January has not been the most San Diego month for San Diego.
The city is known for its mild temperature and endless sunshine, but most of 2023 has been cloudy skies and rain. Add in high surf and tides, and you’ve also got a sandy (partially usable) beach boardwalk along Mission and Pacific Beaches.
All of those factors have made for a particularly slow couple of weeks for businesses like Radd Action Sports in Mission Beach.
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It's a small shop, sandwiched in between an alley and a coffee shop, but the bright orange exterior paint makes it hard to miss. It's topped off with foam surfboards hanging off of the storefront's roof and bikes lining the sidewalk, and the walls.
“As you can see we don’t have anybody on the books for today, but we’re still open,” said Kenny Summers as he lifted up a blank notepad from the shop’s front desk.
Summers works at Radd on Mission Boulevard. He said they specialize in everything you would need for a beach day like bikes, skateboards, surfboards, rollerblades and more. But, he added, when the weather is as extreme as it was last week, it makes it difficult to get people to rent their gear.
“It was a little hectic. We don’t have kayaks here, but we probably could have rented some kayaks during that week,” said Summers, referring to when waves were seen rushing onto the boardwalk, damaging beachfront properties.
San Diego Storm Scenes
While these months pass by painfully slow for businesses like Radd, they look forward to the warmer months, when school is out and the crowd picks up again.
“June is insane, you know, the summer months are packed,” said Summers. “As you can see there’s lots of bikes in here. In the summertime, you won’t see a bike in here.”
Radd has been in Mission Beach since 1989. They have bounced around to a few different locations, but love the community that they serve.
“I talk to a lot of people, obviously they’re from different parts of the country, and it’s really crappy weather and they’re rolling around in their shorts and flip-flops thinking it’s great,” said Summers while he wore a “OB” (Ocean Beach) flannel that he called his, “foul weather gear.”
There is still some cleanup from the storm happening along the beach, but most of the boardwalk has been cleared.
