December 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Excited to share my conversation with the legendary Sid Abbruzzi, The Godfather of New England Surfing and Skating, on The Water Trough! From hosting the X Games to building a cultural institution, Sid’s story is a testament to passion and perseverance. Don’t miss it! 🏄♂️🎉 #Podcast #CommunityLove #Entrepreneur
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ed Drozda (00:10):
Welcome to The Water Trough where we can't make you
drink, but we will make youthink.
My name is Ed Drozda The SmallBusiness Doctor, and I'm really
excited you chose to join mehere as we discuss topics that
are important for small businessfolks just like you.
If you're looking for ideas,inspiration, and possibility,
you've come to the right place.
Join us as we take steps to helpyou create the healthy business
that you've always wanted.
(00:46):
Welcome back to The WaterTrough, this is Ed Drozda, The
Small Business Doctor.
I'm very excited to be joined bySid Abruzzi, often referred to
as the Godfather of New Englandsurfing and skating.
As a surfer myself, I have tosay it truly is an honor for me
to have Sid here today.
Sid is the founder of WaterBrothers Newport, an iconic surf
(01:09):
and skate brand and shop.
The original location was ashack actually on First Beach in
Newport, Rhode Island.
Yes, it was.
It was.
Opened in 1971, it became acentral hub for the New England
Surf and Skate Community.
As skateboarding grew inpopularity, Sid built a ramp
nearby attracting legendaryskaters like Tony Hawk, and
(01:32):
graphic designer Shepard Fairey,who created early logos for
Water Brothers.
The shop became a culturalinstitution and a home,
literally, for many young surfand skate enthusiasts.
In 1993 Sid moved up MemorialBoulevard, opened a storefront
there next to our good old bar,if we recall, now the name is
(01:55):
escaping me.
Jimmy's Jimmy.
Jimmy's Jimmy Saloon next doorto Jimmy's Saloon.
Okay.
And in 1995, Water Brothersgained international recognition
when the first X Games came toNewport.
Sid's shop served as the centralhub for athletes and events.
2022, the landlord at the shopon Memorial decided to go
(02:16):
forward with plans to buildhousing.
Unfortunately the shop wasdemolished.
However, the local community whowas well aware of Sid, who loved
him dearly, stepped up and said,we're not gonna let this thing
go away.
And thus gave rise to localpop-up shops, which to this day
exist.
Am I correct?
Sid Abbruzzi (02:37):
Right.
There's another part of thestory that is amazing.
Should I jump in with it?
Ed Drozda (02:44):
Why don't you do that?
And by the way Sid, welcome.
Welcome, Sid.
Sid Abbruzzi (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
It's an honor to be on the show,Ed.
Let's pick up right at the end.
It's funny, the guy who boughtthe building and knocked us out,
I introduced him to my landlordthinking we'd have a retail
floor on the bottom with a, callit hotel on the top.
Well, that dream didn't happen.
The guy, actually a good friendof mine wanted to buy the brand
(03:09):
and everything, and it justwasn't a price.
So me and my wife walked awayfrom it.
A year later my landlord callsme up and says, hey, so and so
is back and he's gonna buy thebusiness, I would start looking
for something.
I didn't call the guy up to askhim'cause my landlord said, I'll
just keep you informed.
(03:31):
So in February I was told I have45 days to vacate the property
because the property was forsale.
Long story short, when the movieended we had no idea what we
were doing.
We went back into the popup shopthing and a great friend of mine
by the name of Jerry Kirby,who's a world famous sailor and
(03:53):
has an unreal constructioncompany in Newport, Kirby
Construction.
Well, little behold Jerry boughtthe property right next to us.
We had about three weeks to gobefore Christmas when Jerry
informed me that hey, we'regonna put something here so he
can get some holiday sales.
(04:15):
He said let's try a tent.
Well, the tent just had too muchcomplications, so we scratched
that.
And then he wanted to docontainers and make like a Puma
city like he was involved in, inSpain when he was sailing, where
they made these cool shops outtacontainers and his company can
do and build anything.
(04:35):
Mm-hmm.
So, we couldn't get thecontainers here in time.
Now we're down to about eight or10 days before Christmas.
Jerry called in the troops.
They built this incredible storeI'm at in six days, top to
bottom.
We have the most beautiful shopin the world and this will be
(04:56):
our third Christmas coming up.
So that's where we're at rightnow.
And it's literally 41 MemorialBoulevard when our last location
was 39.
So we're right there.
Ed Drozda (05:09):
How did you feel when this whole thing went down, when
you realized that the shop wasgoing away?
Sid Abbruzzi (05:15):
And you know what Ed, it was devastating, but it
wasn't like it happenedovernight.
Mm-hmm.
There was a couple years earlierwe thought the guy was for sure
buying the building and we weregone, then his deal fell
through.
Then when we got word that wewere 99.9% leaving, we were
(05:36):
prepared.
And then the scene when they'reknocking down the building in
the movie and everything, that'sfor real.
You know what I mean?
That was really when it hit.
I brought my old partner Rick.
He stood next to me and my wife,who's my partner in Water
Brothers now, a couple of thefriends of ours were there.
(05:56):
Yeah, it hit home.
Then we had the movie to fallback on as that was being put
together and edited andeverything like that.
Jerry's the executive producerof our film by the way.
Jerry came in and just said hey,here's what I got in mind.
Ed Drozda (06:15):
And here you are today.
I don't really suppose you weresurprised.
Sid Abbruzzi (06:19):
I was surprised because buying property in
Newport isn't easy.
Building something in Newportisn't easy, you know what I
mean?
And we were able to get thatshop up and running before
Christmas was simply amazing.
We opened up a day beforeChristmas Eve.
(06:40):
Okay.
Of all times.
And we sold everything in thestore.
It was a line down the streetand when people came in
Christmas Eve figuring, wow theyjust opened, we gotta have a lot
of stuff in here, it was empty.
We had to greet people at thedoor saying hey guys, what's the
(07:01):
old surfing line,"should havebeen here yesterday".
But we said sorry, we sold outand we had a lot of gear by the
way.
I'm not gonna give the numberover the air, but it was by far
the biggest retail day I've everhad in my life.
Ed Drozda (07:16):
The fascinating thing to me, and I think the really
important lesson for people tohear is the sort of community
that you created over this time.
Wouldn't you say that communitycoming out as it did is what
made this all possible?
Sid Abbruzzi (07:33):
Absolutely, 1000%.
It wasn't like we're advertisingthis big drop sale weeks in
advance.
People literally probably knew48 hours in advance that Water
Brothers was gonna open.
Say Christmas was Saturday, thatWater Brothers was gonna open on
(07:55):
Thursday.
And the response was absolutelyincredible.
Ed Drozda (08:00):
Sid let's face it, this is something you cultivated
in those 50 years.
Yeah.
It didn't happen that night,that day.
No.
No.
So what is it that you did and Iknow you're a humble guy.
I'm not trying to put you in anawkward position.
I'm acknowledging what you did,so please don't take it like you
can't be honest about this.
(08:21):
How did you build this thing?
Sid Abbruzzi (08:23):
Well you know, I think not the word humble, but I
think it was just who I am,being yourself.
