West Marine Press Releases

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (June 3rd, 2010) – - West Marine, the largest specialty retailer of boating equipment and accessories, announced the grand opening celebration of its new Fort Walton Beach Store on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 18-20.  Located at Uptown Station shopping center, at 99 Elgin Parkway NE, the new Store is over 14,000 square feet, making it the biggest West Marine on the Emerald Coast.

Boaters, anglers and their families will find a lot to like at the Grand Opening festivities which kick-off at 8am on Friday, June 18, and continue all weekend with fishing seminars, a kayak pool,  door-buster discounts and prize give-a-ways. Captain’s Choice Boats and Legendary Marine will have boat show on site, plus Legendary Marine will have vessels in the water available for test drives.  Simrad and Navico will provide on-the-water demonstrations of the latest electronics.  Raymarine, Lowrance, Big Rock Sports and others will be on site to answer your boating and fishing questions.  

According to Store Manager Joe Emsing, an 18-year West Marine veteran, “This new store was designed specifically for Fort Walton Beach boaters.  It has a beefed up selection of fishing gear, electronics, engine parts and technical apparel selected especially to meet our local boating conditions.” The Fort Walton Beach West Marine employs 16 Associates, who have over 320 years of combined boating and fishing experience. 

Fishing expert Bobby Barkley is new to West Marine, but he’s been fishing all his life. When he saw the fishing assortment at the new Fort Walton Beach Store, Barkley said “It takes a lot to impress me and I’m really impressed.” From bait to lures, and rods and reels for every budget, the Fort Walton West Marine strives to have everything anglers need for a great day out on the water.   
 
Geoff Eisenberg, West Marine’s CEO, remarked that, “Our Associates are committed to providing Fort Walton Beach boaters a truly exceptional shopping experience. Our Company is made up of boaters who truly enjoy working with and for boaters to offer customers the right products and friendly, knowledgeable service. We’re looking forward to serving Emerald Coast boaters from this great looking new location.”

ABOUT WEST MARINE

West Marine, the largest specialty retailer of boating supplies and accessories, has over 330 company-operated stores located in 38 states, Puerto Rico, Canada and two franchised stores located in Turkey.  Our call center and Internet channels offer customers approximately 50,000 products and the convenience of exchanging catalog and Internet purchases at our store locations.  Our Port Supply division is one of the largest wholesale distributors of marine equipment serving boat manufacturers, marine services, commercial vessel operators and government agencies.  For more information on West Marine's products and store locations, or to start shopping, visit www.westmarine.com or call 1-800-BOATING (1-800-262-8464).