New surf brand to call Merimbula home

The Chamber of Commerce is very excited to announce that there is a new Surf Brand coming to town and this one wants to make Merimbula it’s home. We are not just talking about a retail space though, we are talking about a birthplace for the brand.

Much like the Ripcurl brand grew out of Toruay in the 70’s, Raging Bull Surf wants to develop it’s brand with Merimbula being it’s spiritual home. Owner Gary Purser is an international businessman and now a local resident, and says “I love Merimbula and we have some of the best beaches in the country and a vibrant surfing culture, but we don’t have anything that reflects that in terms of product. My goal is to create a worldwide recognised surf brand that grows out of Merimbula.”

Mr Purser already runs an importing business providing goods to major retailers like Bunnings and was also responsible for sourcing the big Christmas tree that the now takes pride of place in town.
Raging Bull were the major sponsor of the Merimbula Classic in November and provided a significant contribution in money an prizes. This years event received over 200 entrants which was well up on previous years, which created another boost to the towns economy.  They are also sponsoring the Surf Report on the local radio station.

It’s only early days for the Surf Brand and they weren’t really ready to open a retail shop yet, but after some discussions with the Chamber President they decide to take a leap and give it a go.

Raging Bull will be opening its doors this week in the old Sanity building, and will test the market over Christmas. “The owner of the building (Matt Davison of Harrington Property) was very keen to work with us and other local tenants to promote local brands. Whilst this might not be a permanent location for us, Raging Bull are committed to Merimbula and building a brand here for years to come” said Mr Purser.

Chamber President Nigel Ayling said, “We are very excited to see a new business emerging in town. I have had a number of discussions with Gary about the future of the brand and we are keen to work with him to develop this, because we believe it will have great long term benefits for the town.”
“If this was someone coming from out of town, to sell t-shirts for a few weeks then we wouldn’t support that. We definitely want to support our local businesses and members, but we also want to support new businesses as well, especially when they are committed to the area as much as this business is. We definitely have our eye on the long game here.”

Hopefully one day, Raging Bull will be recognised worldwide and will put Merimbula on the map, in the same way that Ripcurl did to Torquay.