In the Beginning
The catalyst for our venture into making surfboards began in 1967 when we purchased a 9ft 6in Fred Pyke Razor board for Paul, followed by two 9ft Merrin Mals at Xmas for Peter and Phil. Our timing was way out, as when we arrived back in Victoria from QLD, the Shortboard Revolution was in full swing (8ft vee bottoms). The tail of the Razor was sawn off, but it was still too long and awkward. Our best mate from school, Peter Evans, who had some experience with fiberglass yachts, suggested we make our own. So the journey began.
The Backyard at Haldane St, Bonbeach
The hobby began in early 1968 with an 8ft surfboard for Phil, followed by a board for Paul, and in the first 20, a board for older brother Peter, who had been so nice to loan us his first Malibu and drive us to the beach before we were licensed. We made surfboards and kneeboards for schoolmates and then fellow surfers we met down the coast.
Dad's garage copped a hiding, and a special tiny shed was built out the back after his tires were resined to the concrete floor!
Approximately 140 boards were manufactured in the back shed before opening at Chelsea. To this stage, we were completely self-taught, learning from our mistakes. But just before the Chelsea move, we paid Phil Grace (a very special friend) to come and show us his glassing skills, which proved invaluable. In between his travels, he is still available to us for special projects.
Amazingly, two of our longest-serving employees and friends who are still with us at the Pt Leo factory, John Jolly (47 years) and Alan Francis (31 years), were among those who came and had a board made in the old shed. In 1971, when Phil quit his job at Telstra, we spoiled ourselves with "practice makes perfect": Phil made 24 new surfboards and Paul made 22.
Chelsea Store 1972
We moved into 484 Nepean Hwy, Chelsea, in October '72 with the help of the local mayor, Maurie Portingale, to obtain a permit to manufacture on the premises. Our first employee was Ian Cochrane (at age 15), who had been hanging out in our Bonbeach backyard. Next to come on board was Wild Man Wilko, to this day the best polisher we have ever had, who during one season shaped 100 kneeboards. From this store, we built our Surf Team that began to dominate Victorian surf comps. Ian Portingale (dual Vic Champ), Rob McCartney, Cocky, and the Brothers all lived within 200 meters of each other.
During 1982, we renovated, removing the kitchen and all the back rooms where we used to glass, making the retail area three times the size. The showroom grew to include sailboards, surf skis ,wetsuits, clothing, snowboards, skateboards, and more.
We auctioned off 90 old boards when we finally closed in April 2006.
Frankston 1974 Pre Trigger Bros
Paul and Ted Bainbridge lived in the back of the Chelsea shop, and it was there plans were hatched to open the Peninsula Surf Center on Nepean Hwy. Ted had worked in the Frankston Rip Curl store for a couple of months and had gained valuable retailing knowledge. He'd also started Breakaway surfing magazine with Keith Platt and Tony Morrell, where he met the super smooth Harry Hodge, so Harry joined us as well. We brought out a new brand, Clearline, shaped by Mike Marchant to cater to the surfers that thought the worst of us, and not knowing the connection, Ted made the sales!
After the store opened, we decided we needed an East Coast board riding club. We spread the word that people interested in starting up a club would meet at Gunnamatta on Saturday morning. As usual, we were there early and decided to bail and surf Portsea. Later we heard the club was established with Ted as president, and after much continued protest, the name Peninsula Board Riders stayed.
Harry and Ted moved into the back of the shop, and it wasn't long before Harry had convinced us to make a surf movie. He'd approached Paul Nelson and Rabbit, and with lots of sponsors including Qantas, we made a surf movie, Liquid Gold. It didn't make any money, but it is part of a special relationship we have with Tidal Wave Ted.
We sold our share back to Ted three years later as there simply wasn’t enough profit to go around.
Point Leo 1978
After going into partnership with Ted and Harry to start Peninsula in 1974, a couple of years later Paul and I decided we needed to be closer to the surf. The Merricks General Store was on the market for $45,000. Mum and Dad were really keen on it because it had a Post Office and a residence, and that meant Government security. They had grown up during the Great Depression, so were always keen to have that backing.