The way you treat people nomatter where they're from.
Always excited yourself aboutthis.
My dad was alive, we'll go backto 1971 mm-hmm.
There's this abandoned shack inthe middle of the parking lot.
(08:46):
And I called Mr.
Lahood.
I had been familiar with his sonthrough sports and stuff, and
old Eli Lahood, I went to Mr.
Lahood, hey can we rent thisshack?
And he was a sort of a tough,ornery guy.
Yeah okay, and the first yearwas$300 a year.
(09:10):
Okay.
We had no electricity.
Yep.
So across the way was a bar, Ibelieve at the time it was Point
and A Half.
Half the parking lot was brokenup asphalt, and then right where
the shop sort of ended in themiddle of the parking lot was
combination, dirt, sand.
(09:31):
We dug a trench, maybe only twofeet, and we ran extension
cords, the restaurant right toour shop.
So we had one outlet for a lightor something.
We had a cigar box for a cashbox, and everybody just started
hanging around.
(09:52):
We had our Overland surfboardsthere.
Funny, every time a car went tothe beach they go over that
little bump and disconnect theextension cord.
I mean, it was classic stuff.
Then we brought in a pot bellystove, a real old school
potbelly stove.
Friends of mine were carpenters,did their thing.
(10:14):
We painted all over the sheetrock.
We had a poster of Alice Cooper;it was a crazy scene.
I forgot what year it was, ourrent went up to a couple hundred
dollars a month and we asked Mr.
Lahood and we were able toexpand a 10 by 20 onto the
original shed.
(10:36):
We started as skateboardinggrew.
We didn't walk into likesomebody trying to start a store
now where there's establishedcorporations or established
companies, established sports.
No one believed in these sports.
The sixties had come and gonewith surfing.
When the Shortboard Revolutionhit, Vietnam, all these shops
(10:58):
closed.
So when we opened up in 71, weclosed say November, maybe
December.
We hadn't even establishedChristmas sales yet, and we'd go
surf anywhere and come backaround March or April.
Knowing we still had the shackthere and all of that stuff.
(11:19):
But as soon as skateboarding gota little more popular, we put up
little quarter pipes and stufflike that.
All the trucks were stillnarrow.
When urethane hit, it changedthe whole business structure.
Everybody wanted to skateboardwhen urethane hit, and the
trucks are still small,Sure-Grip and Chicago trucks.
(11:42):
We just rode with the wave.
It was a wave.
The short boards were a wave.
The wetsuits were a wave.
They're getting better andbetter.
I mean, we started surfing indive suits.
I don't have to tell you that.
We used to wear diving boots,Bailey boots.
Then O'Neill came out.
We sold O'Neill.
(12:04):
Then Bailey tried to get intothe surfing business and then
all these little other brands,but we were like O'Neill guys.
And then right up the street,I'll never forget this, we had
our little quarter pipe.
We hadn't even set up the halfpipe yet.
Hmm.
We had what they called a U.
(12:24):
It was a blue fiberglass rampthat Stevie Dara made.
We're blessed that one of mybest friends to this day was
Stevie Dara, who started Flightsnowboards and Flight
skateboards.
He was in town, just the madinventor making stuff in his
basement, and then eventuallyrenting these garages where he
(12:46):
had these little factoriesmaking fiberglass molded
skateboards.
Then it went into oak, and thenit went into ply.
He did the same thing withsnowboards.
Stevie made this fiberglassramp.
Eight across about nine foothigh, made out of fiberglass
matting, and we put that at theshop.
(13:07):
We were riding that with littlecorner pipes when there was no
surf, again there was no flatbottom, and there was no decks
on these things yet.
These guys walk into the shopand he goes hey, my name's Tony.
I'm from Cranston, Rhode Island,and I own Quality Products, and
we're making Road Rider Wheels.
(13:28):
It was precision barren urethanewheels.
Nobody had that right?
And the trucks weren't the samediameter on the axle so he had
already made these little cut upstraws that fit over the smaller
trucks.
Then four months later, herecomes Tracker trucks with that
(13:49):
axle size, Independent truckwith that axle size, Bennett
truck with that axle size.
Everybody knew.
So the industry knew there wasgonna be something, a
revolution.
We had the first precisionwheels and here comes another
explosion, and this is stillseventies.
Fast forward the eighties.
(14:11):
Now it's a full business withTony Hawk, Powell Peralta, Santa
Cruz Skateboards and all theseguys.
And you know, we're ahead of thegame.
We built this incredible halfpipe.
We had Tony Hawk and the BonesBrigade there in 1989.
There was 2000 kids in theparking lot.
Just crazy stuff like that keptlaying on us, ahead of the
(14:36):
curve, but not reading the curvejust along for the ride, you
know?
I'm sure we read the curve, butthere was stuff going on that we
were just in the right place atthe right time to.
A couple years later we decidedto make the ramp 10 foot because
vertical skating was in.
(14:57):
For Mr.
Lahood we took down one wall ofthe ramp at the time.
We took down the six foot sideand built a 10 foot section.
We took down the other six footside and built a 10 foot
section.
And Mr.
Lahood comes up to me and sayshey, I might be old but I know
(15:19):
the difference between a sixfoot ramp and a 10 foot ramp.
And I said, Mr.
Lahood, it's safer on the biggerramp.
He couldn't figure that out, butI said it gives you more time to
slide and some.
Then in the movie it talks abouthow we found out about
insurance.
We found out a couple places inMassachusetts and Rhode Island,
(15:44):
they set up explorer posts wherethey got some form of liability
insurance by making their postsescape posts or by offering
skateboarding.
So everybody that came to theramp, just for a little while
because we got tired of it,signed up as a Boy Scout, and
(16:05):
that's a funny part of themovie.
Tony Hawk describes how I didthat because Tony knew all about
that law too.
We actually had a piece of paperthat we showed Mr.
Lahood, that this ramp wasinsured with liability.
I'm not saying if someone gotseriously hurt what would've
went down?
(16:26):
Yeah.
But nobody got seriously hurt,thank God.
And right to the end wastechnically an Explorer Post,
but anybody who showed up toskate, we let'em skate.
Now, as a business owner thatwas amazing.
For almost 20 years at thatlocation Mr.
Lahood was always ready tolisten to the best offer, and he
(16:48):
never gave us a lease more thanmaybe six months.
You guys can be here till theend of the summer then we'll see
what's happening.
That's how it was.
I remember one year, maybe closeto the nineties, they brought in
these containers that were gonnastart construction of a hotel
marina in the area.
We thought we were long gone,but that got shot down by the
(17:13):
Coastal Commission.
So that gave us another coupleyears of breath.
I had a great partner at thetime by the name of Rick
Weibust, who did most of thebooks and stuff, and I was, as
my brother says, the showman anddid all the surfing and skating
and brought all the changes.
(17:33):
I would go to Santa Cruz,California and surf.
I'd start off by going to atrade show in San Diego and then
make my way up to Santa Cruz tosee all the guys I sold
surfboards with and to surf fora month or so.
