Shop focuses on sport, ignores controversy: Surf gear’s up
Tuckerton — Cheater 5’s Skate & Surf Hut sells everything from skateboards to surfboards, sport accessories to clothing for men, women, children and babies.
“We decided to open a shop in Tuckerton because we saw so many people skateboarding and surfing in this area that we thought the culture was here, as well as in Seaside Heights and Long Beach Island,” said Regina Brown, who co-owns the shop with her husband, Dennis Brown. “We looked for a place for five years. When we walked in here, the vibe was here and we knew this was the place. The interest started with the guys first, then the kids.”
The name Cheater 5, or Five Toes on the Nose, refers to a style of surfing popular in California created by surfer Mickey Munoz, who, Brown said, is her husband’s idol. She said her husband has been a surfer for 20 years and always wanted to open a surf shop.
The store offers more than 300 different skateboard deck companies and carries all of today’s popular skate brands of clothing.
The store also offers Creatures of Leisure leashes for surfboards such as Gorilla Grips. It also sells Ted Shred Candles, which smell like wax that surfers rub on their surfboards before going surfing. They are available in aromas such as coconut.
“We use a lot of local surfboard shapers like Brian Wynn of Ocean City and also carry performance boards for the pro riders,” Brown said. “For the guys, really good Uncle Mike boards, and the longboard from Kahuna Creations of Point Pleasant.
“Pretty important to a lot of people here, we have the last two Planet Blue boards shaped by Tuckerton’s own Vince Balis,” she added. “Around here, he had a tiny shop by K.C. Creations. Everyone from here would go to get their surfboards there but he went to the Bahamas.”
