Seventeen years ago Tim Shepard, the owner and founder of TWC surf and
sport, opened a retail shop with a simple but effective philosophy: to
bring the kind of service and aesthetics he saw in west coast surf and
skate shops to Michigan. At the age of 21 he opened the shop; which at
that time only sold windsurf boards and equipment, using his credit
cards, consignments, and determination created a successful shop. Once
the shop became stable, he was able to branch out into snowboarding and
later skateboarding. Today, TWC has grown to be one of the premiere
shops in the Midwest servicing all of your snowboard, skateboard,
wakeboard and apparel needs.

On the weekend of October 20^th and 21^st TWC held a grand opening event
to welcome customers into their new eco-friendly 8,000 sq/ft building
located on 2133 Orchard Lake rd in Sylvan Lake, Michigan. “We did our
best to leave little impact on the environment” said Shepard. The bricks
lining the shop are reclaimed from Detroit buildings destroyed by fire.
Ash was chosen for the counters and shoe wall caused by the invasion of
emerald ash borer that is currently eliminating the ash population
across the Midwest. Low VOC paint and epoxy for the walls and floor were
selected for reduced environmental impact. Barn wood from the old Keego
Harbor location can be found reused in the new location. Architect and
designer Aaron Blendowski kept the concept of motion in mind when
designing the fixtures in the store. Blendowski put all of his designs
on castors so that the all of the merchandise could be wheeled out to
hold skateboard contest or video premiers in the cold winter months.
This store was designed by skateboarders, snowboarders, and wakeboarders
for people who are involved in boardsports and it shows in TWC’s new
location...