After a search of the Point Leo area at the local council, where planning person Ray Webb helped us out, we found a commercial block next door to the General Store. It was part of a subdivision from 1932 that Geoff Raws (Point Leo farm) owned. Because of the subdivision, Geoff had to pay individual rates and decided to sell us the block for $25,000. I bought the block next door. We knew Ray from the Gunnamatta SLSC when the club shed was on the beach. Ray is still totally involved in the club and is a life member.
After lots of objections from the Foreshore and a couple of locals, we finally got approval. With our best building mate Keith Bingham and his offsider Al Francis organizing the building, we finally finished building my house and the shop next door, opening in October 1978.
John Jolly of Shady Hollow fame was doing my glassing at Chelsea during the building time, so we offered him a full-time position glassing our boards and any of his own. We also employed Mick Marchant to shape and spray, and started the Clearline brand. A couple of years later, Richard Evans joined us and did his Summer Breeze brand. Gordon (Flash) Smith was trained up for repairs and lived for 6 months in his HT wagon that had the driver's side door welded up, and after 3 months his girlfriend moved in with him! We got a permit and built the shack in the back corner of the block, where he lived for 3 or 4 years. Later it was used by GT for a few years, and then Danny and Liam and the McDonald sisters, Lucy and Gemma.
Al Francis joined us in the '80s as the all-rounder shaper, glasser, board repairer, polisher, and tool maintenance person. Before, any problems with power tools had to go to Frankston, which would almost take a week; Al fixed them while you waited.
In the '80s and '90s, we made a consistent 500-600 boards a year, peaking in the early 2000s when Matt got us into making 100s of Corona boards, with a couple of 45-a-week batches as well as getting Okes and Stumpy to do a few.
The original Point Leo store is almost unrecognisable with it's lack of tall trees and development.
Lucky for us Keith Stretch Bingham, our original builder and surfing buddy had heard we were extending and made the trip down from Ulladulla arriving mid afternoon just in time to take control of the job. Mark said everything just fell into place after that and we got it finished in 5 days for the weekend. At the last minute we'd changed the rafter spacing to 23" enabling us to display 50 vintage surfboards in the open ceiling.
We extended the shop in 2005. We called on our tradie mates: Stuie, Bruce from next door, Tim, Wilko, and Tony from the shop. Harry was in charge, and possibly 10 of us were trying to get the roof on one afternoon. Lucky for us Keith Stretch Bingham, our original builder and surfing buddy had heard from Al Francis that we were extending. Stretch made the trip down from Ulladulla, arriving mid afternoon just in time to take control of the job. Mark said everything just fell into place after that and we got it finished in 5 days for the weekend. At the last minute we'd changed the rafter spacing to 23" enabling us to display 50 vintage surfboards in the open ceiling. ST couldn't believe the change. It's the only time I have ever felt we should have turned on some beer. Keith loves a drink, but we stood around for an hour afterwards catching up.
We've been incredibly lucky to have so many keen part-time local workers over the years. These included the Wilcoxes, Tyler Miller, the Forrests, the Youngs, Joe Walker, Jackson Lee, and Jackson and Sam Sloggett. The girl V (or Vashti), who seems to be able to rise to any challenge repairing, glassing, and sanding everything we line up for her. Jack is the new kid on the block, super keen on shaping something special, and loves getting into the shaping bay. He has just taken all before him and is about to become our first official apprentice; all our crew share our passion for surfing.
In 2015, Phil Newman took over Saturdays and brought his 30 years of sales experience to the shop. He had suffered a few health problems and was cutting back on his high-pressure sales job. His dream was to sell surfboards, something that he loved doing himself, and working at Point Leo ended up being a reunion day; all the old crew love coming down to catch up. Rod Jones comes in on Saturdays to join Phil and won't accept any financial reward, just always dreamed of working in a surf shop. Evon has a similar dream. We keep Rod supplied with boards and wetsuits.
Point Leo would have to be the last surf shop where surfboards are still made on-site. It's incredible how many people come back after many years saying how they love to see everything the way it was 20 years ago, and the smell is still the same!
