TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Lightning Bolt Maui Inc. is to open its second store on the Valley Isle Sunday, at Kihei's Piilani Village Shopping Center. It has little connection to its North Shore roots, but the name and mystique of the brand brought its owner all the way from North Carolina. Expansion
for an old
surf favoriteThe original Lightning Bolt surf shop in Kahului was opened by company co-founder, local boy and international surfing legend Gerry Lopez. He later sold his interests in the company.
The Lightning Bolt brand is now owned by a Poway, Calif.-based international licensing company, while the soon-to-be-two retail stores on Maui are owned by Roger and Maureen Jacquelin.
Formerly from the East Coast, the Jacquelins bought the Kahului store three years ago and began planning the second shop "about a year and a half ago," said Maureen, company vice president, treasurer and secretary. She said her husband found out the store was for sale through his job at a North Carolina surf shop.
As part of the brands of board-sports and other merchandise it carries, the store will be Maui's only seller of Patagonia active wear. Known for its cold-weather expedition outfitting, Jacquelin said Patagonia "sells everything," including paddle gear and aloha shirts, trunks, dresses and bags.
At the end of July the Jacquelins will move back to North Carolina. "I'm going to do the books over the Internet," she said, adding that General Manager Linda Rickabaugh will run the shops, which employ a dozen people.
Lopez Jr., meanwhile, the son of a former Honolulu newspaper editor, has continued his board shaping career, moving onto sailboards and now, snowboards from his home base in Bend, Ore.
He's also teaming up with Lightning Bolt surfboard licensee Craig Hollingsworth, who said the partnership grew out of a never-ending stream of requests.
"People can't get Gerry Lopez Lightning Bolts (boards) anymore," Hollingsworth said, so they create replicas, which Lopez will autograph.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com