Micro Retail - At the Pod Room, it's the small things that count
May 09, 2008
Source: ASR360
ASR360 Original
by: Kimball Taylor
Chip Bynum has worked in surf retail since 1979, and in that time, he says he's watched surf shops bulge in size and grow increasingly impersonal. He spent 18 years of his career at Surf Ride in Northern San Diego County. The last store he managed boasted 11,000 square feet. Yet, when Chip left Surf Ride, and he and his wife Erin decided to open their own shop, their vision led them to a 156 square foot space at the top of a historic house along P.C.H.
Chip Bynum, owner of the Pod Room
"This is something I've wanted to do for the last five years," Chip says from behind a low table in the Pod Room. "It's the one percent club, how surf shops used to be, and that's my niche."
This "indy retailer" is located on the second floor of Oceanside's Hill Street Cafe, an organic restaurant and coffee shop that fills the yellow Victorian house like a family would. Surfboards and artwork created by local and well known artists cover the cafe walls and the stairwell leading up to a cluster of three small rooms above. Light filters through the second floor windows in the warm golds of old California. Paintings and photos flow into and out of the Pod Room, blurring the surf shop's exact boundaries. But the small space at the front of the house is definitely the business end. Inside are maybe a dozen hand crafted boards (twinnies, fishes, quads), hand made products, vintage inspired trunks and limited edition art Ts. Almost everything in the space would be hard to find anywhere else, and that's part of the Bynums' vision as well. "Our customers pay a little more to have something different. And usually, the quality is a bit better too."
Some of the Pod Room's international inspiration is on display.
Chip's travels have outlined some of the principles behind the Pod Room. For example, Byron Bay, Australia's art scene seeded a connection between fine art, retail and the ocean. Japanese retail contributed the "shop-within-a-shop" aesthetic and also the synergy between good food establishments and hard goods retail. Yet, a lot of the art and history behind the product design is local, too.
"After surfing became homogenized," Chip says, "It was a handful of artists and surfers who really helped breath life back into the sport." The connection between those artists - like Andy Davis and Andrew Kidman - and board builders - like Christenson, Pavel and Swift - is melded right there in the shop. And it draws people to hunt down this little corner of a store.
The heart and soul of any surf shop.
The Hill Street Cafe and the Pod Room host electric art shows, and going forward, Chip plans to time those shows with the role out of the next season's product - further mixing art and retail. Another big draw is the food itself, from Hill Street Cafe and the Fish House (sushi) next door. "I have friends who will come in on a Friday evening and hang out for hours," Chip says, nodding at the two comfortable rooms connected to the Pod Room. Customers will sit down, eat and talk surfing, art, whatever. "This is a diamond in the rough," says Chip, adding, "It feels like home. That's the key."
www.thepodroom.com
More Photos:
The Pod Room lives above the Hill Street Cafe, an organic restaurant and coffee shop, in a historic Victorian house in Oceanside, California.
The Pod Room's home on the Pacific Coast Highway.
|
|
|