The current manufacturing team: Paul Trigger, John Jolly, Vee Thompson, Phil Trigger & Hannah Trigger
Frankston 1986
Moved into Shop 1 Ross Smith Ave, Frankston with Arthur Brett as store Manager in September 1986.
Purchased Shop 3 Ross Smith Ave but we couldn't get the tenant out even though they didn't have a lease.
Leased 7 Ross Smith Ave for 12 months until we were able to get vacant possession and then decided to join all 3 shops.With the help of Point local Garry McKellar and Simon Trigger, we ripped massive holes in the walls upstairs and on the ground floors joining the 3 shops.
We took over the lease of the pinball parlour to eliminate the drug trade going on and linked all 4 shops in May 1991.
We had many instore appearances from pro surfers as their sponsors toured them around the country. In 1997 Quiksilver brought the winner of Bells that year - Matt Hoy. The only problem was they also brought Kelly Slater along too. What was supposed to be a low key instore signing event quickly escalated with a line of girls around the corner. They didn't just want an autograph though, they felt the need to touch him. Slater was over it pretty quickly.
Another GOAT to visit the store was Tony Hawk. What is now the surf shop at Frankston had a 3ft lip ramp towards the back. One of the greatest vert skaters of all time did his best on the lip ramp which he described as the worst ramp he had ever skated.
This visit was provided by Airwalk. BMX rider Rick Thorne also came along and had a much better time on the ramp.
Other super stars included the Burton Snow Team, Olympians Torah Bright, Belinda Brett, Cam Bolton, Belle Brockhoff, Debbie Flintoff King, Michelle Timms and Mark Seymour from Hunters and Collectors who ordered a 9ft blue Mal. Triggs wrote the custom order with the inevitable question coming up. Do you play music?
By far the most consequential influence on the success of this store is the support we have had from the mums and dads, tradies, boys and girls, many of whom followed us from our basic beginnings at Chelsea in 1972.
The Sorrento Store - 1989
We purchased the Wavelength retail business at the bottom of the hill in Sorrento for a wholesale stock value on the 1st July 1989. Peter Wilkinson, who had managed the Chelsea store from about '74, skippered the new ship, endearing himself to the locals, building up a huge customer base, and training up a fantastic group of mainly female staff. I have often said to Wilco he should have gone to uni. He was a very polished communicator like his brother Steve and father, who were both school principals.
We were renting the property off Mohanad Ali and every 3 years negotiated the next term, always being told we had the first option on buying the property. In the late '90s, after we had the same negotiations, 1 month later he informed me the property had been sold to a person who already had several other main street properties and was well known for unrealistic rent increases.
Paul and I immediately went to the main street to look for a suitable location to move into; unfortunately, there was nothing, only shops with existing tenants.
The milk bar and general store at 46-48 Ocean Beach Rd was perfect, so we approached the landlord and kept increasing our offer until he agreed to sell. Having secured the premises the next challenge was buying out the current tenant’s milk bar. We probably paid too much however at the end of the day we secured our future in Sorrento.
The existing shop was only using the front 1/3 of the building, and the plan was to rip out all the internal storage rooms, take it out to the side boundaries, and then split the shop into half surf and half milk bar. Simon was right; he'd started with us after he'd finished his carpentry apprenticeship a couple of years earlier and had just finished the joining of the four Frankston stores.
The Sorrento site had been a dairy and the home of Slippies Ice Creams, where in the '50s people would queue hundreds of meters to get one of their sought-after delights. Apparently, Peters tried unsuccessfully for years to obtain their secret formula. Unfortunately, they left 6 freezers which were impossible to move until we cut them into manageable pieces.
In April 2003, we closed the bottom shop and Pete Wilko moved onto a more adventurous gardening maintenance job. We cleaned up the shop and were given the all clear by one of the owners. However 2 weeks later we were informed by another owner we had to remove all the floor tiles and carpet and totally repaint the whole place. Feeling just a little ripped off we bought 40lts of paint and sprayed all the walls the original black from 40 years ago.
In September 2016 we sold off the top shop to Billabong keeping the Trigger Bros name and a small percentage in the business.
