OVIEDO - If young people didn't have a reason to hang around Oviedo's downtown before, they do now. Marcio Lucas thinks so, now that his surf and skate shop has hit Broadway Street.
The shop doesn't have a sign on its storefront yet, but anyone driving by is signaled to the store's interior by the surfing and skateboarding stickers on the outside windows. The inside is also wallpapered with brands and labels, next to brightly-colored surf boards and skateboards.
Lucas opened Board House Surf Shop in 2002 in a smaller location on Alafaya Woods Boulevard, but moved the shop downtown three months ago. The new location has better visibility, he said.
"It's overall better - we have more flexibility to do things here, do events here, the kids can really hang out and there's places for them to skate around here," Lucas said.
The shop sells surfboards, skateboards, clothing, shoes and accessories. Lucas and his three employees offer free service on all hard goods - surf boards and skateboards - and also give surfing and skateboarding lessons.
Lucas said the shop offers more than a mall skating shop does because he and the staff have knowledge about the equipment. "You kind of have to match the person with the right equipment," Lucas said. "It's different from a store in the mall that sells mostly clothing - you pick what you like and it's a size 'M.' We want to make sure that everybody's getting what they want and that they stay within the budget that they want to stay."
Lucas has had time to build up his knowledge of surfing and skating equipment. "I worked in surf shops when I was a teenager, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole industry," he said.
Lucas' business isn't just about retail, though. Having surfed and skated since he was 6 years old, Lucas takes an active interest in the sports. The shop sponsors events at nearby Rippin' Riverside Skate Park and sponsors athletes who surf in Florida competitions.
Lucas has competed professionally in surfing in Brazil and Costa Rica as well as in Florida. But after moving inland to finish his degree at UCF, Lucas turned his attention toward skating. "We do a lot more skateboarding competitions because we're really close to the skate park," he said. "We sometimes do events on flat ground even, right here in front of the shop."
Events on site should be popular, Lucas said, because a lot of young people go in and out of downtown. The First Baptist Church of Oviedo's youth group, which meets near the shop, brings a lot of kids to the area, he said.
"I know there's a lot of kids in this area that frequent downtown, so for us it was like, 'hey, why not just put some new life in there?'" Lucas said.
The surf and skate shop isn't the only new business to fill one of Oviedo's long-vacant storefronts recently. Other shops like Unki Monkey's House of Junkie, All About Grills and So Sweet Boutique have also helped give Oviedo's downtown more of a heartbeat again.
"If there are more businesses, more people will be attracted to [downtown]," Lucas said. He said the downtown atmosphere is more enjoyable for shoppers than a busy shopping center.
"If you go somewhere like Waterford Lakes, it's just craziness - you can't find parking, there are millions of stores and people running around, and there's all types of reports of people being robbed," Lucas said. "I think this is a lot more laid back."
Lucas will soon be posting skateboarding events on the shop's Web site, www.bhsurfshop.com. Right now, the Web site offers an online catalog of merchandise that can be found in the store. The store is open Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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