Well, I was between San Diegoand Santa Cruz at a place called
Love Burger in San Clemente andI got a phone call saying hey
(17:55):
Sid, I think Mr.
Lahood just sold the property.
Mm-hmm.
There was two Greek guys,gentleman by the name of Pete
and Harry that had bought theproperty right on the other side
of the wall from us calledJohnny's House of Seafood.
Yep.
And they were just dying to getin there.
In September they got in, so Iflew home and I'd been home for
(18:17):
a week and we're just waitingfor'em to come around the corner
and here comes Pete, theirlawyer in the middle, and Harry.
And we had been friendly with'em, you know, they were playing
up to us.
We'd go over to their bar afterskating and stuff and have a
beer or two.
Well, they came over like theynever met us before in their
life.
(18:38):
Oh boy.
And they said listen guys, ifyou don't get people off that
ramp and make it unrideableright now you guys are outta
here.
But if you break it down, youguys can stay till Christmas.
At the time it was 92, 93, so wewere established.
(19:00):
It wasn't like 78, 79 right?
We were counting on Christmassales, so we broke it down, took
stuff off the flat bottom, threwfurniture on it, put chains
across it, and we got to staytil Christmas that year.
Then my partner Rick had gone upthe street and we found that
building that was available.
(19:21):
I told Rick, it's too far awayfrom the beach when actually
it's like 300 yards from thebeach.
When you're 20 years standing onthe sand with your business, it
was tough to leave.
That really hurt.
And to this day, that buildingis still there in the middle of
the parking lot.
(19:43):
I got a call from the town ofMiddletown from someone involved
in the building thing that, it'schanged hands.
That was an historical site.
So now we're established up onMemorial Boulevard.
The shack is just a memory andhere comes the Extreme Games.
(20:04):
What is going on?
Somebody said hey listen,they're bringing the top pros in
the world here.
They're gonna haveskateboarding, skydiving at the
time, rollerblading, and allthis, and we were just
skateboard guys, we could careabout everything else.
But they're gonna bring DannyWay, Tony Hawk, all the big boys
(20:26):
are showing up and it's gonna bein Fort Adams.
We started getting calls fromthe team managers that, hey can
we have our athletes boxes sentto your shop where they can pick
'em up?
Every pro in the world came intoour shop.
We had the Santa Cruz guys, thePaul Peralta guys, whatever
(20:49):
company it was.
That was absolutely incrediblefor us.
Ed Drozda (20:54):
That is awesome.
Sid Abbruzzi (20:56):
The first Extreme Games party was in my backyard,
300 people.
Helicopters overhead.
And my mother's still living onthe upstairs.
Tony Hawk, everybody.
It was incredible.
The second year we had theapartment above the shop and you
talk about wild parties.
(21:16):
That's how I'll leave that.
The Extreme Games in Newport wasa different time.
You know what I mean?
The second year, I can'tunderstand why they did this,
but the second year, they didn'thave it at Fort Adams.
They had it in downtown Newport,right around Bowen's Wharf, and
I said you know what guys?
This is the last year.
(21:38):
Let's enjoy it.
This is the last year this eventwill ever be in Newport, Rhode
Island.
It is headed for auditoriums,for big cities, and it certainly
was.
So I got a funny side story.
We were so hardcore, sometimesnot even to our own benefit.
I took the ESPN logo, ESPN2 wascovering everything; it said
(22:05):
Extreme Games, ESPN2, all ofthis stuff, and I made a
t-shirt, replica t-shirt thatsaid Extreme Bullshit, H2O
Brothers, like the ESPN2 logoBrothers, right?
Well, guys who got the shirtweren't allowed to go into Fort
Adams.
(22:25):
A couple guys were wearing theshirt at the Clarke Cooke House
got in a big argument with ESPNexecutives in there.
Who are these guys calling us?
And to this day, I still haveone of'em, but I'll tell you the
catcher of it.
So that was what?
July, August.
In December, two guys walk intomy shop and they say is Sid
(22:47):
here.
Yeah, what's up?
Do you have any more of thoseextreme bullshit t-shirts left?
And I said, well, listen, Imight have one or two, what's
up?
And they said, we'll be straightwith you.
We're from ESPN and at the ESPNdinner banquet we wanna present
that t-shirt to our boss whocame up with the concept of the
(23:11):
Extreme Games.
So I said, no problem.
And so it went from being castouts to given an award to the
CEO.
So that's just a little funnyside story, but the Extreme
Games paid off forever.
(23:33):
So we're fortunate with that.
Why don't you take over with aquestion?
Ed Drozda (23:40):
First of all, I gotta tell you something.
It's really interesting'causewhat I'm hearing you say is that
your evolution is as much aboutserendipity as it is about
anything.
Things just evolved for you.
Yeah.
I'm not saying you didn't haveto do something to make them
happen, but to some degree youmanaged to jockey around what
(24:04):
was there and be waiting whenthe fallout came and be able to
deal with it.
Sid Abbruzzi (24:10):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
We shaped it in our area.
Ed Drozda (24:15):
Early yeah, in your basement and then at the shack.
But as time went on, let's faceit the loyalty in the surf and
skate community, which iscomprised at the time of a lot
of very, very young people, issomewhat volatile.
They're coming, they're going,they're here, they're there.
They're not always gonna be inone place for you, but yet
(24:36):
somehow you managed to take thatessence, I don't know.
I don't even know how to saywhat I'm trying to say, but this
is what I'm sensing.
Sid Abbruzzi (24:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's sort of like you're dealt a hand
of cards, you gotta know how toplay the cards.
And it wasn't like we're playingthe cards to our advantage.
We weren't manipulating anythingat all.
When you actually skate all thetime and you surf all the time,
(25:06):
and you see this stuff, andyou're one of the quote athletes
yourself, instead of just beingthe business guy who's ya know
I'm changing my bike shop into askateboard shop.
I'm changing my hockey store.
I'm gonna have a rack ofskateboards in there.
When you're actually do it,perform it and did it before it
(25:28):
was an industry, or do it as theindustry evolves it's just
natural to be in that position.
So many people I know had storesthat became a skate shop or a
surfboard shop because it waspopular.
You know what I mean, it waspopular.
(25:48):
And if it was unpopular, we'dstill be doing the same thing.
That's maybe not an answer, butthat's something that we did.
If no one skated we would.
If no one sold skateboards wewould.
We just did what we loved.
And we were fortunate wherebigger things were in front of
(26:11):
us.
Where the X-Games was in frontof us, where the Bones Brigade,
we called them up, we paid$2,000, which was insane money
at the time.
And we charged everybody twobucks and they didn't have to
pay'cause he just could havewalked on free.
We did all of that and we lovedit and we never asked, well if
(26:35):
we get this sponsor, we're goingto do it.
No, we did it.
We did it without sponsorship.
We did it because we love it.
We didn't ask permission tobuild a ramp.
We just built a ramp.
Hey, it could've got torn downthe next day.
The town could have came to usand said, you guys are crazy.
Beat it.
(26:56):
Take this down now.
My landlord could have saidthat.
So I don't know how to answerthat.
Ed Drozda (27:03):
You absolutely answered it.
