Ron Jon Surf Shop marks 60th anniversary of iconic East Coast beach lifestyle brand

Back in 1981, Ben Malik and his buddies at landlocked Lakeland High School would drive 100-plus miles across Central Florida to catch waves in Cocoa Beach. And they plastered Ron Jon Surf Shop stickers on their vehicles as surfing symbols.

"In high school, you had to get the (Ron Jon) T-shirt," said Malik, who is now mayor of Cocoa Beach.

"It was a smaller wooden store back then. Not quite what it is now," he said, laughing.

Count Malik among the generations of kids who gravitated toward the company, which remains synonymous with surfing and the laid-back beach lifestyle. Ron Jon Surf Shop — and its world-famous logo — are marking their 60th anniversaries.

A beachwear and souvenir empire, the privately held firm operates 11 stores in Florida, New Jersey, South Carolina, Maryland and Alabama, along with smaller licensee shops at vacation-centric airports and destinations.

On May 3, the iconic chain's 12th store will open on the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk. On a larger scale, the company will launch a 10,000-square-foot Ron Jon location later this year in Town Center at Disney Springs. 

"We don’t see ourselves as a typical retailer. We see ourselves as an experience. And I think that is key: All of our store locations are planned either at the beach or somewhere else that is a tourism destination," said Debbie Harvey, president and chief operating officer.

"Over the years, we have become very particular and protective of our brand. We market our brand as a lifestyle and a brand, not as a price or an item. Our efforts have paid off," Harvey said. 

"Our brand recognition, in my estimation, exceeds the size of our business," she said.

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Billed as the world's largest surf shop, Ron Jon's 52,000-square foot Cocoa Beach flagship megastore on State Road A1A is open 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Out front, a 60th anniversary sand sculpture features a colorful crew of carved tikis. The sand artwork sits beneath the statue of Cocoa Beach native Kelly Slater, the legendary 11-time world champion surfer.

Ron DiMenna — who founded the business selling surfboards from the trunk of his car in 1959 — opened a small Ron Jon Surf Shop in 1961 on Long Beach Island on the New Jersey Shore. Two years later, he moved to Florida and opened a small Ron Jon surf shack with a dirt floor at Canaveral Pier.

At that time during NASA's Space Race, surf culture was becoming glamorized via fashion, films and television shows like "Gidget" and The Beach Boys — but it was based in California, not the East Coast.

Harvey said Central Florida was "a very sleepy, different kind of area" back then — until Walt Disney World Resort opened in 1971 in Orlando. Florida became a major tourist destination, and DiMenna's chain went on to sell millions of T-shirts.

Today, Harvey said Ron Jon-branded products account for 48% of the company's total business.

"I think Ron, from the early days on, was very, very smart in figuring it out. He loved surfing, and he wanted his brand to represent surfing. And then, as surfing kind of leveled off, he wanted the brand to represent the beach and other water sports," Harvey said.

"Do a lot of our customers surf? No. But they come to our store because we represent  something different for their vacation, something they don't have at home," she said.

During the 1990s, Harvey worked as vice president at Bealls, Home Shopping Network and Goody's Family Clothing after logging years of work with various department stores.

She joined Ron Jon in 2000 as director of merchandise. She was promoted to president and COO of Ron Jon Surf Shop in March 2008, overseeing daily operations and about 375 employees.

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Ron Jon operates "strategically placed" licensee stores in Las Vegas; Cozumel, Mexico; and Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Airport licensee stores are located in Orlando, Miami, Tampa and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Harvey said her first job as president was to close the lone West Coast Ron Jon store in Orange, California.

"I truly think that we represent East Coast surfing. I think you have to know your limitations, and there's a lot of strong West Coast surf shop brands," Harvey said, citing Hobie, Jack's Surfboards and Huntington Surf & Sport.

"I just don't think it makes sense for us to go out there," she said.

Billboards along Interstate highways heading to Central Florida are a widely recognized aspect of Ron Jon history — akin to Wall Drug near Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Harvey said Ron Jon highway billboards may catch the eyes of motorists more than 500 million times per year.

"Our billboards are always going to sell the lifestyle and the brand. The only thing they're going to try to sell is visiting our stores. They’re not selling an item. They're not selling a price," Harvey said.

"And we feel that this gives us a real point of difference in the retail mess out there," she said.

About 70 billboards tout the Cocoa Beach superstore alone, said Heather Lewis, marketing director.

"The furthest one out is on I-75 in the Valdosta, Georgia, area," Lewis said.

And despite the name Ron Jon, Harvey said there was no Jon.

 "We're a great story: I think the Jon just rhymed with Ron. And so that's why he made it that way," Harvey said.

"A lot of people have said, 'Were there two owners? Is one left?' No, I just think that he liked Ron Jon," she said.

DiMenna was not available for an interview, Lewis said.

An enigma to many of his employees, the reclusive Merritt Island resident was pardoned by former New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio for a trio of drug convictions during the mid-1970s. DiMenna spent decades living in a recreational vehicle, and he made headlines for his third Brevard County DUI charge in 2010.

DiMenna was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ron Jon sponsors an array of surf and skate teams and various athletic events. Melbourne Beach native Caroline Marks, 17, the World Surf League's top-ranked surfer, hosts an annual surf camp for girls at Shepard Park that typically sells out in a day.

"In a world where the customer can buy literally anything they want online, I feel it's really important to have a point of difference and to provide a unique in-store experience," Harvey said.

"The landscape is littered with retailers going out of business because you can buy similar things online. So I am committed to making our store an experience, wherever that store is," she said.

"It's all about the logo, though. This is one thing I think Ron was very brilliant on: He developed a logo, and he stuck with that logo over the years."

Ron Jon Surf Shop locations

Florida: Cocoa Beach, Clearwater Beach, Disney Springs (opening later this year), Key West, Fort Myers, Orlando, Panama City Beach, Pensacola Beach (opening May 3)

New Jersey: Ship Bottom (original location)

South Carolina: Myrtle Beach (two stores)

Maryland: Ocean City

Alabama: Orange Beach 

Out-of-state destination

The flagship Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach hosted more than 3 million customers the past two years. Here's where they hailed from:

60% Out-of-state

14% Brevard County

16% Elsewhere in Florida

10% International countries

Pensacola grand opening

The 12th Ron Jon Surf Shop opens at 10 a.m. May 3 on the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk at 400 Quietwater Beach Road.

Live music and DJs are scheduled throughout the weekend.

Neale is the South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638

or rneale@floridatoday.com.

Twitter: @RickNeale1

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