Love this website and the owners of the Real Surf surf shop! We were going nuts looking for a good quality triple board bag to take our boards to Maui next week and found this little gem on the second page of my google search (should be on first page!!! :) - thank God we found them. The bag we wanted originally was $69 - 89 on every other site - we got it from RSSS for $40 and only $8 shipping - we called to beg them to ship ASAP and they acted like there was no reason to beg because they ship fast anyways, we crossed our fingers. We ordered online Sunday afternoon, they emailed us 4 hours later that they were shipping out on Monday and it was on my door on Tuesday - seriously, WOW!!! I loved their courtesy, efficiency, and super customer service! Thank you - love that! read more

2nd time renting here...great service. The gear is a little worn but it was perfect for our needs. We rented some wetsuits, boogie boards and a skimboard. Prices are the best around. We will be back. read more

The owner was a great help to my daughter when she was picking out her new board. Also has some great made in-store merch for anyone who wants to support local. read more

On vacation and was one of the best surf shops in the area. Have everything you need, and can even do surfboard repairs, which many others shops in Oceanside won't do. The owner Shawn is a great guy and was able to get my board fixed before I left. read more

I'm new to California, so on my first weekend in my new home, I rented a board at Real Surf. Prices were very reasonable, and the staff was helpful. The next week, I came back and bought a used board. At this shop, you can ride before you buy, and he'll credit the rental price towards your purchase. This place, in my short two visits, has been a relaxed and fairly priced introduction to my new hobby. My future now, on a used fish in good condition, is getting absolutely wrecked by the surf until I learn to survive. read more

Having a good time shopping around! Great selection and a some sick boards! First surf shop visited in Oceanside and I am not disappointed! Great vibe! 5 stars! read more

Real Surf Surf Shop - Glen the island stallion! - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Oceanside, California

Being a 3rd generation San Diegan has its perks. I'm lucky enough to have grown up in the surf scene here in SD and also have got to know some of the best owned and operated family surf shops throughout the county. I recently ordered my 1st Shawn Ambrose board after months of research. Shawn has used his 30 plus years of shaping and surfing experience to design what he calls "The Quadzilla"! I always said if I ever buy a longboard or high performance egg I was going to have Shawn be the one to shape it! Shawn simply explained to me his design and the inspirations that got him to shape such a board. It;s an 8'0 double wing swallow tail with a quad {4 fin set up}! it paddles like a longboard and literally turns like a short board twin fin. I put my order in and within a few weeks my board was ready. Real Surf Surf shop is a family owned business and has that immediate family, localism vibe to it right when you walk through the door. He's known on any given day to be in the shop with his daughter, teaching her the craft and letting her get in the shaping room and help with some sanding, glassing or my favorite, her acid wash spray jobs that look amazing! Having known of Shawn's reputation ( owner, operator, shaper) for nearly my entire life, I felt 100% confident in him building me my very 1st longboard. We discussed my options and what I was looking for in this board and I decided to follow his advice and get the Quadzilla! Personally I have never ridden a funner board at that size. It's been great on small days at San Elijo to double over head days at the La Jolla reefs! Not only do I whole heartedly endorse this shop, I easily give it 5 stars to have personally witnessed how far he's gone out his way to make his customers happy! Especially our armed forces men and women who come in and get taken care of with the special attention, in my opinion, which they deserve and should be treated as such wherever they go! I'm extremely happy with my recent purchase and look forward to doing more business with Real Surf as I get to know Shawn better each time I come In! Great work and The Quadzilla rides like a dream! Thanks Gabe J. read more

Great place excellent gear well stocked got boogie boards, surf boards and wet suits. Even got a recommendation for The Cup local coffee place and afternoon drinking hole. Owner great guy, appreciate the T-shirt trade. read more

The two that worked today were knowledgeable and had great customer service and were filling to fix my board no charge highly recommend over any shop in oceanside read more

Sean and the people the run Real Surf Shop are true professionals who care about Surfing and Oceanside. Everyone who walks into Real Surf can expect to be treated with the utmost respect. read more

I read Yelp reviews before giving this place a shot, and had to come back to Yelp and say it was sooooo worth driving out of the way for! I needed a lot of suits, booties, and boards for a 5 day trip with high school students, and Shawn and his staff went above and beyond to answer our questions and make sure we had the right gear. Shawn is not only a really interesting human being, but he is also knowledgeable about the craft of board design and repair, wetsuit maintenance, good local breaks, etc. He gave me tips on how to repair one of my boards, and also helped me purchase a couple of used boards for future adventures. I don't know how he makes any money with his low prices, but I won't worry about it! Class act, good vibes, will be a repeat customer! read more

