S.F.'s Bob Wise on the new wave of surfing

What a stellar piece of journalism this is...enough already.

Q: Why are you still a grumpy old bastard in spite of the fact that the surf boom has made you a good living, beyond anything you could imagine twenty years ago when you were in a dumpy little strip mall on Vicente?

A: fk off. you wanna buy something in my shop, buy it. we're not here to help. fker.

They've always been helpful to me going back to their old location in the letters.

wise is still the best ss in this area outside of scruz. Bob may come off to some as overly pragmatic and brusque, but it's probably more a case of jadedness than anything else. Besides, that is why he is not on the floor as a salesman. Wise has always offered good service going back to times when he offered free loaner wetsuits to those whose suits were sent to the mfgr. for repair, and offered as a curtesy only to keep his customers in the water...but that ended after people too often would steal the loaner suits. I have no stake in this other than as a longtime customer. It's not a "lessons and rentals" style kook shop.

Honestly it is a surfers surf shop, and I like it :) I've been on the trolled end of the other guy who's there, and had a few good laughs.
That said.... my go to is Aqua because I'm sponsored by them. I get free wax :)
Lovem both!

cloud, word. dickheads will be dickheads... what a whiner... thanks for nothin bob, i'll shop online, or at any of the OTHER shops in town. If the guy valued his customers like he should, he wouldn't be complaining about them going elsewhere.
Of all the old locals Bob, you are the one I would expect to be grateful for all the change come to our pastime these last few decades... try mixing in some niceness/optimism every once and a while, just for the sake... maybe you need to take some time off and just hang out

Cyrus got scooped! :D

The shop is the best surf shop I know of. It is clean and well stocked. The staff is helpful. I bought a lemon 7S and they made the vendor take it back. It would be nice if they opened earlier than 11. They are serious about price matching any competitor, even online. I have tried to be a good cutomer in hopes that I would be treated as a regular. Bob is not a super friendly guy. Owners of small businesses need to appreciate their customers and welcome them into their brick and morter locations. Otherwise, it is too easy to buy items online.

Oh come on you want milk and cookies bobby, or do you wanna F'n board :D

I've always found the guys at Wise, including bob, to be helpful. I agree that it's the best store in SF, unless you're looking to buy a fish from a hipster.

nice shop, but i got 5 minutes of bitching and moaning from bob just by mentioning dick brewer's name once, inquiring about upcoming board stock/inventory... i'm a customer, not yer therapist, bob.

Got the best Chinese pop outs on the planet.
Lol, clean surfshop. And well lit I might add.

yeah, probably overdid it on old Bob there - I've bought loads of stuff there, and always get on fine with Dave. but it's never struck me as a happy place particularly. anyhoo....

25 years of shopping at Wise surfboards. Bob comes off as a little gruff but he's really just not shy about expressing his opinions. No big deal, he's not getting rich and probably works too hard. I love the big selection and the low key no bullshit atmosphere.

I like Wise. I like Aqua. Sometimes I shop online but mostly I just shop at Wise. Who cares what Bob thinks. (Who cares what I think.) Seems like a nice enough guy though.

Ordered a custom Rusty couple of years ago from Dave. Board came in with no 'gloss,' as ordered, took off $100. Nose had a shatter, they fixed it and took off an additional $75. Used the board once, and the bottom bubbled and started to delaminate. Took it back and put in another order, put in front of the other orders with Rusty. Got the new board in 6 weeks, and Bob tossed in a new Dakine board bag.

Over all experience: lengthy, from driving back and forth from Sonoma County, but worth it because Rusty himself called me to work out the details of the custom order on the board.

Bottom line grade, B-

Dave has a pretty good pie crust recipe. That alone was enough for me to shop there. Oh yeah it's really close, too.

Wise has a good selection and the customer service is fair- which is actually above average for a surf shop. Is it me or does Bob look like bizarro Charles Bronson?

Bronson and a little bit of Captain Kangaroo with a summer buzzcut. Gotta love CK.

I don't need the owner of a surf shop to kiss my ass and pat me on the head. I just want them to take my money in exchange for merchandise. Wise has yet to come up short in this area.

Ha, well said @tehedly. You are a WISE man.

Geez, thanks, Frisky, now I'm never gonna be able to look at Bob again without thinking of Cap'n Kangaroo & giggling.

My shop of choice from a few years back was SF Surf shop. Now that was old school! Free BBQs. Swap sales. Hanging out. Cheap used boards. Negotiations. Stories. People coming off of hangovers sticking around all day.Too bad that place closed. I think John had to take care of family. They once had a board call the "Unemployed Nomads of Ocean Beach". I had one. It was fun. Wise is fine especially their wetsuit sales. A bit cold in there but they got the goods. Everyone in retail is pissed off at the internet unless they play the game and sell online. Not sure why you want to buy and pay to ship a board for what $25 savings if that?

Back in the 80's, Bob Wise took my wetsuit home and fixed a broken zipper himself rather than send the suit to Orange County and have me wait six weeks. I have never had better customer service at any other surf shop. I like the fact that most of the sales crew at Wise have been there and done that. Most shops feature some young punk behind the counter that thinks he's too cool to help out a "kook" looking for gear. Go into the Arrow shop in S.C. and you'll be treated special if the dude working there gets off his cell phone.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL
OMG dude...hahaha The kid was actually on his cell phone when I bought something hahahah :D