Warm Winds Surf Shop

Surf shop is huge. Did a lesson and bought a wetsuit from them. Lesson was amazing. KC the instructor was awesome. Super chill and helpful. Wetsuit was well priced on sale and the young lady who helped me was great… Absolutely recommend this place.

We had an excellent experience. My 11 year old son took a lesson with Casey today. It was his first time surfing and he got up in no time. Casey was super nice, knowledgeable, and obviously works well with kids. My son had a great time, he can’t wait to rent a board and get out there to practice some more. Now his younger brother wants a private lesson and maybe I’ll give it a try too. We stopped in the shop afterwards and I bought a cute top, half off. The girls behind the counter were friendly. Also, I stopped in a few months ago to look at SUPs and found the staff to be very helpful and informative then too. I highly recommend this shop for families, and people of all ages. We’ll be back for sure.

I signed up for the private surfing lesson and was with an instructor named Casey. It was a perfect experience– he was extremely helpful and well-​spoken, and had knowledge to share about anything I asked. He was very encouraging and shared great tips while we were in the water, and was always making sure I had all my questions answered. His knowledge of the sport of surfing really showed when he would make tiny corrections after I’d wipe out time after time, and eventually I was able to ride some small waves, which really made my trip. I’d recommend a surf lesson with Casey any day– it was so fun and informative, and I already know I’ll do it again next time I’m in the area!

They gave me great customer service. Beautiful store with great products. Wen I walked it I said wow. They have a ton of stuff. I went downstairs and they had a tone of surf boards. A great surf shop. Great displays. If only I could surf.

So surprised by some negative comments on here. I’ve been coming to this shop for years and it always seems to be expanding and growing. The staff are always helpful and friendly. It is by far the best shop in the area, I’d never go anywhere else.

Went in here and spent some money on surf gear. The staff and management leave a lot to be desired.
If you like a 100% self serve environment, then you would like it here. But when I buy technical gear, I need some help and info. I just didn’t get much help or product knowledge.
THE KICKER: They made me take a full day of surf board rental, even though I wanted a shorter time (which is option 1 or 2 on their website). What a scam.

I’ve been going to this shop for years and find the highly negative reviews very questionable. The staff and owner have always been very friendly and very helpful not only to me but to everyone else I’ve witnessed in the shop.
I can’t comment on the prices except to say they seem to be generally in line with the many other shops I’ve been too, plus the board and wetsuit selection may be the largest I’ve ever seen anywhere.
This is a great shop run by good people.

Warm Winds is a very cute, very crowded surf shop with an enormous array of bikinis, boards, shorts, sunnies, and any other kind of beach/​surf apparel you could dream of. Upon entering, you may feel overwhelmed as the sheer volume of stock inundates the space. However, I manages to squeeze myself through the various racks and displays to find quite a few cute times.
Did I purchase said items? No. Why’s that? Because, despite seeing and hearing several girls working behind the counter, not a-​one greeted me, asked if I needed assistance or even acknowledged my existence, for that matter. Little did they know I would have happily purchased the bikini I was walking around with, a cover-​up to go with it and the straw fedora what would have been perfect for the beach.
The board selection is pretty impressive — I won’t pretend to know much about surfing, but I do know that the variety of sized and shapes offered at Warm Winds is a good thing, especially since they’re in such close proximity to the beach.
A word for Warm Winds: you have great brands, a great location and a cool name. Just organize your space and train your staff, and you’ll get your five stars, for sure.

I had a terrible time at this store. The return policy is asinine; once they have your money, don’t ever thing about getting it back, they will not credit your account under any circumstances. The stock is very limited, and overpriced. Any surfers worth their salt are better off supporting another local store, this one robs their customers (check price comparisons online for ready proof). The last time I was in a pinch and had to stop there, the clerk acted snobbish to my mother and when I asked for the information so I could complain, he wouldn’t give it to me! And basically told me they don’t care. You are a fool to shop here, and if you let them take your money you deserve the poor treatment.

Totally agree with the people who said the staff is rude and they have dumb policies regarding rentals, returns. Hopefully someone opens up another surf shop so this place is forced to act like a company that values its customers. I’ve been to many surf shops in a lot of different places and have never run into a bunch of more condescending, less helpful people than the people who work at Warm WInds. Needless to say I will not be returning.

I stopped by here to purchase items for a first time encounter on the waves. I walked in carrying a cold drink and was asked to place it on the counter which i did. When i went to purchase my 60 dollars worth of merchandise I found that the clerks threw it out. I then had to return item and it is STORE CREDIT ONLY. Sadly i will need to return in the future. When I went to make the initial return there was a 16 year old kid hanging around drinking a pink lemonade talking with the staff. OVERALL — RUDE STAFF. Would never return or recommend. Go to GANSETT JUICE down the street or go to Newport. It’s worth being treated like a customer. And to the owner — you defiinitely need to shine up on customer relations. Your staff is immature and rude.

I found Warm Winds to be an excellent place to shop. It is much bigger than it looks from outside, and they have a lot of merchandise (reviewer Chris already listed most of it). I found the sales staff to be super helpful and friendly. They answered my novice questions patiently and offered valuable opinions when solicited. They went over and above when I had an issue with a skim board, were quick to respond and very customer service oriented. I would highly recommend them

i bought an item here for a gift last week and, upon purchase, inquired about the return policy if the gift didn’t fit. I was told I could return the item and/​or exchange it. Of course, the gift was the wrong size and when i tried to return it, i was informed by the snarky sales girl that i needed the receipt (a detail that was not mentioned when the inquiry was made). Not only was she snarky, but she then proceeded to watch me as a looked through the store for a replacement item as if i was going to steal something.
I did find the receipt and attempted to again exchange the item, this time only to find that the item was not labeled correctly — a store error. At my third trip to return the item, the same snarky cashier quipped in an attempt to be funny that the item was not returnable.
The short of this diatribe is that the store does have cool surf gear BUT, the staff attitudes suck! having spent the better part of the last two decades in southern california, i can attest first hand that this surf shop while it may have the corner market here in RI, would not stand a chance in real surf towns where the attitudes there are genuine and authentically laid back, not «I’m too cool for you because I surf ».
I guess if you’re the only game in town you can afford to skimp on customer service.

A GREAT surf shop.
Board shorts.
Surfboards.
Tee Shirts.
Sweatshirts.
Flip-​flops.
Sunglasses.
Surfboards.
An online webcam.
Rash guards.
Wetsuits.
Surfboards.
Great selection. Really good prices.
Run by people who surf — all year round.
Nice people.
People who don’t mind if you grew up nowhere near the ocean.
Looking to look cool at the beach this summer.
Drop in. Get outfitted. Look cool.