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Came by for a rush repair on my surfboard. Very friendly staff. From the moment I walked in to the moment I picked up my board, it was a real pleasure. Will be using them again. read more

THIS is the place for any of your water needs! The owner is so down to earth, always accommodating and has the best prices all around! We've been going to him for our paddle board a few times now and he always lets us bring the the boards back in the AM if you can't get it back by 5pm. First time trying surfboards here and he has a huge selection! Even if you're not in Oceanside, GO HERE! You won't regret it !! read more

Cute shop with a genuine owner! It was cool just chatting with him. I highly recommend this shop if you're in the Oceanside area! There's a nice variety of surfboards and other miscellaneous items. read more

This was the coolest place id seen in a while. a real OLD SCHOOL surf shop. not the conglomerate corporate place most of the other shops have all turned into. The owner is a burly guy covered in foam dust who was good enough to stop what he was doing to talk to a midwestern tourist. he told good stories and was helpful. we bought a few really cool shirts and a hoodie. looked at some hand shaped surfboards and tons of cool memorabilia from days long past. We were stuck for the day so we rented surfboards (we were going to get wetsuits too but he said the water was warm enough and talked us out of it. WHAT???) THIS was the way I remember surfing on my trips west as a younger man. highly recommend it for your surfing needs. read more

I have known Shawn the owner of Real Surf for over 34 years and during this time have watched him grow in so many ways. He is a very open minded professional who works and has friends in so many different aspects of life. He owns the shop and Animal Kingdom has several characters who are homosexual and one of them owns the shop (Real Surf) where they film every season a couple of times. Really would a homophobe let gay scenes be filmed in his business, I do not think so. Sounds to me like someone in social media is trolling the shop. This is shameful and who is the real victim! read more

Just recently my brother had three surfboards stolen in Oceanside. We reached out to Shawn,the owner of Real surf, and let him know the descriptions of the boards stolen. Shawn encountered two separate guys with boards that matched the ones stolen. They were both trying to sell them to Real surf as used boards. Shawn apprehended the boards and return them to us! Thx for helping us out Shawn!! U rule man!! read more

They should change their name to the Bait and Switch Surf Shop in Oceanside. So here's the deal, we are out riding our bikes on the Coastal Highway while visiting the San Diego area, and come across this nice little surf shop. My son likes to surf sometimes, so we decide to pop in and see what they have available for rentals. We talk to the dude behind the counter, and he tells us that we can rent a board and wet suit for the rest of the afternoon for 20 bucks. I tell the dude, we will be back with our pick up truck, so we ride our bikes back to the condo. We come back about an hour later, and the dude that we talked to behind the counter earlier was now working on a surf board in the other room. Some rude, jack wagon was now behind the counter, and we tell him that we are back to pick up a surf board and wet suit, and we tell him the other dude quoted us 20 bucks for the rest of the day. The dude behind the counter says "nope, no way". We tell him to talk to the dude working on the surf board, he goes into the other room, talks to this guy, and comes back, and says "sorry he was mistaken." Nice! We rent the surf board at the new price, anyways, even though they did the old bait and switch. We get wet suits that are wet, worn, stretched out, and a surf board that is thrashed. Have you ever tried to get into a wet cold wet suit? Needless to say, we won't be back, ever! read more

Rented 2 body boards. Both boards were old and worn. One had a bad leash with Velcro that was so worn that it wouldn't stay closed on your wrist. Of course this was discovered when we were already in the water. No apologies when we told them about the condition of the board when we returned them, and the boards seemed to have gone back into rental rotation. It may be a cheap rental place, but not worth it if you can't enjoy what you were planning to do. read more

This place was so close to the water and had everything we needed. Excellent price also. Shawn was awesome too.

Shawn A. and his wife will totally take care of you. He makes sure you get the board that you really want. Not only that but Shawn is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to surfboard shapes and designs. One of the last mom and pop shops around. read more

I've been in here a few times and everyone is super cool. I bought some shades recently and they broke, the owner exchanged them no problem. I'm in the market for a longboard so I'll definitely be hitting them up!!! read more

Great "local" feel to this spot! Shawn (owner) knows what's hot and carries some really cool stuff!

