Over the past four years, Wrightsville Beach native Sean Griffin sought a building for his start-up, surfing lesson business. Just in time for the summer season, Griffin recently signed a lease for his new shop, Sean’s Private Surf Instruction. 

Griffin’s anticipated summer growth is similar for other surfing businesses around the area. Within the industry, a trend of surf business development and expansion has sprung as vacationers start to pour in. 

Each summer season, tourism attracts both professional and prospective surfers to North Carolina’s coast. Several of the beaches in the area, including Wrightsville, have gained national attention, enticing a surfing crowd to come visit and a surfing industry to explode in the area.  

As a Wrightsville Beach-raised surfer himself, Griffin began teaching casual lessons to kids in his neighborhood 15 years ago. After dabbling with different careers, he decided to fully invest into a surfing business four years ago, leading to his recent building search. 

During his hunt, Griffin began collaborating with Annex Surf Supply’s managing partner Mike Barden to share his building. 

Under the plan, Annex would send Griffin customers wanting lessons, while Griffin would send Annex students wanting to purchase their own surfboard. 

With the deal in place, Griffin signed a yearlong lease for the quaint, 300-square-foot space shared with Annex Surf Supply at 534 Causeway Drive in time for the summer peak. He already has 20, seasonal instructors ready for the summer rush. 

Summer, however, is just the starting point for Griffin’s sole proprietorship. 

In addition to the prime beach season, Griffin wants to cater more to the community. Griffin will operate alongside a hand full of full-time instructors year round by providing and renting out wet suits for off-season clients. 

“My business’s growth has been a natural progression. I’ve started this business from nothing and worked very hard for many, many years to get to the point I’m at now. I learned how to surf when I was young in this exact area [where the new shop is located] and feel so blessed and at home. I want to make my company more community-orientated, similar to what I had when I was growing up,” Griffin explained. 

Stories like Griffin’s are not unusual due to North Carolina shoreline’s reputation for surfing. With surf shops lining a number of intersections and live videos of surfers streaming in local businesses, Wrightsville Beach thrives off a surfing identity and industry.

It lands on lists for best surfing spots from national magazines, including National Geographic, which named Wrightsville Beach one of the “World’s 20 Best Surf Towns.”

Area surf camps are also anticipating a bump from summer surfers. 

Wrightsville Beach Surf Camp, is planning a remote camp location for this year’s season. 

The company leased a new housing facility in Topsail Island for the summer, so it can fully accommodate its overnight, surf camp in that area. The facility will consist of three buildings with a total of 22 bunks, individual bathrooms, a dining facility and multiple large meeting areas, totaling over 10,000-square-feet. 

The expansion to Topsail Island – the company also runs lessons in Wrightsville and Kure beaches – will serve as a way to maximize their reach for the summer.

The business does operate with five to six full-time employees, but it has amped up its staff to about 50 seasonal employees at the Topsail location to account for the influx of summer campers, said Tim Pirkey, operations director for Wrightsville Beach Surf Camp. 

The company will run the Topsail surf camp, along with their other lessons and rentals, until mid-October when their market rapidly declines. 

With the summer as a catalyst, both businesses are expecting different growths; Griffin’s new space marks a milestone in the development of his locally run business, while Wrightsville Beach Surf Camp solidifies its outposts for the summer rush.