Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 14, 1992 TAG: 9201140016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
SURFDOM'S NEW WAVE
Copeland Hicks and Rob Dameron surprised Radford a year ago when they opened a surf shop hundreds of miles from an ocean.These days, the 1981 Radford University graduates are gearing up to ride a new wave.
On Christmas Day, the doors of the East Coast Surf and Skate Shop also opened to the East Coast Raw Bar. Walking inside is like walking into an "old salt bar" near the coast, Dameron said.
Crab pots, stuffed fish, T-shirts and fishing nets soon will line the walls along with a mural of a wave-riding surfer. Surf flicks from the Virgin Islands will show up on TV screens. And tales of "Margueritaville" and "Havana Daydreamin"' by seafaring folk musician Jimmy Buffett will blare from the stereo system.
What's more, the place will offer beer and steamed seafood delicacies - oysters, clams and shrimp.
The owners are basing the bar on Chi-Cho's and The Edge - two popular hangouts on Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach, their hometown.
Tom Whitehead, owner of BT's Restaurant just a couple blocks down on Tyler Avenue, owned the building where the surf shop is located until he sold it last yeat Radford businessman Norman Lepchitz.
"Is this a joke?" Whitehead asked in October, amused at the idea of a raw bar in Radford - particularly in his old building.
Whitehead said the shop's lack of parking, small size and miles-from-the-beach location makes the idea of a raw bar kind of crazy. But, even so, he said, "I certainly don't wish them anything but success. . . . Time will always tell. It might be a great idea."
Two other bars also have opened on Norwood Street in the past year.
The Gallery Underground opened in August, just in time for the return of Radford University students - or, more appropriately, its professors.
It's a "grown-up bar," says restaurant manager Pat Arnn.
"It's designed so you can sit here all evening and chat."
In a wall aquarium, two Albino Oscars stare at the purple walls of the Gallery Underground, a spinoff of the Gallery Cafe and the Norwood Room.
Another new bar, Bailey's, features live bands in the former location of Lucky's.
Dameron hopes to pull business from the customers of both places.
He figures college students pounding the sidewalk on their way home from either club will pass East Coast and elect to fill a growling stomach with a quick hot dog or slice of pizza from East Coast's sidewalk snack window.
College students will be the primary clientele, Dameron said.
"Students are attracted to bars. It's a big part of their social life. . . . And it's nice to walk into a surf shop or bar that reminds you of home. The concept works."
Hicks, 32, and Dameron, 33, entered the business world as partners with the Virginia Beach-based East Coast Tanning chain in 1986. They opened a Radford location on Tyler Avenue in 1989.
A year later came the surf shop. Surf magazines, clothing lines and swimsuits plus custom skateboards and ski equipment lured college and high school students inside.
Business never went flat, said Dameron, also co-owner of Collegiate Design, a Dublin-based furniture manufacturer.
"I think what we did with the surf shop was off the wall, but it did pull a profit in its first year."
Hicks and Dameron are using that profit to finance their bar venture, expected to cost as much as $30,000, Dameron said.
Construction will include a new ceiling to "make the place look brand new."
Surf clothing and skateboards still will be sold there, but ski stuff won't.
Last winter's lack of snow didn't help the ski business, Dameron said.