Real Surf is consistently awesome & super helpful! We come back here year after year and couldn't be happier read more

Real Surf Surf Shop - Love this shop! - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Oceanside, California

I went here knowing about the bad reviews dont listen to them both the men were more than helpful I rented two boards and two wet suits the guy that rented them to us told us cause of the time he would take 5 dollars off both boards saved me ten dollars very knowledgeable gave me and my buddy tips on were to go and what the waves were like the wet suits fit perfectly not to tight not to lose the boards were soft top wavestorms but dont let that fool you they have a wide selection of hardtop boards to choose from they also do a program if you rent a hardtop surfboard (at a very reasonable 30 dollars I might add) and you like it you can buy it I will definitely be back and recommend this to anyone who wants a surfboard or just wants to rent one and have fun on the week end read more

Incredibly friendly and helpful. We were in town for w wedding and decided to spend some time in the water, Real Surf made it a breeze to rent all the items we needed. If you're looking for surf equipment in Oceanside, this is the place. read more

I ordered some items from their website... which the recommended because it's cheaper online, and then the shipment got returned to their shop for some reason. I waited a week and then emailed them,.... They responded quickly and were ready to ship it again, but I offered to pick up my stuff since it's on the way to work. The owner is really cool and apologized, threw in a t-shirt and helped bring my purchase to my car. Mistakes happen, but customer service is always a priority, and they were really cool. I got my stuff, and I can't believe the high quality of the products because the prices were really cheap compared to other places. I definitely will come back. read more

We were visiting from Denver, had wet suits for my six and eight year old skinny daughters at a great price. Shawn and his guys were helpful and even gave me some tips on good tacos, beer garden and butcher shop for grilling! I would definitely go here again while on vacation. read more

Quality ding repair, timely, friendly. A newer employee underquoted me on a couple of repair jobs on two boards. I do most of my own repair, so knew I was getting a really good price for the work done. Picked up the boards from Ambrose who let me know about the error, but rather than raise the price, they did the right thing and kept them as originally quoted. When I offered to split the difference with them in recognition of his hard work and craftsmanship, he accepted, but only if I accepted a shop t shirt which was the equivalent of the amount of extra money I was offering him. Quality shop, personal service, will consider my next board from them as well. Support you local surf shop and your local shaper! read more

was calling in to inquiry about the earplugs, and whoever answered the phone doesn't sound very helpful at all. My first call was cut right off the hook (no problem, he might misplaced it. that happens..). On the second try I was connected to a guy (can't remember the name), and he told me they only carry one brand (Max or something like that). When I asked how much it would cost me, he said "three hundred and fifty dollars"!! I know I can get a Doc's Pro earplug at $10-$16 range. So when I expressed my shockness of the price, the guy was obviously not interested in talking to me anymore because he was talking to his 'dude' instead. So I have to hang up. I will try to avoid this place! read more

Real surf had what I needed for my day in the water.. Im not much of a surfer, but had to try it out. THey had friendly service and knowledgeable staff..They got me what i needed.. ill be back again and again..thanks. Real Surf read more

I've been renting from RSS for the last month and a half or so. I'm a beginner level surfer and always just rent soft boards. Their prices are pretty cheap. $20 to rent a soft board for the day (10am-6pm), and $30 for a hard board both after a security deposit.$10 extra if you want to keep the board for another day. The employees have always been helpful. It's a really chill place to rent from. Very laid back, as a surf shop should be. They have everything you'll need for water sports. Body boards, fins, wet suits, etc. I'd recommend this place to anyone looking for a place to rent boards. read more

Some young dude on the phone ruined my experience. I don't know how you can manage to be deliberately rude to customers 2 out of 2 times.

U know my wife had purchased a board here without me knowing previously. To say the least it turned out fairly well. I bring people here all the time to rent gear during summer but id never say go here and have a custom board made here. read more

The outside looks make you second guess the place, however friendly staff and willing to help you.,

Shawn was super cool and very helpful. I've been back twice to check out his revolving selection of used boards. Stop in and have a chat, great shop with lots of clothes too. read more

Went in here the other day and Daniel was working. He was really helpful and helped with the surf forecast for that day and the next morning. read more

Wanted to rent a surfboard and when we entered in we were not greeted in a friendly manner. When asking about surf boards the employee was not helpful in helping us with any advice and did not seem interested in our business. Seemed like a cool place until we walked in. read more

Checked out many surf shops around the area, but this one has great prices, knowledgeable staff and all the gear you need in one store. Good for all skill levels, cheap rentals which was great since I am just starting to get into it. Come in and talk to Shea! read more

I absolutely loveeee this surf shop! It definitely has the "hometown" surf vibe and the owner (or guy that works there) is SUPER nice! It doesn't look too big from the outside but don't let it fool you- there's a lot of space and the layout makes it easy to look around (whereas some surf shops are more "empty space" instead of gear/apparel). The prices are reasonable and the clothes are good quality. I will DEFINITELY be back! :) read more