The Word from the Beach

Top Customer Service Tips from Beach Stores

Apparel and surf shops at the beach never let the salt spray get crusty on customer service! For this article, shop staff and owners offered their top tips for great service.

According to Village Surf Shop Surf Camp Instructor Cole Richards, the Murrells Inlet, S.C., shop has “been around since 1969, and we have a ton of repeat customers. Making sure our heritage is preserved, remembering people, offering to help them, that’s the main thing for customer service for us.”

Also located in Murrells Inlet, at Lake Life/Tsunami Surf and Reef, Owner Oren Zohar reported that “The best kind of customer service helps people. We help our customers with sizing, and just knowledge about everything they might need, all items in the store.”

At Divers Direct in Key Largo, Fla., General Manager Brenda Kiffmeyer said, “We provide good customer service on the floor, and we also offer a rewards program. I think another part of customer service is carrying so many different items, pretty much anything you could offer for the beach is right here.”

According to Doris Putz, manager at Anthony’s Apparel in Marathon, Fla., “We do a lot of customer service here. We offer online shopping, and having been in this location for 34 years, we offer a lot of personalized service in the store, too. Our employees are very knowledgeable about fitting for swimsuits and clothes. Personal help is our top customer service skill, and it should be the case for any store.”

In Hermosa Beach, Calif., Daniel Del Castillo, manager at ET Surf, said, “Customer service for us is all about finding the right employees, people who enjoy being here, that live the part, they snowboard or skate or surf. They are well-mannered, know the products and are knowledgeable, so that they can pay special attention to what our customers need and want.”

Since 2003, we have been providing high-quality embroidery on a commercial scale. Working with high-quality threads, state-of-the-art equipment, and various quality control processes, we are able to handle mass production orders e ortlessly.