You told me and you told thosewho will listen to this exactly
what I would hope they wouldhear.
I have clients that talk aboutscaling.
More and more.
What you scaled is your passionand the community around you.
You didn't have to be bigger.
(27:23):
You're better by virtue of beingwhat you are, who you are.
It seems to me you always remaintrue to what matters to you.
What I meant when I said youwaited for things to fall into
place, I'm not saying youhaven't shaped things.
Shape, get it, ha.
Anyway, you waited for things tofall into place knowing that
(27:46):
you're grounded in what you aredoing.
You're waiting to see where youfit in and you're doing what you
can do in response.
I think that's a reallyimportant thing for young
business people to hear.
It's not about bigger, it's notabout better.
It's about remaining true andgrounded in what really matters.
(28:07):
That's what I'm hearing you tellme.
Sid Abbruzzi (28:09):
Yeah, exactly Ed.
Does that apply to everybusiness?
I'm not sure.
It applies to businesses thatyou can get involved in.
Like somebody opening up aconvenience store.
They're not into a jar ofmayonnaise every day, you know
what I'm saying?
(28:30):
They're not buying the product,'cause they love it, they gotta
have it.
That probably started out withthese specialty shops they have
now.
We're fortunate that our passionis our sports.
Ed Drozda (28:43):
Your passion is your sport and again, I'll go one
step further and say yourpassion is your community.
And, you've served them well andthat brings us full circle.
You've mentioned itperiodically, the documentary
came out in 2025, right?
Sid Abbruzzi (29:01):
Yeah.
We've only been on streaming fortwo months.
It came out last year.
We did up and down the Eastcoast.
We won the Florida FilmFestival, Surf Festival.
We did South Carolina, coupletimes in New Jersey, New
Hampshire, Maine, couple timesin Massachusetts, a bunch in
(29:23):
Rhode Island.
Seven nights in New York City,and then for the West Coast we
were invited to the CoronadoFilm Festival, gorgeous.
The guy ended up loving us andthe La Paloma Theater in
Encinitas sort of a rundown,really cool single owner who's
(29:45):
living in there now.
It's where Taylor Steele and allthese movie surf movie guys
play.
He told us the Ramones playedthere in the nineties.
It's just this old schooltheater that's so cool.
We ended up playing there threetimes.
Then we did the Laguna FilmFestival, which is another
(30:06):
beautiful event.
And then two events in SantaMonica and North Hollywood.
We really wanted to go up toSanta Cruz and San Francisco
'cause we shot the movie a monthin Santa Cruz.
And we had yet to been able toget there; it was a money thing
and the holidays were coming, wehad to get back to the store.
(30:29):
We've been streaming for twomonths.
We're finding out the situationwhere I can make an appearance
at the theater, the store, orthe lodge, whatever it is.
The music rights for thesethings is outta control.
We had to get a one year theatermusic right.
(30:51):
I said, January this year, let'splay it again in Newport.
We gotta winter break.
Can't do it, theater musictime's over.
I'm like, what?
Because I didn't check.
I figured these guys are doingit right.
Then they're hey, we're workingon the streaming thing now and
we should be streaming, by theend of the summer.
So we get the streaming thingdown and now I'm like, okay, so
(31:15):
anybody can buy the movie andown it for$14.
Somebody buys it and plays it,and can I go make an appearance
there?
Yes and no, if you're sellingtickets.
So we're getting everythingclarified'cause we wanna go down
to Surf Expo in Florida.
(31:36):
That's the only trade show leftin this industry.
They used to have Action SportsRetailer in San Diego in
September and in January was inLong Beach and they were packed.
Every individual company had abooth.
That's when the money was goingcrazy and those shows just
(32:01):
stopped.
The only show now is in Januaryin Orlando.
The skateboarding companies andthe shoe companies don't go to
it anymore.
The industry flipped about sixmonths ago with Billabong,
Volcom, and Quicksilver beingnot who they are anymore.
I think they're all owned by onecompany.
(32:23):
It's a mess.
That's why individual peoplelike us, you'll see more and
more smaller names, newer namesstarting to develop.
Ed Drozda (32:35):
It's a lot more of the single us's out there than
there are of those bigger ones.
But the distinction is that thesmaller us again, has to have
that passion and drive to bethat smaller us in view of those
(32:55):
bigger ones.
And that is profoundlyimportant.
You mentioned the thing about alittle convenience store, the
passion of the mayonnaise andstuff like that.
What does matter is you have apassion in that case of the
community.
I want to serve'em and what theyneed.
That's true.
What, what they need.
That's true.
What they need.
I will have, I will give themwhat they need, but I care about
(33:15):
them.
And that is the distinction,Sid, that you bring to the
table.
That is again the thing thatinspired me to have this
conversation with you.
There's just so much informationhere and and we could continue
this conversation for sure.
I wouldn't mind doing that at adifferent time.
Sid Abbruzzi (33:33):
Part two Ed, coming up whenever you're ready.
Ed Drozda (33:37):
With that in mind, I would like to wrap up and I'd
like to ask you what would youlike to share with people who
perhaps are curious about beinglike you in the business world,
afraid to do so, or don't have aclue where to start?
What would you like to sharewith them?
Sid Abbruzzi (33:55):
Well, I'd like to share it's totally possible,
it's not too late, if you have apassion for a business, if you
have a passion for anything thatyou wanna share with the public.
I have two friends that startedstores because they loved Water
Brothers and they started'em inthe nineties and they are so
(34:19):
successful.
They used to come as kids andI'd give'em six pair of sneakers
and they'd go sell'em to theirfriends.
And now they have Civil.
Civil has a big shop inProvidence, has a big shop in
East Greenwich and a big shop inMisquamicut.
My friends from Solstice in NewBedford, same thing.
They were all inspired by asmall shack like I had, and it
(34:45):
just gave them the passion tosell to their friends.
And then their friends becametheir neighborhood, and then
their neighborhood becamecustomers showing up from
everywhere to buy.
And I'd like to share that, it'scliche but never give up.
If you believe in something youwanna go forward with it.
(35:09):
You get all these people, well,I gotta do the research to see
if I can do it or not.
Well, that'll take out half yourpassion, you know.
I'm not saying jump into thefire and see how it goes, but we
did.
That's for sure.
We did.
Ed Drozda (35:27):
And you continued, you continue to ride the wave of
that passion.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Well, this is no time to pullout, is it?
Sid Abbruzzi (35:36):
No, sir.
I'll be 75 in August and I enjoyevery single day at Water
Brothers.
Ed Drozda (35:44):
I am really thrilled Sid, to have you here with me
today.
I can't tell you how grateful Iam for this conversation.
I want to thank you very muchfor everything.
Thank you.
Sid Abbruzzi (35:56):
Oh no, Ed you're the best.
Thank you.
Great talking with you and thankyou so much.
Ed Drozda (36:02):
Well, thank you.
Sid Abbruzzi (36:04):
Alright brother.
Ed Drozda (36:05):
Folks, this is Ed Drozda The Small Business
Doctor.
I may not be paddling out withSid these days, but I will say
this much.
I know in my heart that he'sright there with me and he's
with each of you as well.
