OUR HISTORY

Ron DiMenna founded the now famous Ron Jon Surf Shop over 65 years ago in 1959. A young surf enthusiast who was not content to simply ride the waves, Ron wanted to bring surfing to the masses and was an early pioneer in recognizing that surfing and the beach held a magical lure to people everywhere. He began selling surfboards out of his father’s grocery store in Long Beach Island, New Jersey, and quickly discovered his penchant for retail. The “Original” Ron Jon opened its doors in 1961, and he headed to Florida only two years later to open what would become the company’s flagship store in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Over the ensuing six decades, Ron Jon expanded into a worldwide phenomenon that currently has retail stores scattered all along the east coast in points from the New Jersey shore down to Key West, Florida.

The Ron Jon logo that he so carefully crafted all those decades ago, remains virtually unchanged and is recognizable worldwide. His insistence that a Ron Jon sticker be given away with every purchase became the company’s most powerful marketing tool, and the now famous Ron Jon sticker has been seen across the globe as well as outer space, once being photographed on the space station Mir some 200 miles above the earth. Ron was a visionary that understood the power of roadside outdoor billboards and began an advertising tradition that, to this day, is a mainstay in the company’s marketing efforts. Forty years before social media was invented, he understood the importance of indelible images being repeated over and over to pique the interest of potential customers. Much of the company’s early success was a result of the curiosity the billboards produced to travelers going to or from other destinations on the interstates.

In 2008, Ron and his wife, Lynne, founded Surfing’s Evolution and Preservation Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity that supports organizations with like-minded missions to protect the health of Florida’s beaches and address issues such as coastal pollution and beach ecology. Through the sale of the Endless Summer® specialty license plate, the Foundation financially supports meaningful programs, events and activities that impact protection of the beaches for future generations to enjoy. In addition to the foundation, the Ron Jon Surf Shop corporation’s philanthropy reaches all the states and counties in which stores operate providing college scholarships, sponsoring beach clean ups and supporting local food banks and related causes.

Ron was known as a free spirit that enjoyed travel and new experiences, and his love for the beach and the sport of surfing endured for his entire life. He lived life on his own terms and created a retail empire that remains one of the most successful beach shopping destinations in the country. He was inducted into the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1998.

Ron passed away in 2025. His company and his passion for the beach and all things surf continue through his retail empire and charitable endeavors.

THE EVOLUTION OF RON JON STORES

In addition to Long Beach Island and Cocoa Beach, Ron Jon Surf Shop has opened stores in Orlando, Fort Myers, Key West, Panama City Beach, Clearwater Beach and Pensacola Beach, Florida. as well as in Ocean City, Maryland, Orange Beach, Alabama, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For more information about our store locations, click here.