanie on and nabbed it from her and said “that’s not yers!” Right then a cop happen to be driving by and saw this go down and knows that I work for Pride so put the girl in the back of the cop car and called her parents. No charges were pressed, but her parents found out so I assume she got in trouble with them. A learning experience for her. We don’t really have a policy unless something major goes down then we get the law enforcement involved.

And last but not least tell us one of the craziest shop stories you can remember?

We have a lot of crazy stories at Pride. Here’s one- We make the groms do a lot of funny things for discounts on products. One day we told these 3 groms that if we can saran wrap them to the tree in front of the shop for an hour that we’d hook them up with some random skate stuff. They took the bait. After we saran wrapped them up to the tree people were cruising by throwing water ballons at them etc. A crowd eventually formed out front and it started to turn into a spectacle so I had to cut them down. Here’s some pics a little after we saran wrapped them to the tree.