From The Water Trough, I want towish you, as always, a healthy
business.
And a reminder from Sid as wellas from myself, anything is
(36:27):
possible, drop in and charge it.
Keep going.
Welcome to The Water Trough where we can't make you
drink, but we will make youthink.
My name is Ed Drozda The SmallBusiness Doctor, and I'm really
excited you chose to join mehere as we discuss topics that
are important for small businessfolks just like you.
If you're looking for ideas,inspiration, and possibility,
you've come to the right place.
Join us as we take steps to helpyou create the healthy business
that you've always wanted.
(00:46):
Welcome back to The WaterTrough, this is Ed Drozda, The
Small Business Doctor.
I'm very excited to be joined bySid Abruzzi, often referred to
as the Godfather of New Englandsurfing and skating.
As a surfer myself, I have tosay it truly is an honor for me
to have Sid here today.
Sid is the founder of WaterBrothers Newport, an iconic surf
(01:09):
and skate brand and shop.
The original location was ashack actually on First Beach in
Newport, Rhode Island.
Yes, it was.
It was.
Opened in 1971, it became acentral hub for the New England
Surf and Skate Community.
As skateboarding grew inpopularity, Sid built a ramp
nearby attracting legendaryskaters like Tony Hawk, and
(01:32):
graphic designer Shepard Fairey,who created early logos for
Water Brothers.
The shop became a culturalinstitution and a home,
literally, for many young surfand skate enthusiasts.
In 1993 Sid moved up MemorialBoulevard, opened a storefront
there next to our good old bar,if we recall, now the name is
(01:55):
escaping me.
Jimmy's Jimmy.
Jimmy's Jimmy Saloon next doorto Jimmy's Saloon.
Okay.
And in 1995, Water Brothersgained international recognition
when the first X Games came toNewport.
Sid's shop served as the centralhub for athletes and events.
2022, the landlord at the shopon Memorial decided to go
(02:16):
forward with plans to buildhousing.
Unfortunately the shop wasdemolished.
However, the local community whowas well aware of Sid, who loved
him dearly, stepped up and said,we're not gonna let this thing
go away.
And thus gave rise to localpop-up shops, which to this day
exist.
Am I correct?
Sid Abbruzzi (02:37):
Right.
There's another part of thestory that is amazing.
Should I jump in with it?
Ed Drozda (02:44):
Why don't you do that?
And by the way Sid, welcome.
Welcome, Sid.
Sid Abbruzzi (02:47):
Oh, thank you.
It's an honor to be on the show,Ed.
Let's pick up right at the end.
It's funny, the guy who boughtthe building and knocked us out,
I introduced him to my landlordthinking we'd have a retail
floor on the bottom with a, callit hotel on the top.
Well, that dream didn't happen.
The guy, actually a good friendof mine wanted to buy the brand
(03:09):
and everything, and it justwasn't a price.
So me and my wife walked awayfrom it.
A year later my landlord callsme up and says, hey, so and so
is back and he's gonna buy thebusiness, I would start looking
for something.
I didn't call the guy up to askhim'cause my landlord said, I'll
just keep you informed.
(03:31):
So in February I was told I have45 days to vacate the property
because the property was forsale.
Long story short, when the movieended we had no idea what we
were doing.
We went back into the popup shopthing and a great friend of mine
by the name of Jerry Kirby,who's a world famous sailor and
(03:53):
has an unreal constructioncompany in Newport, Kirby
Construction.
Well, little behold Jerry boughtthe property right next to us.
We had about three weeks to gobefore Christmas when Jerry
informed me that hey, we'regonna put something here so he
can get some holiday sales.
(04:15):
He said let's try a tent.
Well, the tent just had too muchcomplications, so we scratched
that.
And then he wanted to docontainers and make like a Puma
city like he was involved in, inSpain when he was sailing, where
they made these cool shops outtacontainers and his company can
do and build anything.
(04:35):
Mm-hmm.
So, we couldn't get thecontainers here in time.
Now we're down to about eight or10 days before Christmas.
Jerry called in the troops.
They built this incredible storeI'm at in six days, top to
bottom.
We have the most beautiful shopin the world and this will be
(04:56):
our third Christmas coming up.
So that's where we're at rightnow.
And it's literally 41 MemorialBoulevard when our last location
was 39.
So we're right there.
Ed Drozda (05:09):
How did you feel when this whole thing went down, when
you realized that the shop wasgoing away?
Sid Abbruzzi (05:15):
And you know what Ed, it was devastating, but it
wasn't like it happenedovernight.
Mm-hmm.
There was a couple years earlierwe thought the guy was for sure
buying the building and we weregone, then his deal fell
through.
Then when we got word that wewere 99.9% leaving, we were
(05:36):
prepared.
And then the scene when they'reknocking down the building in
the movie and everything, that'sfor real.
You know what I mean?
That was really when it hit.
I brought my old partner Rick.
He stood next to me and my wife,who's my partner in Water
Brothers now, a couple of thefriends of ours were there.
(05:56):
Yeah, it hit home.
Then we had the movie to fallback on as that was being put
together and edited andeverything like that.
Jerry's the executive producerof our film by the way.
Jerry came in and just said hey,here's what I got in mind.
Ed Drozda (06:15):
And here you are today.
I don't really suppose you weresurprised.
Sid Abbruzzi (06:19):
I was surprised because buying property in
Newport isn't easy.
Building something in Newportisn't easy, you know what I
mean?
And we were able to get thatshop up and running before
Christmas was simply amazing.
We opened up a day beforeChristmas Eve.
(06:40):
Okay.
Of all times.
And we sold everything in thestore.
It was a line down the streetand when people came in
Christmas Eve figuring, wow theyjust opened, we gotta have a lot
of stuff in here, it was empty.
We had to greet people at thedoor saying hey guys, what's the
(07:01):
old surfing line,"should havebeen here yesterday".
But we said sorry, we sold outand we had a lot of gear by the
way.
I'm not gonna give the numberover the air, but it was by far
the biggest retail day I've everhad in my life.
Ed Drozda (07:16):
The fascinating thing to me, and I think the really
important lesson for people tohear is the sort of community
that you created over this time.
Wouldn't you say that communitycoming out as it did is what
made this all possible?
Sid Abbruzzi (07:33):
Absolutely, 1000%.
It wasn't like we're advertisingthis big drop sale weeks in
advance.
People literally probably knew48 hours in advance that Water
Brothers was gonna open.
Say Christmas was Saturday, thatWater Brothers was gonna open on
(07:55):
Thursday.
And the response was absolutelyincredible.
Ed Drozda (08:00):
Sid let's face it, this is something you cultivated
in those 50 years.
Yeah.
It didn't happen that night,that day.
No.
No.
So what is it that you did and Iknow you're a humble guy.
I'm not trying to put you in anawkward position.
I'm acknowledging what you did,so please don't take it like you
can't be honest about this.
(08:21):
How did you build this thing?
Sid Abbruzzi (08:23):
Well you know, I think not the word humble, but I
think it was just who I am,being yourself.
The way you treat people nomatter where they're from.
Always excited yourself aboutthis.
My dad was alive, we'll go backto 1971 mm-hmm.
