I think Brave New World is the best all around shop in the area. Big selection of everything. Inlet/outlet in squan has a big selection as well...
No offense but Brave sold out a long time ago and is hated by most. Inlet Outlet was my local and I think they are good but I moved further north and right now, if I shop, I go to BareWires Surf Shop in Spring Lake. They're the new guy on the block and still small but so are their prices.
inlet outlet was a great store in squan. it might still be too, but i think the original wner (dnt remeber his name) sold the store and moved to surf out his last days.
^ Kenny Klos? haha, he's a photographer now you'll see him with his telephoto at the inlet or girt when it's going off. Pretty sure he still owns it. Just underpays someone to completely run it for him. He travels and sits back and rakes in the dough. Especially during the Summer 50% off liquidation sale. Line goes around the block to get in the door. The best part is, if you buy the "I'm a local card" for like $40/year you get in three days before. <---- That line is even longer than the one when the sale "officially" starts. Great shop to have as my local when growing up though. I stop in there from time to time but it seems more like a social status scene now than a place to grab some wax.
Brave New World in Little Silver is much more legit. No f*cking Tommy Bahama or Lily Pulitzer shi!t on display. The original BNW store isn't in Monmouth county.
for repairs you have to go to my man Rob at OG surf shop in neptune right between asbury and bradley. The guy's a pro. I had a fin box rip out of my retro fish...he put in new future boxes(totally different size) and its like it was originally shaped and glassed with futures. He always does more work than he's asked. Eastern lines has a pretty solid board selection. Lots of ricky carrol and JC hawaii Spellbinders is a bitt on the pricey side. Good selection though. - al merrick central I should probably take a gander at bare wires...I pass it on my commute Where the hell is 3rd ave surf shop nowadays? I know it was on the main drag in spring lake for a bit but then it moved out by the circle, and now i have no idea where it is. Stoke boka what a joke - 1200 wall hanger boards
bnw little silver is awful! i'm going w/ spellbinders in allenhurst. if you're a bit more south, hit up o-hut
I don't buy boards off the rack and I don't price-shop my other gear, so with that being said, the shops that are the best in my opinion are the ones that have the most knowledgeable and attentive staff. Spellbinders and BNW are both hit and miss in that dept. depends on who helps you and what you're getting. More miss than hit. I go to Island Style in Sea Bright mostly and Bare Wires is also pretty good.
Eastern lines and Spellbinders has a lot of boards - SB is CI central as somebody else mentioned. EL has a 40-50% off sale at Xmas. and the Locals Only card is free. Now Inlet-Outlet has a limited if not terrible board selection. And they charge $40 for a membership card??? Don't drink that Kool-Aid. I like EL and SB. Is 3rd Ave in SL and the circle gone, now replaced by Bare Wires? I need to stop into their LB shop - near the other SB. BNW - whatever location - is what it is - do have some nice California boards - get your credit card out... Would like to visit Surfer's Supplies and a Heritage shop way down south someday - heard they had nice boards. What other shops in any NJ county do you guys like?
3rd Ave. is closed at the circle in Wall. They are back to Spring Lake on main st. or just off it on one of the side streets. They were not happy that Bare Wires opened up shop while they were out at "Peddler's Village" haha. As always, with opening your doors in a downtown area, if you don't own the building you are going to run into problems with your lease eventually. Landlord sees your business thriving... rent just went up next time you are up for a renewal. Don't want to pay the increase, looks like you are moving your stores location.
spellbinders and inlet outlet. my two favorite from anywhere are spellbinders and brave new world in point pleasant. spellbinders for wetsuits and clothing, bnw for boards and anything else.
Definitely not great, but not awful either. They're DEFINITELY better than the point location with all those old people brands.
So glad somebody started this. Just about two years ago after many many years of snowboarding I finally decided to start surfing. Started looking for boards on craig's list. Found a board (fish) listed on consignment at Brave New World, so I went there and this is what went down: I walk in and head to the boards, there's this big dude working a repair on a longboard right in the showroom (EPA violations?) and another guy behind the counter. Neither of them say anything to me, not a word. I find the used boards on my own. I find the board I'm looking for and I go back to the big dude working on the longboard and ask him about it. This is his reply, that I remember almost two years later!!! "I don't know anything about those boards, we have nothing to do with them" I was stunned, , WTF, you know nothing about the boards in your shop? Nor did he make any effort to get any info about the board for me. I should have picked it up and walked out with it, Ha! I walked away and went back to look at the used boards again, kinda lost. I few minutes later I go back to Magilla Gorilla (Showing my age) and ask him if they have any similar new boards like that one, telling him that I want to buy a board, that I'm just starting to surf. O.K., I've worked in retail sales and I've dealt with literally thousands of customers and would never do what this jackass did, I was basically telling him I wanted to spend money. He proceeded with a very degrading and very negative attitude to tell me that was the wrong board for me with no explanation. OK, now I have a WTF look on my face and I'm not getting a good vibe and should have walked out right then. He then walks me over to the fun boards. "This is what you need" he grabs an NSP fun board. I said that I really didn't want a fun board. (Fun boards are like mopeds and fat chicks, both fun until your friends catch you on them) that's what a buddy of mine told me, LOL He insists that that's the only board for me. I asked about longboards, his response "They're very expensive" Duh!!! This is not a 15 yr old kid you're talking to! (Retail sales 101, NEVER SAY EXPENSIVE!!!, What's expensive to you may not be to me!!!) Then Mr. Dumb a$$ begins to tell me how hard surfing is. He tells me that I'm "going to spend more time chasing waves that catching them". Was I asking you? No! So now I'm starting to feel a little small, not what you want to do to someone looking to spend money in your shop. Then he tells me, and this is good, "If you were younger, you might be able to handle a shorter board" WTF!!!! OK, I'm 43, most people guess my age at 30 the most, 27 if I have my skate in my hand. Why the F would any sales person say this. It gets better, LOL. He then tells me, "If your lucky you'll catch some waves by October (this was June) if you go out everyday" Wow Was I asking him? NO! By mid July I got my first "real" ride! Ha B!tch! By mid August I was catching waves!!! O.K. now he's lost me, there's now way these bozo's are getting any of my hard earned $$$ for anything. I leave the shop. This moron had the perfect opportunity to make some big $$ and he blew it, he blew it hard!!! Had he not been such a d!ck he could have sold me a longboard and gear. So I ended up buying a board on craigs list and in my quest for a wetsuit I found Cosmic Bull Surfboards in Long Branch. When I met Bill LaFleur and told him I was just getting into surfing his reply with a smile was "excellent, welcome to the sport, you're going to love it" I then learned more about wetsuits in five minutes then I did in 45 mins of research online. He even gave me a deal on a pair of booties. Since then I've purchased a longboard, board bag, two more wetsuits, another pair of booties and had repair work done through Cosmic Bull and sent several people to CB. When it comes time for another board (soon) I'm going to CB. I've also bought around $300 worth of other gear from different shops in the area. Bare Wires is good, found it by accident one day, went in to get wax, guy throws me a really good wax scraper/comb for free! Nice, definitely will go back to them. Spell Binders are good, they're very helpful and always say hello when you walk in, good selection. The bottom line is this, I can but everything online, do we? No, I go to a shop for the service, yes most of the time it's more $$ but it's not just the product I'm buying. I've learned with the evolution of snowboard gear, some things you just need to buy in a knowledgeable shop. Moral, Mr. Brave New World (Point P) you LOST OUT!!!! I vote you douche bag sales person of the year!!! I will not go back to them for anything, ever!
Two shops I will never walk into - Wild Ocean & Brave New World - I don't know how they stay in business.