Trigger Bros Mornington Stores 1997
It was the height of our tracksuit frenzy, and we were getting heaps of requests to open a Mornington store. The big brands wouldn't let you expand into another area where they already had existing accounts, and Andrew Dell had The Impact Zone store on the east end of Main Street at 168 Main St. Andrew was a respected surfer on the Peninsula and we certainly didn't want to burn a friend.
We approached Peter Schuster, who ran the Wavelength Wetsuit Company, and offered him the opportunity to come in as a partner. Pete was part of a group of top swimmers and water polo players from the Leo SLSC who had bought kneeboards from Haldane St in the early 70s. He was a key member of our top kneeboard team that dominated state competition, and in his younger years, he was ranked number 5 in the Australian Freestyle Team, just missing the Olympics.
We told Andrew our plan, and he agreed to sell. Pete took over, and we made our own brand of wetsuits, selling thousands of them over the next 10 years. When the lease ran out, Pete decided we needed to be more central, so we moved to 104 Main Street, right in the middle of town.
Three years into that four-year lease, the Mornington Central shopping center convinced us to move inside the complex. We ran both shops until the Main Street lease ran out, and then we closed the original one. The Mornington Central store was the first place where we had to do a proper commercial shop fit out. It was super flash for us and expensive, but it looked fantastic!
We were there for four years, but after multiple rent increases, we decided to move back to the strip at 65 Main Street. We planned a lock stock and barrel night move. We had heaps of staff moving stock up the road and across the street in Coles shopping trolleys plus the racks and display cabinets on rollers to the new location where Simon did an amazing job refitting it into its new home. The next night we removed all the exterior signage and light boxes. No one is allowed to do anything in a shopping centre without permission or belonging to all the right unions and of course we had neither. At the last minute, I rang Mark Harrison asking for a hand, telling him I had a dangerous and possibly illegal mission for him. He turned up in 15 minutes, tools in hand ready to go.
Harry and Simon then tackled the high-risk job of removing the massive electrified sign from above the door. Somehow, four of us managed to lower it to the ground. It was definitely a highly illegal mission, but incredibly, we pulled it off without getting caught and finished up after midnight.
The next day, we cleaned up and passed an inspection by the center manager, who told us we didn't have to repaint. Three to four hours later, they changed their minds. The following day, Paul and I turned up with 20 liters of paint and a spray gun. We were just about to spray everything in sight when a woman came in and went mental on us, claiming we could have shut down the whole complex by getting paint fumes through the air conditioning system. Water-based paint? I don't think so. But that was that, so we did the quickest roller job ever instead.
The shop was going well, but Pete started having health problems again, so after a couple of years, we closed it down.
Thanks heaps to Pete from the brothers, Paul and Phil.
Brighton 2000
After 3 or 4 years as Frankston manager Arthur approached us to open a Trigger Bros store in Brighton at 43 Church Street. He ran it successfully for 4 years and after getting wind of someone else wanting to open a rival store in the same street he sold it to Russel. Russell, the new owner eventually changed the name and the direction of the shop a couple of years later.
St.Kilda 2001
With the continued growth in the surfing industry and snowboarding making a significant addition to our turnover it was decided a city location was needed. We chose Shop 1 at the St Kilda Junction with Matt Trigger as manager. It all went well until it cost customers more to park than the price of a block of wax. The rent was rising like a king tide so we closed after 10 years (this location is still without a tenant since our departure ) and relocated to 231 Chapel St Prahran in 2011.
Prahran
This was the flashiest shop we have ever had, spacious from wall to wall and floor tiles to suit. Sony had identified they were an aging brand and needed to get into a shopping centre rather than what was once the coolest street in Melbourne. We took over the existing lease with the previous tenant contributing $100,000 towards the annual rent. Chunk and Lachy were a big help with the fit out but unfortunately the surf culture in this part of the big smoke was not great. The result was a financial disaster. We licked our wounds and closed at the end of the lease in Sept 2013
Online 1997
It was Matt’s idea that we should start our own website. This was pre Cable or ADSL days when a 56k dial up modem was standard and 800 x 600 CRT monitors were becoming the norm. Basically pre-historic.
