A long-established fashion and watersports specialist is on the move.

Makin’ Waves on Church Street is to move next month — but only across the road to Chevron House.

Co-owner Stuart Joblin, who founded Makin’ Waves with childhood friend Doug Patterson in 1988, said the move was driven by a better deal on rent — prompting the store into only its third move in its more than 25 years of business.

Mr Joblin said: “It’s a lot of effort to have to move, but business is business and Doug was bored — he really likes to do this stuff.”

Mr Joblin added the new premises, set to be open for business next month, was slightly smaller — but a more regular shape, which offers a bigger amount of display space.

He said: “We’ve almost exactly the same amount of hanging space, because of the way it’s configured, and much better lighting.

“It’s also a chance to consider things that didn’t exactly work the way we wanted across the road.

“We’re going to give more space on the men’s side and less space on the ladies’ side and more space for the sporting gear.”

Mr Joblin said: “It just offers more flexibility — the store can move more fluidly. You can put anything in any spot and it should work equally well.”

Makin’ Waves has been in its present location for three years after nearly a quarter of a century on Front Street.

The store was the brainchild of the pair, who met at Saltus Grammar School aged around ten.

Their first business venture was Bermuda Baggies shorts — inspired by a course Mr Joblin did at university on business feasibility and marketing shorts.

He said: “We took the idea and changed it to be Bermuda Baggies. We sewed our own shorts — 1,200 pairs of cotton surf shorts.

“We sold every single pair so the next year we designed our own fabric and pattern and had them made in the Far East — we sold 12,000 of them.”

Inspired by their success they opened a store on Front Street, where they stayed until the move to Church Street three years ago.

The store features active wear, diving and snorkelling equipment, as well as paddle boards, flip flops and sunglasses.

Mr Joplin said: “Our customers range from seven or eight years old to 80 years old — we’re for the young and the young at heart.”

Mr Joblin added that — like many other businesses — the economic downturn had hit the firm.

He said: “It’s been challenging, no question at all. Most of our staff have been with us for years and we want to protect them, so there’s less advertising and less frills, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.

“But the move up to Church Street was good for us, especially after what happened with the cruise ships and tourism.”

The business also has a branch store on Camber Road in Dockyard, which caters more to the tourism market from the massive cruise ship terminal.