There's this abandoned shack inthe middle of the parking lot.
(08:46):
And I called Mr.
Lahood.
I had been familiar with his sonthrough sports and stuff, and
old Eli Lahood, I went to Mr.
Lahood, hey can we rent thisshack?
And he was a sort of a tough,ornery guy.
Yeah okay, and the first yearwas$300 a year.
(09:10):
Okay.
We had no electricity.
Yep.
So across the way was a bar, Ibelieve at the time it was Point
and A Half.
Half the parking lot was brokenup asphalt, and then right where
the shop sort of ended in themiddle of the parking lot was
combination, dirt, sand.
(09:31):
We dug a trench, maybe only twofeet, and we ran extension
cords, the restaurant right toour shop.
So we had one outlet for a lightor something.
We had a cigar box for a cashbox, and everybody just started
hanging around.
(09:52):
We had our Overland surfboardsthere.
Funny, every time a car went tothe beach they go over that
little bump and disconnect theextension cord.
I mean, it was classic stuff.
Then we brought in a pot bellystove, a real old school
potbelly stove.
Friends of mine were carpenters,did their thing.
(10:14):
We painted all over the sheetrock.
We had a poster of Alice Cooper;it was a crazy scene.
I forgot what year it was, ourrent went up to a couple hundred
dollars a month and we asked Mr.
Lahood and we were able toexpand a 10 by 20 onto the
original shed.
(10:36):
We started as skateboardinggrew.
We didn't walk into likesomebody trying to start a store
now where there's establishedcorporations or established
companies, established sports.
No one believed in these sports.
The sixties had come and gonewith surfing.
When the Shortboard Revolutionhit, Vietnam, all these shops
(10:58):
closed.
So when we opened up in 71, weclosed say November, maybe
December.
We hadn't even establishedChristmas sales yet, and we'd go
surf anywhere and come backaround March or April.
Knowing we still had the shackthere and all of that stuff.
(11:19):
But as soon as skateboarding gota little more popular, we put up
little quarter pipes and stufflike that.
All the trucks were stillnarrow.
When urethane hit, it changedthe whole business structure.
Everybody wanted to skateboardwhen urethane hit, and the
trucks are still small,Sure-Grip and Chicago trucks.
(11:42):
We just rode with the wave.
It was a wave.
The short boards were a wave.
The wetsuits were a wave.
They're getting better andbetter.
I mean, we started surfing indive suits.
I don't have to tell you that.
We used to wear diving boots,Bailey boots.
Then O'Neill came out.
We sold O'Neill.
(12:04):
Then Bailey tried to get intothe surfing business and then
all these little other brands,but we were like O'Neill guys.
And then right up the street,I'll never forget this, we had
our little quarter pipe.
We hadn't even set up the halfpipe yet.
Hmm.
We had what they called a U.
(12:24):
It was a blue fiberglass rampthat Stevie Dara made.
We're blessed that one of mybest friends to this day was
Stevie Dara, who started Flightsnowboards and Flight
skateboards.
He was in town, just the madinventor making stuff in his
basement, and then eventuallyrenting these garages where he
(12:46):
had these little factoriesmaking fiberglass molded
skateboards.
Then it went into oak, and thenit went into ply.
He did the same thing withsnowboards.
Stevie made this fiberglassramp.
Eight across about nine foothigh, made out of fiberglass
matting, and we put that at theshop.
(13:07):
We were riding that with littlecorner pipes when there was no
surf, again there was no flatbottom, and there was no decks
on these things yet.
These guys walk into the shopand he goes hey, my name's Tony.
I'm from Cranston, Rhode Island,and I own Quality Products, and
we're making Road Rider Wheels.
(13:28):
It was precision barren urethanewheels.
Nobody had that right?
And the trucks weren't the samediameter on the axle so he had
already made these little cut upstraws that fit over the smaller
trucks.
Then four months later, herecomes Tracker trucks with that
(13:49):
axle size, Independent truckwith that axle size, Bennett
truck with that axle size.
Everybody knew.
So the industry knew there wasgonna be something, a
revolution.
We had the first precisionwheels and here comes another
explosion, and this is stillseventies.
Fast forward the eighties.
(14:11):
Now it's a full business withTony Hawk, Powell Peralta, Santa
Cruz Skateboards and all theseguys.
And you know, we're ahead of thegame.
We built this incredible halfpipe.
We had Tony Hawk and the BonesBrigade there in 1989.
There was 2000 kids in theparking lot.
Just crazy stuff like that keptlaying on us, ahead of the
(14:36):
curve, but not reading the curvejust along for the ride, you
know?
I'm sure we read the curve, butthere was stuff going on that we
were just in the right place atthe right time to.
A couple years later we decidedto make the ramp 10 foot because
vertical skating was in.
(14:57):
For Mr.
Lahood we took down one wall ofthe ramp at the time.
We took down the six foot sideand built a 10 foot section.
We took down the other six footside and built a 10 foot
section.
And Mr.
Lahood comes up to me and sayshey, I might be old but I know
(15:19):
the difference between a sixfoot ramp and a 10 foot ramp.
And I said, Mr.
Lahood, it's safer on the biggerramp.
He couldn't figure that out, butI said it gives you more time to
slide and some.
Then in the movie it talks abouthow we found out about
insurance.
We found out a couple places inMassachusetts and Rhode Island,
(15:44):
they set up explorer posts wherethey got some form of liability
insurance by making their postsescape posts or by offering
skateboarding.
So everybody that came to theramp, just for a little while
because we got tired of it,signed up as a Boy Scout, and
(16:05):
that's a funny part of themovie.
Tony Hawk describes how I didthat because Tony knew all about
that law too.
We actually had a piece of paperthat we showed Mr.
Lahood, that this ramp wasinsured with liability.
I'm not saying if someone gotseriously hurt what would've
went down?
(16:26):
Yeah.
But nobody got seriously hurt,thank God.
And right to the end wastechnically an Explorer Post,
but anybody who showed up toskate, we let'em skate.
Now, as a business owner thatwas amazing.
For almost 20 years at thatlocation Mr.
Lahood was always ready tolisten to the best offer, and he
(16:48):
never gave us a lease more thanmaybe six months.
You guys can be here till theend of the summer then we'll see
what's happening.
That's how it was.
I remember one year, maybe closeto the nineties, they brought in
these containers that were gonnastart construction of a hotel
marina in the area.
We thought we were long gone,but that got shot down by the
(17:13):
Coastal Commission.
So that gave us another coupleyears of breath.
I had a great partner at thetime by the name of Rick
Weibust, who did most of thebooks and stuff, and I was, as
my brother says, the showman anddid all the surfing and skating
and brought all the changes.
(17:33):
I would go to Santa Cruz,California and surf.
I'd start off by going to atrade show in San Diego and then
make my way up to Santa Cruz tosee all the guys I sold
surfboards with and to surf fora month or so.
Well, I was between San Diegoand Santa Cruz at a place called
Love Burger in San Clemente andI got a phone call saying hey
(17:55):
Sid, I think Mr.
Lahood just sold the property.
Mm-hmm.
