A shopfront in Wollongong, Overboard Surf is a family run business that offers the surfing community one of the largest range of surfboards in New South Wales. Owner Samantha Tollis says surfing is something that is in her blood with her parents running a similar store in her childhood.
“I was born into it,” she tells KBB. “So mum and dad started surf stores over forty years ago, so I’ve always been in the family business. I’ve done other stuff. I’ve been a ski instructor, I’ve worked in advertising, but I’ve always worked weekends, Christmas, I’ve always come back to this. And I’ve never really been passionate about anything else but this.
Tollis took over the running of the family business in 2000. At the time she operated some 14 stores all across NSW and the ACT. These days Tollis has pared this back to a single outlet and the brand no longer makes its own line of surf clothing instead, concentrating on its board offerings and putting customer service front and centre.
“It’s great being face-to-face with your customers on a daily basis. You find out very quickly what you’re doing right, what they would like to have in the store, and what you need to improve on,” Tollis said.
For their foray into the online world, Tollis is launching a new brand of surfboards aimed at the beginner.
“We really believe that that beginner-to-intermediate surfer isn’t being catered for in a big way.”
The board range, which is marketed under the moniker Dirty Rotten Surfboards will be available in three models.
“We won’t expand it much after that. It’s three surfers, three stories, three models of the surfboard. It’s about that person that wants to get into surfing, past their “foamy” beginner board, but doesn’t want to go and spend a thousand dollars on a performance board. They’re Australian made. I think that’s a really important thing for our customers, to have an Aussie made, really good value surfboard that they can just get straight into.”
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