WRV has grown into an internationally known brand in the surfing community.  In 1967, a group of Virginia Beach men started a surfboard-building business in a cinder block building on 19th Street. Several years later, they decided to sell.  Les Shaw and Bill Frierson, two locals who had been building surfboards for WRV, bought the business.

The WRV moniker has come a long way from that board-making shop in 1967. It’s now the largest surfboard manufacturer on the East Coast. With a flagship store and headquarter offices at the corner of 19th Street and Cypress Avenue, WRV pumps out its brand across multiple surf lifestyle platforms.  But in the early days, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.  “There was no guarantee it was going to work,” Shaw said.