After 24 years, Andy Fraden is reluctantly closing All Wet Sports, the Beach Boulevard store where he turned a love of water sports into a business.
The store at 8550 Beach Blvd. near the boat ramp on Pottsburg Creek in the Grove Park area will come down in about six months. The site will become the parking lot for the planned Pottsburg Creek Fish Camp, Fraden said, part of a restaurant brand owned by Ben Groshell of Southern Table Hospitality.
Everything is 25% off as Fraden winds down in the coming weeks or months, including kayaks, paddleboards, wakeboards, canoes and accessories.
In April 2024, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported that the initial concept was to tear down the current All Wet Sports and build another two-story store over the dock near the restaurant. Fraden said he scrapped those plans.
That article listed Urban Partners Construction of Jacksonville as the contractor.
AB Modern LLC, a Groshell-affiliated company, purchased the property for $630,000 in January 2020.
Built in 1957 on 2.80 acres, the 5,375-square-foot store once housed a Cedar River Seafood restaurant.
In 2024, the working name for the fast-casual restaurant was Pottsburg Creek Fish Shack.
Groshell could not be reached for comment or to confirm the planned restaurant’s name.
The All Wet Sports website says everything in the shop is for sale, including the inventory, shelving, showcases and fixtures.
“I’m not a professional closer upperer,” Fraden said. “I’m going to try and deplete the inventory and fixtures, however long it takes. My guesstimate on the super duper bright side, one month. On the super long, three months.”
Fraden, 68, has operated the store for 24 years; the last 21 years have been at the current location. It is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. He has one employee.
He will continue renting watercraft equipment until the store closes. Fraden also rents U-Haul trucks and trailers on the property and will discontinue that business as well.
“You can’t just run a U-Haul business and survive. It’s just a helper. It’s a piece of the pie,” he said.
Prior to opening All Wet Sports, Fraden was part of Fraden Produce, his family’s 100-year-old commercial produce business. An avid water sports enthusiast, he turned his hobby into a career.
“It was a ‘Do what you love, and you won’t have to work a day in your life’ type of thing. That fits me perfectly,” he said.
Besides selling water sports gear, he also gives paddleboard, windsurfing and kayak lessons on the water behind the store. He would like to continue the lessons after closing the store.
“I can’t stay at home. I told my friend if I stay at home, I’d probably have the prettiest garden,” Fraden said. “I’d have to be doing something. I don’t want to have the prettiest garden.”
While Fraden was talking about his decision to close, a customer came in inquiring about a custom kayak trailer that could also tote a couple of electric bicycles. Fraden sells two trailer models and went into detail about the features of both.
He took the man’s information and told him he would research whether he could create such a trailer.
“That’s what I’ll miss, getting customers what they want,” Fraden said.