Let’s go surfin’
Local shop pitches tent at Atwater Beach
SHOREWOOD - The area’s only surfboard shop is saying “aloha” to Atwater Beach.
Make that “Wiloha,” which is the Lake Effect Surfshop’s mashed up lingo for the combination of surfing and Wisconsin.
Opened last summer at 1926 E. Capitol Drive, the store brings a beach vibe to a commercial building that also houses a clothing reseller and a tattoo shop. The new weekly presence at Atwater Park opened Saturday, putting Lake Effect’s boards yards away from some of the most prized waves in the Midwest.
“I know it sounds crazy, but this is what we love to do,” said Jake Bresette, who owns the surf shop with his wife, Alaina.
The couple, who are both 29, are originally from Madison and made their way to Shorewood after stints in Colorado and California, and catching a serious case of the surfing bug.
Jake Bresette said he learned about the Lake Michigan surfing scene after returning to Madison, where the couple were working. He would drive to Milwaukee, sleep in his car and hit the waves early in the morning before returning to Madison.
“My friends at work would say, ‘You just did what?’ ” he said. Once Alaina landed a job at a credit union in Milwaukee, they decided to give a store a shot.
Beaches in Shorewood, Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay are popular year-round. And the scene in Sheboygan earns a “Malibu of the Midwest” moniker. The store has tapped into the small but passionate local surfing community, said Eric Gietzen, a Shorewood High School English teacher who’s taken students surfing using Lake Effect’s equipment.
“The surfing culture was already happening here but it was more of a subculture,” said Gietzen, who’s the chairman of the Milwaukee chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit with 50,000 members.
“It’s become a little more mainstream because they’re here.”
It’s also given avid surfers a local shop; until Lake Effect, the closest store was the EOS Surf Shop in Sheboygan or others on the eastern shore of the lake.
Although a love of surfing is
what drives the Bresettes, their business doesn’t depend exclusively on the sport. The surfing market is relatively small and the equipment is durable — a properly maintained board can last a lifetime.
So Lake Effect carries an assortment of the increasingly popular standup
paddle boards, skateboards and clothing — including Wiloha and “America’s Third Coast” shirts.
The Atwater pop-up store will offer rentals of surf and paddle boards. Lessons are available, as well.
The store has broadened its reach into surf culture in another manner, away from the water. With leadership from Gietzen, Lake Effect broadens awareness about the sport and lifestyle with a weekly
book group.
Recent titles discussed include “Caught Inside: A Surfer’s Year on the California Coast,” by Daniel Duane, and “The Dogs of Winter,” by KemNunn.
Bresette said he and his wife went into the business knowing it was an unconventional idea. He said they had little trouble convincing lenders to back the new undertaking.
“They said, ‘We’re just happy it’s not another coffee shop.’ ”