Developed entirely inhouse by Stuart at the Chelsea store he had to learn by trial and error how to build and host the site. Initially it was hosted down in Rosebud at Patriot Internet to try and make the site as fast to load as possible for the locals.
Around this time (probably 1999) we experimented with online selling using Business in a Box from Sausage Software. We listed tail pads and DVDs online and it was thrilling to actually sell something occasionally.
The main draw card was a daily surf report with Matt riding his bike to the Point lookout daily and taking a picture on an early Kodak digital camera. Before too long he realised he could take a picture of Crunchies too. This service was later expanded with Russell Francis from Full Circle taking a daily shot of Woolamai.
Luckily Alan Blake, a local surfer/windsurfer from Frankston showed interest in the site and with his network admin skills he developed the camera pages. This allowed us to start showing live shots captured every minute during daylight hours.
Camera locations were added along the way including spots on the West Coast, Gold Coast and even Bali for a brief time. Simon Trigger and Darry Foulds took on the role of installing and maintaining the camera hardware at all the locations. We now have a mix of the original static camera shots and some live streams.
As the site grew it became a burden to maintain by hand. With over 100 pages of content the decision was made to move to a Content Management System and a database driven website. Joomla was the CMS of choice. Years later we moved to Wordpress.
In 2007 we started our first online store on a separate dedicated URL. It still wasn’t linked to our in store Point of Sale database so maintaining accurate stock levels was a daily chore, reconciling the previous day's sales to prevent overselling.
Eventually we were able to bring everything together - blog posts, surfcams and online shopping on the same URL with a shared database of the Frankston stock.
And now, all the staff who have worked at each location. We've done our absolute best to remember everyone so if a name is missing let us know so we can add them in.
CHELSEA 1971
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April Pallot Beagle Raymond Brent McKenzie Brett Woods Chris Obrien Danny Williamson Dave Pavelich Dave Sykes Dugga Ellis Gary Simm Garry Taylor Ian Cochrane Ian Portingale Ian Sykes James Batt James Tuck |
Jarrod Pallot Jeff Brain John Bishop Kenny Reimers Liam McCafferty Luke Parker Mark Knowles Massie Hines Matt Griffiths Mick Marchants Murray Ellis Nic Stilwell Nigel Melder Paul Trigger Peter Baker Peter Prouten |
Peter Wilkinson Phil Brain Phil Grace Phil Trigger Ricci Hawkins Richard Evans Robbie Knowles Sapphron Farrel Scott Mraz Shane Carter Shane Hines Simon Banna Simon Rice Steve Wilkinson Stuart Matthews Tara Simpson Tom Nolan |
POINT LEO 1978
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Adam Butler Alan Francis Amie Francis Ben Gould Ben McColl Bob a Job Rob Brad Smith Cal Nicholsen Cameron Wood Charlie Lucas Chris Wilkinson Dave Sale Dave Barras Dylan Wilcox Erin Hudson Ed Mountford Gordon Smith |
Harry Young Hayden Forrest Indy Lucas Indy Trigger Jack Trickey Jackson Chook White Jackson Lee James Forrest Joe Walker John Jolly Jordan Trigger Josh Roach Justin Grant Justin Wood Kane Easterbrook Kane Tankard Lachy McDonald |
Lochlan Robinson Mary Clatworthy Matt Meysztowicz Max Wilkinson Michael Harris Nick Clarke Phil Newman Rod Jones Ryan Wilcox Steven Dart Sam Slogget Sean Kenny Shane Lowe Ted Meysztowicz Tyler Miller Vashti "Vee" Thompson Zeph Creasy |
