About us...
Hi, I’m Jo, the owner of Simply Beach. I’m a 50 something, half English half Swedish mum living in Kent and this is my Simply Beach story….I’d like to tell you I was inspired by lazy summer days on a tropical beach or by a stunning infinity pool on the Costa Brava. Or growing up with a Swedish mother who only had to feel the slightest touch of warmth on her skin for her to immediately strip down to a bikini. I guess growing up in Sweden taught my beautiful mum to appreciate the sun more than most! Of course, these things are true, but the reality of Simply Beach’s beginning was a little different.
When I met Gerrard in the late 90’s, he was running Simply Scuba, a dive school and shop, and I had a sales job which kept me on the road 5 days a week. As our relationship grew, we spent our candlelit dinners discussing the Scuba business and soon enough we decided to try working together on it. It wasn’t long before I saw the opportunity to start a sister store for Simply Scuba to give the ladies something to browse while their husbands and boyfriends spent hours in the shop discussing the best equipment for their pursuit. And so began Simply Beach!
It's a family affair.
Fast-forward 20 years, a marriage and two small boys later and while Simply Scuba and our other online stores succumbed to the pitfalls of a global pandemic, Gerrard and I and Simply Beach are still going strong. It was the one store we could save and by 2020 even Gerrard realised it was the one most worthy of saving and the one most fun to run! That’s not to say the pandemic wasn’t a difficult time, with no holidays allowed and all pools closed, but thankfully our lovely customers kept dreaming of better times and the sales continued to trickle in.
We went from a medium sized business with a staff of 50 and a canteen(!) to just a handful of lovely people. The upside is that we’re small enough to give our customers the personal touch that selling swimwear requires with a team of just seven; me, Gerrard and five great, hard working ladies and occasionally, when busy and if we ask really nicely, a little help from the (no longer small) boys. Gerrard runs the business side of things and I still get to shop for swim and beachwear all year round to bring you, our wonderful customers, the best designs and brands I can find. (I do also handle the website and design side of things so it’s not all about the shopping :))
I sincerely hope you love our little business as much as we do and that you enjoy shopping at Simply Beach. With expertise gained from 20 years of buying and selling swimwear, we source the highest quality and most beautiful swimwear to offer you and present it on our website with what we believe to be the best, easiest and safest online shopping experience.
With almost 25 years practical experience, we understand your needs as a customer and being a smaller business means we handle every order with care and attention because we understand the importance and excitement of getting a swimwear purchase right. Being an authority on swimwear and beachwear for many of our designers, we make sure we are always available to answer your questions by email or telephone with fit and style advice particular to each brand and many of our customers give us a 5 star rating so we must be doing something right!
So thank you for being our customer. We love you all and care about your holidays and trips to the spa; your wild swimming and your evenings in the garden hot tub. These represent the best of times and it’s our pleasure to help you to find the perfect swimwear to enjoy them in.