Saturdays in SoHo
A snowboarder turned surfer opens up shop in New York City.
From the corner of Crosby and Broome, it's easy enough to spot the flag announcing "Saturdays" and mistake it for one of the many the fashion boutiques and big-brand outlets that draw in the shopping throngs to Manhattan's swank SoHo district. A few steps closer, you'll catch the accompanying smaller print: "Surf NYC."
A surf shop in SoHo? Not your average business plan. But Josh Rosen isn't your average retired pro snowboarder. One of three partners behind the Saturdays shop, Rosen was raised in Seattle, and spent his high school years chasing after NW heavies like Dave Lee and Peter Line. After graduating, he went on to ride professionally for K2, Four Square and Dragon, travel from Japan to Chile, and score Snowboarder Magazine spreads and national recognition.
Baker's Banked Slalom and world-record powder dumps aside, Washington is also infamous for the heavy breaks of the Olympic Peninsula, and Rosen made a regular pilgrimage to the water with surfing pro shreds Elan Bushell and Billy Summers. After a back injury sidetracked his pro career, Rosen chased his surfing interest to San Diego, where he attended college.
Rosen credits a surf trip to Costa Rica with truly flipping his passion from snow to water. A group of pro surfers was working the same Play Negro break as Rosen, and he got a first-hand comparison of the pro snowboard photo and film shoot—endless driving in sketchy winter conditions, Motel 6's, junkfood dinners—vs. the surf style: roll out of the cabana straight into the waves, bag a couple shots, then chill in a hammock, eat some fruit and have a beer.
"That's the most epic lifestyle on the planet, period," says Rosen. "Those guys have it figured out to a higher degree."
NYC had always been on Rosen's mind, too. Multiple childhood trips instilled an interest in the smells and sights of the biggest city in the US.
"The energy, the vibe—I always knew I wanted to live here," says Rosen.
Rosen moved to NYC in 2003 with a business degree, and plugged into the fashion industry. Six years later, Rosen and his partners cooked up the idea of a Saturdays, a ripe concept given the lack of a real surf shop in Manhattan: "It's a city of 9 million—that means there's 10,000 surfers out there."
Saturdays opened their doors in August, boasting a coffee-shop front, gigantic outdoor patio, and fashion-forward environment (complete with Birdwell trunks, Stronghold Denim, and Taschen publications plus first edition Moby Dick books), rounded out with a full selection of surf decks by JC, Dano and Cordell, and suits by O'neill, Patagonia and Alex Knost.
Rosen still gets his in the winter, spending a month back in the NW, plus jaunts to NJ's terrain park playground Mountain Creek. But as long as there's swell off the Long Island shore, you'll find a "back in 15 minutes" sign hanging on the door of Saturdays—Rosen's gone surfing, happily duck diving and dropping in.
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