I don’t know what I expected when I went to visit to Maine Surfers Union, but it wasn’t one of the best coffees in the city of Portland. Yet here I am, sipping a perfect cappuccino from a compostable bamboo cup as I discuss surfing culture (and specialty coffee beans) with Charlie Fox, the founder of Maine Surfers Union. He tells me that, while his initial impulse to put a coffee bar in his surf shop was because he always saw people coming in with coffees in hand, it turns out that the challenge of learning how to pull a good shot of espresso has more in common with surfing than one might think. “Adding coffee to the mix was like learning how to surf. When you start plateauing and you kind of want to spice it up again. Right? I love to learn more,” he says. His enthusiasm is contagious, and I don’t think it’s just the caffeine talking.

The ocean has always played a central role in Fox’s life. “When I was younger, I coached sailing professionally. I got headhunted when I was 21 to go to California to work for a yacht club out there,” he explains. “I helped coach their sailing team and built a travel team to travel across the country to race. And then I just fell in love with southern California.” But Maine always called the Cumberland native home: “As I started getting older, my partner and I wanted to come back to Maine to raise our family. We’re close to extended family here. And it’s just an easier, simpler lifestyle here in Maine. When you come back, you really appreciate why a lot of people fall in love with Maine.”

He did bring home his new passion from California, though: surfing. “I love surfing. I used to make surfboards on the side for fun out there,” he explains. Hand-shaped surfboards, often customized to the surfer’s tastes and needs, are common in the catch-a-wave culture of southern California. But, Fox recalls, “There was no shop in New England, if not the whole Northeast, that was doing that at the time—you couldn’t find any of the quality craftmanship that you see out west. I wanted to bring that back with me.” He started Maine Surfers Union in 2013, soon after moving back, when surfer culture, while present, was still nascent in Maine. “I remember approaching our bank and telling them, ‘Hey, I need to get a line of credit for opening a surf shop in downtown Portland.’ They were pretty skeptical. Now, ten years later, we’ve got surfing in the Olympics, and our commuter bus has a surfer on the side of it as an advertisement. I’m like, what the heck happened here?” he laughs.

Surfing culture is subtly different here, at least partly because the best season for surfing in New England is winter. As Fox explains, “The big difference about New England is that we’re watching giant low-pressure systems. We really study the weather! We’ve become like our own weathermen and weatherwomen out there, which is kind of cool.” He continues, “So in the wintertime, we’re looking for big low-pressure systems that are dumping snow in the Pacific Northwest. Those hop onto the jet stream, come all the way across the United States, and typically a lot of those will go off the Outer Banks, which then creates a nor’easter for us. Then all the skiers are running to the mountains for the snow and all the surfers are running to the ocean for the good waves.” Winter surfing, he says, “is not for everyone, but there are a lot more people doing it here in Maine.”

In order to take advantage of those winter swells, though, one needs the right gear. “All the boards we have in here, you’re not going to find in any other shop in New England,” says Fox proudly. “We also do a decent number of custom boards with people. We have all the boards on the rack there that we sell to people. But if something’s not fitting for the person, or maybe they want a different shape or size, then we’ll connect with a shaper that we work very closely with. They’re fine with the customer contacting them too, so we can all work together as a team,” he says. It’s easier to customize surfboards since, as he explains, “These shapers don’t own big factories, or big facilities. They’re all small businesspeople with families. We love to work with people like that, because you’re getting more soul and love put into the board.” 

“One of the other things we do is custom, tailor-fit wetsuits to go along with our custom surfboards,” he continues. “All of our wetsuits are by Axxe, which is a Japanese company. We measure 26 points of your body here in the store—I got trained by the folks at Axxe—and we can design a suit that is built just for you. I was kind of skeptical at first about it, and then I got my first custom suit and I thought, ‘This is absolutely mind-blowing!’” In order to stave off the chill of January water, he says, “We can design the warmest, most flexible suit that you could have for winter surfing. You can really have quality. It’s so great to sell someone something that’s quality-built, knowing that it’s going to last a long time.”

Educating people about quality, whether it’s good gear or good coffee (or good beer—Austin Street is available in a cooler in a corner of the shop), is clearly one of the driving forces behind Maine Surfers Union. Fox didn’t want to open a surf shop where a bored teenaged employee behind a counter barely pays attention to customers. “We wanted to create a very welcoming environment and break down those stereotypes,” he says. “Our big thing here is that we want to give you information. You may not buy a board from us, but if you come in, we want you to feel that we sat there for 30 minutes or an hour, and talked to you about boards and designs and shapes and all this stuff, and really answered a lot of your questions. Then you can make a more educated decision on making a purchase.”

On the Right Wavelength

Maine Surfers Union has a plethora of hand-shaped surfboards, of course, but the shop carries so much more. As founder Charlie Fox says, “When someone comes in, they may want to look at the boards, but their partner may say, ‘I don’t really want to look at boards.’ Well, we have them covered.” Here are a few things to check out while you enjoy your own hand-crafted coffee.

“Our most popular item is definitely our aesthetically pleasing tide clock,” says Fox. “We get them all imported from this lovely company over in France. You just set it to your high or low tide and leave it.” A bonus: they are easy for all ages to interpret. “We have one in our house,” laughs Fox, “and my three-year-old says, ‘Dad, it’s low tide. Let’s go to the beach!’”

There’s a robust assortment of Maine Surfers Union trucker hats displayed along one wall. “We’ve always been really into hats,” says Fox. “I wear a ton of hats, and my employees wear hats. People know us for our hats.” They regularly collaborate with local designers like Ty Williams to keep things fresh. “We get people coming back every year to buy a new hat from us with a different logo.” 

Another wall, this one behind the coffee bar, holds a wide assortment of Flowfold bags. This is a section close to Fox’s heart since, he explains, “One of our close friends started Flowfold. And we were happy to help him by carrying his stuff when he was just starting out. I love being a business owner, trying to be that steppingstone for people.” 

“Our Nomadix towels are also a favorite item. These are quick-dry towels. They don’t collect any sand, and they’re anti-microbial. They don’t mold, mildew, or smell. They’re awesome,” enthuses Fox. “They have wild, beautiful designs too.”

The swimwear tends toward the practical rather than the showy at Maine Surfers Union. “My wife’s favorite suit right here has long sleeves and it’s UPF 50. You know, when you’re taking a little one to the beach, you’re not always going to have time to put sunscreen all over yourself so you can stay protected,” says Fox. “Plus, as adults, even summer waters don’t always feel that warm!”