At least, that’s how Frank Gunion has done it. South Moon Under began as a surf shop in Ocean City, Md., in 1968, but the company has grown beyond surfboards to include designer labels in clothing, handbags, decor and jewelry. It’s also moved beyond Ocean City, with 11 locations — including Bethesda, Clarendon and Reston — and a lucrative Web business. The company plans to open more stores in the next five years; the first will open early 2009 in National Harbor.
The stores are stocked with Joe’s Jeans, Lacoste polos, Ugg Australia shoes and Shoshanna dresses. And although sparkling jewelry cases have replaced the surfboards, the company pays homage to its sandy roots: It carries bathing suits and flip-flops year-round.
Gunion was a college student in 1968 when he decided to rebel against The Man.
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“My generation was really disillusioned with, for lack of a better term, what I would call the establishment,” says Gunion, now 59. “So, I was looking for an alternative way to make my way through life. So, then I ended up back at the beach, picked up surfing, and somehow it evolved into a way of making a living. And it felt counterculture, didn’t feel like it was part of the problems that were besetting the United States at that time.”
The shop, which had a handful of employees when it opened, was a summer-only business until Gunion decided to leave GW in the early 1970s. He realized that to stay in business year-round, he’d have to sell more than beachwear.
As the company grew, “we had to make the decision: Was it clothing or was it surf? For whatever reasons, we decided it was clothing. This is just what felt like the right thing to do,” Gunion says.
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Still, the transition from surfer haven to fashionista nirvana was gradual, says Gage Lester, who has been South Moon Under’s marketing director for three years.
“In the early ’80s, we opened the first store across the Bay Bridge in Bethesda, and I think that was the first step in that direction,” Lester says.
“I’d say [Washington’s] a very progressive city fashion-wise,” says Gunion, who grew up here. “People like good design. They like gardens that look good, they like houses that are well designed, they like office buildings that are well designed. You look at even the subway system — Metro really is a neat design. I think that Washington happens to be a place where people appreciate good design, so it’s really a good place for a store that is focused on good design.
“The primary reason for existence, why we get up every day, is we are here to provide what I call the art of fashion for our customers so they can have fun with it,” Gunion says. His winning tactic? Buying items in small quantities and changing the inventory often.
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Most customers appreciate the effort. “I like the people that work there and the service,” says Michelle Leonard, a 30-something who lives near the Clarendon location and visits it twice a week. “They’ve become my friends. They know what I like and pull things for me. I go in just to say hi and end up trying on eight outfits.”
Share this articleShareNot everyone is as enamored with South Moon Under. Jason Cheney, a 33-year-old Arlington resident, wandered into the Clarendon store about eight months ago and left empty-handed — and unimpressed.
The men’s selection was lacking, he says, and “while what they had was nice-looking, frankly, for almost $200 for a shirt or a pair of chinos, you can get the same thing and a much better selection at similar stores: Abercrombie, American Eagle, Banana Republic. It just seemed to be a very high price tag for something that wasn’t setting you apart from the pack.”
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Cheney says that was his first, last and only visit to the store. Maybe “they’ve expanded the selection or maybe they came down in prices, or maybe I caught them on an off day, but there was just nothing compelling about that one visit to make me go to see if any of that was the case.”
Gunion understands the criticism but adds that his company appeals to a select audience. “Every business — especially when you don’t have a huge store like a department store — you have to pick your niche, what it is you’re focusing on, and we can’t do it all. We have to pick the areas that we can do well,” he says. The average price of items the stores sell is $69, he added.
South Moon Under may have started as a way for Gunion to rebel, but today it’s firmly entrenched in the business world, and Gunion has no problem with that. “I think the people who became a part of the business world that originated from back in the ’60s actually changed the business world to a certain degree, at least parts of it,” he says. “There are a lot of more creative, more thoughtful businesses that exist today that were an offshoot of that time period, and that’s how we really like to think of ourselves.”
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“I’d have to say now, after 40 years, we run a very well-organized business model that probably employs a lot of the things that they teach in a really good business school,” Gunion says. “I think we found our niche.”
Frank Gunion, the owner of South Moon Under — a company that has never had a losing year in its four decades of existence — has five tips for launching and running a business.
» HAVE A VISION: “What’s your idea? That’s pretty basic. Everyone opens a business with an idea, but you’ve got to have a really good idea.”
» DIFFERENTIATE: “You have to … make sure you’re different from the rest of the world.”
» BE EFFICIENT: “Otherwise, you’re not competitive.”
» UNDERSTAND THE CUSTOMER: “You have to really look at everything through the customers’ eyes.”
» MAKE A CONNECTION: “If you do all those things right, then you’re able to establish a connection to the customer. And that’s the key. We want customers who come to us because we give them exactly what they want, and they trust us, and they’re going to come back time after time.”
Written by Stephanie M. Kanowitz for Express
Photo courtesy South Moon Under
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