BUSINESS
e a w v h t e n i h g C atc
f r u s m o pri By Joy White
Primo Surf has been in business for 20 years in Saipan. The shop offers a wide range of footwear, T-shirts and board shorts – all in keeping with the surfing lifestyle. Some of the popular brands include RVCA and Quicksilver. The shop also carries many up-and-coming brands such as Vissla and Rukka. Vissla branches a bit away from the usual surfer lifestyle and plays more toward urban or street wear. “They also really take into account the environment,” says Linda Yeoman, owner and founder of Primo Surf. The shorts are made from plastic bottles and the company tries to give back to the community. In order to sell some of the brands, a shop must be wellestablished in the community, so Primo Surf does have quite a few brands that are not available elsewhere. The shop recently introduced stand up paddle boards to its offerings. The size of the paddleboard really depends on the weight of the user. Yeoman says she has also been trying to introduce kiteboarding, which is slowly growing in popularity. “More and more people are getting into water sports,” she says. Saipan is especially a great place to get into water sports because it has a “nice playground” at Micro Beach, where the reef is farther out, she says. A former professional wind-surfer in the U.S., Yeoman opened her shop in the islands over two decades ago when there were no other surf shops. She worked with local surfers on Guam to develop the shop and even to name the shop. Yeoman is also well known for introducing outrigger canoeing as a sport to the region and starting the Micro Cup, which offers up a competitive venue for Guam, Saipan, Australia and Saipan. AUGUST 2015
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