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"\"&lt;p&gt;How were sales this summer?&amp;#8221;We looked at sales at the end of the summer and we were up fourteen percent for the year, so we&amp;#8217;re definitely going to be increasing our spring [IMAGE 1] orders. We&amp;#8217;ve got a big store &amp;#8212; 4,000 square feet &amp;#8211; so for a store that size and the amount of money that we do dollarwise, that&amp;#8217;s a pretty good increase. We thought the hurricane seasons the last couple of years would have hurt us &amp;#8212; it didn&amp;#8217;t phase us. It&amp;#8217;s turned out real well.&amp;#8221;- Chuck Mabry, Aussie Island Surf Shop, Wilmington, North Carolina&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;Sales were good. But you can&amp;#8217;t count on an increase anymore. That ended in &amp;#8217;89.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; Bruce Davies, buyer, Island Shop, Indian Rock Beach, Florida&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;It&amp;#8217;s been really busy. Sales are up. Probably over the entire summer we were up twenty percent. It&amp;#8217;s pretty good. Sandals and ladies swimwear were unbelievable this summer.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; Tony Butler, Sweetwater Surf Shop, Wrightsville Beach, Florida&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;We&amp;#8217;re on the West Coast of Florida so surfboards aren&amp;#8217;t going as much as skate apparel. We probably sell about three boards a week.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; John Best, buyer, Florida Oceansports, St. Petersberg, Florida&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;Sales have been up the last couple of years and they&amp;#8217;ve just been steady. I think they&amp;#8217;ve reached a peak and that&amp;#8217;s where they&amp;#8217;ve been staying.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; Noel Whitman, Kai Surf Shop, Pensacola, Florida.&lt;P&gt;What&amp;#8217;s impressed you the most so far at Surf Expo?&amp;#8221;I think the vibe of the show is great. I just came from ASR where there was a huge skate vibe. Here it&amp;#8217;s a little more mainstream surf. I think Volcom looked insane, maybe the best the booth of the show, as far as product, by far was Billabong. I really like the fact that the department stores are getting out of the surf business and I think spring is going to be awesome because the authentic stores are really going to have an edge back in the market.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; John Sabo, senior buyer, Ron Jon Surf Shop, Cocoa Beach, Florida [IMAGE 2]&amp;#8221;The Op booth. It&amp;#8217;s just neat.&amp;#8221; &lt;P&gt;&amp;#8212; Chuck Adams, Big Kahuna Surf, Daytona Beach, Florida&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;This is our first show so it&amp;#8217;s all overwhelming to us. I go right to the Op one every time. All the modeling things &amp;#8230; it&amp;#8217;s pretty impressive. And the events they have here are pretty cool.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; Tom Collins, Ocean Surf Shop, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;We&amp;#8217;ve been real impressed with all the women&amp;#8217;s lines. Op&amp;#8217;s exhibit was well done. Everyone&amp;#8217;s been real helpful.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8212; Chris Clayton, Ocean Surf Shop, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;Billabong girls&amp;#8217; swim looked real good.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8211;Keri Sheeham, Sunrise Surf Shop, Jacksonville, Florida&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;Well, of course the big names like Quiksilver and what not, but I think I&amp;#8217;m more impressed with some of the smaller names because this is the first year that I&amp;#8217;ve owned a surf shop so seeing some of these smaller accounts &amp;#8212; Hurley &amp;#8212; they&amp;#8217;re just going off. They&amp;#8217;re coming out with newer and better things. These smaller companies are jacking up and giving them Quik a little bit of competition and I think it&amp;#8217;s pretty cool.&amp;#8221; [IMAGE 3]&amp;#8211; Merrilee Lister, manager, Bucks Surf &amp;#038; Sport, Pensacola, Florida.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.grindtv.com/surf/surf-expo-retailer-reflections/?pid=33371>