FRANKSTON 1982
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Adelaide Norris Alex Newey Andy Inness Annabell Martin Abby Reeves Abby Schiffer Alice Coombes Ann Baker Arron "Egor" Arron Jackson Arron Mawson Arron Winsbury Arthur Brett Beccy Coil Ben Bycroft Beth Egan Bianca Hines Brendan Huntly Brenna Adams Brett Edwards Brooke Fischier Cam Stynes Campbell Hall Carney Hick Caroline Caroline Egan Chris Boadle Charlotte Heath Christine Melody Christine Dunsford Cooper Jackson Corey Corey Trigger Daniella Forague Daniella Sprague Daniel Delburto Darcy Malessa Dave Sale Dion Anthony Dion Jackson Drew Baker Elisha Doffay Ellen Trigger Emma Pintur Emmanuel Coulaud Evete Darlingson Finn Cousin Finn Kirkpatric Fraser Ross Dawson Gagne Jamie Geoff Gereldene Colvin Grace Hall Hannah Trigger Heath Meldrum Henri Hoekstra |
Holly Delange Hylas Isaac Hopmans Jabbin Hallihan Jack Sandy Jackson Alcock Jackson Allen Jackson Turner Jai Woolard James Barrett Jamie Fay Jamie Reichelt Jenny Trigger Jennifer Trigger Jess Finch Jill Brett Jo Trigger Joel VanDen Eijnden Joel Darlingson Jon Poole Jonathon Pirpiris Jose Stephenson Josh Josh Caratella Josh Davies Josh Roach Anna Roach Kane Easterbrook Kane Sinclair Kara Jolly Kate Pope Kate Simms Kate Woolnough Katlin Tharls Kerrie Lachlan Brown Lachy Lara Barnard Lenna Kruglic Lincoln Archibald Linda Anthony Liz Lloyd Cosriff Louise Lucas Nicol Luke Birch Luke Boer Lucy Moran Max Atkins Mal Mandy Walsh Marc Baker Marcellus Shiell Marcus Boadle Mark Watkins Marcin Zablocki Matt Henry Matt “Billy” Keir Matt Newman |
Matt Skinner Matt Sudomlak Matt Trigger Matt Wilson Meranda Michael Antonie Michelle Spans Mike Martin Min Kruglic Mitch Randell Morgan Henderson Naomi Nash Nat Kruglic Nate Gamble Nelson Jayden Nick Trigger Nicky Mahony Nicky Robinson Nicole Spedding North Norris Patrick Quinn Patty Ulpe Peter Winslade Rick Baker Riley Heffernan Ronan Clarke Ross McDonald Sam Warner Sarah Angless Sarah Scott White Scotty Hilton Scotty Cameron Sean McDevitt Sheridan Alves Simon Nadje Skye Scoffern Stef Inness Stephanie Frier Tali Neubeck Tayla Walker Taj Woolard The Sheriff Tirion Jones Toby North Todd Cochrane Tom Snee Tony Graham Trish Trigger Troy Omahony Val Robinson Vanessa Lane Whitey Will Donahue Will Lang Zander Norris Zoe Watt |
SORRENTO OG STORE 1989 & TOP STORE 1998
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Adrian Whale Amanda Joseph Amber Sinclair Anna Roach Ashlea Gladman Ben Nettlefold Blair Robertson Bobby Stringer Bree Callum Haynes Camilla Caitlin King Chad Harris Charlie Rice Chris Watson Chris Wilkinson Chloe Fenney Chloe McColl Denise Wale Eleanor Dixon Ella McColl Erin Williams |
Georgia Grace Geraldine Colvin Hayley Booth Holy Butler Hugh Greer Jack Kerr Jade Stringer Jamie Kennedy Jamie Tankard Jacqueline Haynes Joel Reid Jody Strong Josh Mc Coll Julie Wilkinson Kane Tankard Kate Miller Kate Sattori Kristy Haynes Lachy Robinson Lachy Barnard Lauren Harris Lauri Elkins |
Louis Henry Louis Scott Lori Stokes Lucy McDonald Melissa Dart -Harrison Michelle Burke Morgan Lynch Narelle Taylor Pete Wilko Romy Lawson Ross McDonald Rudy Hayne Sasha Jennings Simon Trigger Steph Enness Sue Burton Tahnee Watt Tom Nolan Tori Kellett Tristan Zane Bannister |
MORNINGTON STORE
Christy Port
Gab Buchanan
Joel Reid
Kate Schuster
Kristy Buchanan
Madeline Colomb
Peter Schuster
Quintin Ciszek
Sarah Bold
Todd Mclerie
Elise Prosser
Thanks to all the above staff who have been a big part of the Trigger Bros journey . If your name is misspelt or not on the list get in touch.