There was two Greek guys,gentleman by the name of Pete
and Harry that had bought theproperty right on the other side
of the wall from us calledJohnny's House of Seafood.
Yep.
And they were just dying to getin there.
In September they got in, so Iflew home and I'd been home for
(18:17):
a week and we're just waitingfor'em to come around the corner
and here comes Pete, theirlawyer in the middle, and Harry.
And we had been friendly with'em, you know, they were playing
up to us.
We'd go over to their bar afterskating and stuff and have a
beer or two.
Well, they came over like theynever met us before in their
life.
(18:38):
Oh boy.
And they said listen guys, ifyou don't get people off that
ramp and make it unrideableright now you guys are outta
here.
But if you break it down, youguys can stay till Christmas.
At the time it was 92, 93, so wewere established.
(19:00):
It wasn't like 78, 79 right?
We were counting on Christmassales, so we broke it down, took
stuff off the flat bottom, threwfurniture on it, put chains
across it, and we got to staytil Christmas that year.
Then my partner Rick had gone upthe street and we found that
building that was available.
(19:21):
I told Rick, it's too far awayfrom the beach when actually
it's like 300 yards from thebeach.
When you're 20 years standing onthe sand with your business, it
was tough to leave.
That really hurt.
And to this day, that buildingis still there in the middle of
the parking lot.
(19:43):
I got a call from the town ofMiddletown from someone involved
in the building thing that, it'schanged hands.
That was an historical site.
So now we're established up onMemorial Boulevard.
The shack is just a memory andhere comes the Extreme Games.
(20:04):
What is going on?
Somebody said hey listen,they're bringing the top pros in
the world here.
They're gonna haveskateboarding, skydiving at the
time, rollerblading, and allthis, and we were just
skateboard guys, we could careabout everything else.
But they're gonna bring DannyWay, Tony Hawk, all the big boys
(20:26):
are showing up and it's gonna bein Fort Adams.
We started getting calls fromthe team managers that, hey can
we have our athletes boxes sentto your shop where they can pick
'em up?
Every pro in the world came intoour shop.
We had the Santa Cruz guys, thePaul Peralta guys, whatever
(20:49):
company it was.
That was absolutely incrediblefor us.
Ed Drozda (20:54):
That is awesome.
Sid Abbruzzi (20:56):
The first Extreme Games party was in my backyard,
300 people.
Helicopters overhead.
And my mother's still living onthe upstairs.
Tony Hawk, everybody.
It was incredible.
The second year we had theapartment above the shop and you
talk about wild parties.
(21:16):
That's how I'll leave that.
The Extreme Games in Newport wasa different time.
You know what I mean?
The second year, I can'tunderstand why they did this,
but the second year, they didn'thave it at Fort Adams.
They had it in downtown Newport,right around Bowen's Wharf, and
I said you know what guys?
This is the last year.
(21:38):
Let's enjoy it.
This is the last year this eventwill ever be in Newport, Rhode
Island.
It is headed for auditoriums,for big cities, and it certainly
was.
So I got a funny side story.
We were so hardcore, sometimesnot even to our own benefit.
I took the ESPN logo, ESPN2 wascovering everything; it said
(22:05):
Extreme Games, ESPN2, all ofthis stuff, and I made a
t-shirt, replica t-shirt thatsaid Extreme Bullshit, H2O
Brothers, like the ESPN2 logoBrothers, right?
Well, guys who got the shirtweren't allowed to go into Fort
Adams.
(22:25):
A couple guys were wearing theshirt at the Clarke Cooke House
got in a big argument with ESPNexecutives in there.
Who are these guys calling us?
And to this day, I still haveone of'em, but I'll tell you the
catcher of it.
So that was what?
July, August.
In December, two guys walk intomy shop and they say is Sid
(22:47):
here.
Yeah, what's up?
Do you have any more of thoseextreme bullshit t-shirts left?
And I said, well, listen, Imight have one or two, what's
up?
And they said, we'll be straightwith you.
We're from ESPN and at the ESPNdinner banquet we wanna present
that t-shirt to our boss whocame up with the concept of the
(23:11):
Extreme Games.
So I said, no problem.
And so it went from being castouts to given an award to the
CEO.
So that's just a little funnyside story, but the Extreme
Games paid off forever.
(23:33):
So we're fortunate with that.
Why don't you take over with aquestion?
Ed Drozda (23:40):
First of all, I gotta tell you something.
It's really interesting'causewhat I'm hearing you say is that
your evolution is as much aboutserendipity as it is about
anything.
Things just evolved for you.
Yeah.
I'm not saying you didn't haveto do something to make them
happen, but to some degree youmanaged to jockey around what
(24:04):
was there and be waiting whenthe fallout came and be able to
deal with it.
Sid Abbruzzi (24:10):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
We shaped it in our area.
Ed Drozda (24:15):
Early yeah, in your basement and then at the shack.
But as time went on, let's faceit the loyalty in the surf and
skate community, which iscomprised at the time of a lot
of very, very young people, issomewhat volatile.
They're coming, they're going,they're here, they're there.
They're not always gonna be inone place for you, but yet
(24:36):
somehow you managed to take thatessence, I don't know.
I don't even know how to saywhat I'm trying to say, but this
is what I'm sensing.
Sid Abbruzzi (24:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's sort of like you're dealt a hand
of cards, you gotta know how toplay the cards.
And it wasn't like we're playingthe cards to our advantage.
We weren't manipulating anythingat all.
When you actually skate all thetime and you surf all the time,
(25:06):
and you see this stuff, andyou're one of the quote athletes
yourself, instead of just beingthe business guy who's ya know
I'm changing my bike shop into askateboard shop.
I'm changing my hockey store.
I'm gonna have a rack ofskateboards in there.
When you're actually do it,perform it and did it before it
(25:28):
was an industry, or do it as theindustry evolves it's just
natural to be in that position.
So many people I know had storesthat became a skate shop or a
surfboard shop because it waspopular.
You know what I mean, it waspopular.
(25:48):
And if it was unpopular, we'dstill be doing the same thing.
That's maybe not an answer, butthat's something that we did.
If no one skated we would.
If no one sold skateboards wewould.
We just did what we loved.
And we were fortunate wherebigger things were in front of
(26:11):
us.
Where the X-Games was in frontof us, where the Bones Brigade,
we called them up, we paid$2,000, which was insane money
at the time.
And we charged everybody twobucks and they didn't have to
pay'cause he just could havewalked on free.
We did all of that and we lovedit and we never asked, well if
(26:35):
we get this sponsor, we're goingto do it.
No, we did it.
We did it without sponsorship.
We did it because we love it.
We didn't ask permission tobuild a ramp.
We just built a ramp.
Hey, it could've got torn downthe next day.
The town could have came to usand said, you guys are crazy.
Beat it.
(26:56):
Take this down now.
My landlord could have saidthat.
So I don't know how to answerthat.
Ed Drozda (27:03):
You absolutely answered it.
You told me and you told thosewho will listen to this exactly
what I would hope they wouldhear.
I have clients that talk aboutscaling.
More and more.
What you scaled is your passionand the community around you.
You didn't have to be bigger.
