the Buzz around Flip Flop Shops®
Flip flop company will seek a toehold in Long Beach
Two ex-executives at Cold Stone Creamery plan to open a 'Sunglass Hut'-style outlet.
Karen Robes Meeks
Staff Writer
Press Telegram
Aug. 04, 2008
The force that helped market Cold Stone Creamery to the masses is intending to bring to Greater Long Beach stores primarily stocked with the most basic of summer gear: flip flops.
Flip Flop Shops plans to launch next year a dozen stores in Los Angeles County, including Long Beach.
"We've always had this 'Free your toes' mentality in everything we've done," said company president Brian Curin, who described the concept as the "Sunglass Hut of flip flops."
"And we (Curin and CEO Darin Krastsch, a former Cold Stone executive) know how to brand and market, so Darin and I ended up acquiring the company and putting a model together."
The result? A sweeping company plan to open 236 locations in exclusive markets nationwide in the next five years.
Curin would not say where in Long Beach and neighboring cities he plans to open but said he expects to open one in Long Beach in the spring. He also said the company has looked at beach cities like Manhattan Beach and the Valley as potential store sites.
"We're excited about the market in Long Beach," said Curin, a former head of marketing for Cold Stone Creamery and former area developer and multi-unit franchisee for Cold Stone throughout the Caribbean. "We could easily see two stores in the Long Beach market and that's a conservative estimate."
Flip Flop Shops sells flip flops and sandals by Roxy, Quiksilver, Etnies, Flojos, Havaianas and other brands that retail between $20 to $150.
"Normally, you go to a store and two or three of the brands are there and they may not have the depth of styles and brands or colors," Curin said. "All we do is flip flops and sandals and we try to be the best at it."
The company has California locations in Chula Vista and Glendale and Irvine, where a new training store for franchisees is being built.
