After more than 40 years, Owner and Operator Sid Abruzzi has made the difficult decision to close his brick-and-mortar Water Brothers retail store.
Sid Abruzzi will join me on The Open Forum on WADK 1540 AM today at 1:30 p.m. to discuss this news. Listen at 1540 AM, online on wadk.com, on the Tune-In Radio Smartphone App or to the podcast that we publish after.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the podcast – PODCAST: Discussion with Sid Abruzzi About His Decision to Close Water Brothers Retail Store
An announcement from Sid Abruzzi;
Water Brothers will close its retail location at 39 1/2 Memorial Blvd. on May 28th 2016 to focus on signature apparel, and Water Brothers branded events.
Statement by owner, Sid Abbruzzi:
“Water Brothers cannot grow without this change. We are very grateful to be recognized for our dedication to surf and skate, and most of all, thankful to our generous loyal customers who support us around the world. Even with limited resources we continue to make an impact through our outreach events and have enormous success selling our signature brand.It’s a tuff decision to close the shop. This is the last thing we wanted to do. Everyone loves the shop. But in a progressive industry like ours, without giant capital, our biggest challenge is remaining stocked with hard goods and items associated with today’s marketplace. So with that, we realize it is time for us to fully take our place as a brand and shift our focus to what we do best.
We plan to fully expand our signature apparel, wetsuits, surfboards, and we’ll be adding a lineup of Water Brothers branded events to our calendar. Including Surf Fest VI next summer on July 8th, which will be our biggest event to date. This is what we love to do, bringing the surf and skate community together, and everyone having a great time.
It’s been a great run, I can’t thank everyone enough for every single day all of us have had at the shop. Looking forward to what’s ahead. OWB4LIFE”
Updates will be posted on waterbrothers social media and originalwaterbrothers.com
For more information contact: originalwaterbrothers@gmail.com
Water Brothers will be open Wednesday thru Sunday 9am – 5pm until Saturday, May 28th
Danielle Abruzzi, Sid’ wife, shared with us on Monday that Water Brothers does plan to continue to grow the brand and continue to host Water Brothers events, including Surf Fest in 2017 (More Info: Water Brothers Postpones 2016 Surf Fest, Reschedule Event for 2017).
Abruzzi started Water Brothers in Middletown in 1971, since the early 1990’s Water Brothers has called many places “home” and their current location at 39 Memorial Boulevard is their 10th brick-and-mortar location in their 45 year history.
In December 2014, Water Brothers successfully raised more than $55,000 on Kickstarter to “expand and sustain its historic signature brand.”
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