(27:23):
You're better by virtue of beingwhat you are, who you are.
It seems to me you always remaintrue to what matters to you.
What I meant when I said youwaited for things to fall into
place, I'm not saying youhaven't shaped things.
Shape, get it, ha.
Anyway, you waited for things tofall into place knowing that
(27:46):
you're grounded in what you aredoing.
You're waiting to see where youfit in and you're doing what you
can do in response.
I think that's a reallyimportant thing for young
business people to hear.
It's not about bigger, it's notabout better.
It's about remaining true andgrounded in what really matters.
(28:07):
That's what I'm hearing you tellme.
Sid Abbruzzi (28:09):
Yeah, exactly Ed.
Does that apply to everybusiness?
I'm not sure.
It applies to businesses thatyou can get involved in.
Like somebody opening up aconvenience store.
They're not into a jar ofmayonnaise every day, you know
what I'm saying?
(28:30):
They're not buying the product,'cause they love it, they gotta
have it.
That probably started out withthese specialty shops they have
now.
We're fortunate that our passionis our sports.
Ed Drozda (28:43):
Your passion is your sport and again, I'll go one
step further and say yourpassion is your community.
And, you've served them well andthat brings us full circle.
You've mentioned itperiodically, the documentary
came out in 2025, right?
Sid Abbruzzi (29:01):
Yeah.
We've only been on streaming fortwo months.
It came out last year.
We did up and down the Eastcoast.
We won the Florida FilmFestival, Surf Festival.
We did South Carolina, coupletimes in New Jersey, New
Hampshire, Maine, couple timesin Massachusetts, a bunch in
(29:23):
Rhode Island.
Seven nights in New York City,and then for the West Coast we
were invited to the CoronadoFilm Festival, gorgeous.
The guy ended up loving us andthe La Paloma Theater in
Encinitas sort of a rundown,really cool single owner who's
(29:45):
living in there now.
It's where Taylor Steele and allthese movie surf movie guys
play.
He told us the Ramones playedthere in the nineties.
It's just this old schooltheater that's so cool.
We ended up playing there threetimes.
Then we did the Laguna FilmFestival, which is another
(30:06):
beautiful event.
And then two events in SantaMonica and North Hollywood.
We really wanted to go up toSanta Cruz and San Francisco
'cause we shot the movie a monthin Santa Cruz.
And we had yet to been able toget there; it was a money thing
and the holidays were coming, wehad to get back to the store.
(30:29):
We've been streaming for twomonths.
We're finding out the situationwhere I can make an appearance
at the theater, the store, orthe lodge, whatever it is.
The music rights for thesethings is outta control.
We had to get a one year theatermusic right.
(30:51):
I said, January this year, let'splay it again in Newport.
We gotta winter break.
Can't do it, theater musictime's over.
I'm like, what?
Because I didn't check.
I figured these guys are doingit right.
Then they're hey, we're workingon the streaming thing now and
we should be streaming, by theend of the summer.
So we get the streaming thingdown and now I'm like, okay, so
(31:15):
anybody can buy the movie andown it for$14.
Somebody buys it and plays it,and can I go make an appearance
there?
Yes and no, if you're sellingtickets.
So we're getting everythingclarified'cause we wanna go down
to Surf Expo in Florida.
(31:36):
That's the only trade show leftin this industry.
They used to have Action SportsRetailer in San Diego in
September and in January was inLong Beach and they were packed.
Every individual company had abooth.
That's when the money was goingcrazy and those shows just
(32:01):
stopped.
The only show now is in Januaryin Orlando.
The skateboarding companies andthe shoe companies don't go to
it anymore.
The industry flipped about sixmonths ago with Billabong,
Volcom, and Quicksilver beingnot who they are anymore.
I think they're all owned by onecompany.
(32:23):
It's a mess.
That's why individual peoplelike us, you'll see more and
more smaller names, newer namesstarting to develop.
Ed Drozda (32:35):
It's a lot more of the single us's out there than
there are of those bigger ones.
But the distinction is that thesmaller us again, has to have
that passion and drive to bethat smaller us in view of those
(32:55):
bigger ones.
And that is profoundlyimportant.
You mentioned the thing about alittle convenience store, the
passion of the mayonnaise andstuff like that.
What does matter is you have apassion in that case of the
community.
I want to serve'em and what theyneed.
That's true.
What, what they need.
That's true.
What they need.
I will have, I will give themwhat they need, but I care about
(33:15):
them.
And that is the distinction,Sid, that you bring to the
table.
That is again the thing thatinspired me to have this
conversation with you.
There's just so much informationhere and and we could continue
this conversation for sure.
I wouldn't mind doing that at adifferent time.
Sid Abbruzzi (33:33):
Part two Ed, coming up whenever you're ready.
Ed Drozda (33:37):
With that in mind, I would like to wrap up and I'd
like to ask you what would youlike to share with people who
perhaps are curious about beinglike you in the business world,
afraid to do so, or don't have aclue where to start?
What would you like to sharewith them?
Sid Abbruzzi (33:55):
Well, I'd like to share it's totally possible,
it's not too late, if you have apassion for a business, if you
have a passion for anything thatyou wanna share with the public.
I have two friends that startedstores because they loved Water
Brothers and they started'em inthe nineties and they are so
(34:19):
successful.
They used to come as kids andI'd give'em six pair of sneakers
and they'd go sell'em to theirfriends.
And now they have Civil.
Civil has a big shop inProvidence, has a big shop in
East Greenwich and a big shop inMisquamicut.
My friends from Solstice in NewBedford, same thing.
They were all inspired by asmall shack like I had, and it
(34:45):
just gave them the passion tosell to their friends.
And then their friends becametheir neighborhood, and then
their neighborhood becamecustomers showing up from
everywhere to buy.
And I'd like to share that, it'scliche but never give up.
If you believe in something youwanna go forward with it.
(35:09):
You get all these people, well,I gotta do the research to see
if I can do it or not.
Well, that'll take out half yourpassion, you know.
I'm not saying jump into thefire and see how it goes, but we
did.
That's for sure.
We did.
Ed Drozda (35:27):
And you continued, you continue to ride the wave of
that passion.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Well, this is no time to pullout, is it?
Sid Abbruzzi (35:36):
No, sir.
I'll be 75 in August and I enjoyevery single day at Water
Brothers.
Ed Drozda (35:44):
I am really thrilled Sid, to have you here with me
today.
I can't tell you how grateful Iam for this conversation.
I want to thank you very muchfor everything.
Thank you.
Sid Abbruzzi (35:56):
Oh no, Ed you're the best.
Thank you.
Great talking with you and thankyou so much.
Ed Drozda (36:02):
Well, thank you.
Sid Abbruzzi (36:04):
Alright brother.
Ed Drozda (36:05):
Folks, this is Ed Drozda The Small Business
Doctor.
I may not be paddling out withSid these days, but I will say
this much.
I know in my heart that he'sright there with me and he's
with each of you as well.
From The Water Trough, I want towish you, as always, a healthy
business.
And a reminder from Sid as wellas from myself, anything is
(36:27):
possible, drop in and charge it.
Keep going.
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