After experiencing a big month in sales during May, Natural Necessity Surfshop owner Kent Ladkin reckons his eternal optimism and the JobKeeper scheme is paying off.
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After facing two wipeouts earlier in the year - the bushfires in December and January and the COVID-19 lockdown in April - his Gerringong business is riding a new wave of enthusiasm for surfing.
Returning from a surfing trip to Bali in March, facing two weeks in quarantine, then an Easter trading period that bombed, he said he was now confident the business would get through the pandemic and come out healthy on the other side.
"We're up more than 50 per cent In the first 20 days of May," he said. May is generally quiet, so that's a healthy bounce after the disruption 2020 has thrown Kent's way.
"January was hideously down from the fires and April from the Easter lockdown. The subsidy is great because we will come out of the coronavirus situation with momentum."
He has not had to lay off any staff during the crisis.
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He said the surfboard industry was experiencing its best ever year as people participate in one of the few sports still available during the coronavirus restrictions.
In the 80 odd product categories in the store, surfboards are at number one, wetsuits number two, board bags number three and fins number four, although the fins dropped back in the past week to number six.
Pivoting to online sales has also worked well.
"Online has grown exponentially. From being an eighth of our business two months ago it's now a third of our business and it's a good part of the growth we've had," Kent said.
He said while he was in isolation he devised an ad campaign focusing on online sales.
"On the first two days we had 50 orders online. It was amazing."
The 68-year-old also credits his "eternal optimism" for making the right choices.
In early April as the pandemic took hold, when many other surf shops were cancelling orders for winter stock, he went ahead and took delivery.
"And it paid off."
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The postponement of the football season and cancellation of Saturday sport has also seen more families take to the water.
Kent says when beaches were closed in Sydney, there were occasions when 200 surfers were in the lineup on one bank.
That's dropped back for now but it's still the busiest he's ever seen it.
"Families are all coming in. There are two kids, two wetsuits, two boards for them, one for Mum, wetsuit for her. Dad might as well get a new board because everyone else is."
Kent is glad the worst of the lockdown is over and is looking forward to a return to some form of normality come summer.