Speakys Surf Shop Torquay 

SPEAKYS TORQUAY Circa 70

In 1969 Terry ‘Speaky’ Lyons opened his first surf shop in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, to finance his surfing lifestyle. Terry’s home break was Bells Beach, Torquay, where he rode uncrowded waves alongside his mates.   

Some of those mates included Rip Curl founders Doug Warbrick & Brian Singer and Quiksilver founders, Alan Green & John Law. The shop has been trading for over 50 years and continues to trade under the experience and knowledge of Terry’s son Nathan, who is a keen surfer, skater and skier. 

Terry and Nathan Lyons

Terry & Nathan

As one of the oldest surf shops in Australia, Speaky’s Surf Shop has seen the growth of the surf industry firsthand. The shop has existed in a number of locations, including High Street Belmont, Bell Street & Surfcoast Hwy Torquay, McCann Street & Union Street & Little Malop Street, Geelong. Speaky’s was even one of the first shops to have a pop up store at Bells Beach selling merchandise during the iconic Bells Beach Pro. There was also a Surf, Ski & Snowboard store at Mount Buller called Off Piste during the 90’s and 2000’s. Most recently, Nathan has his Speakys store in Market Square, Geelong and a store in Pakington Street, Newtown (branded as Ripcurl Newtown). 

Speaky’s has always supported both well-established and emerging surf brands whilst keeping abreast of surfing technology and innovative lifestyle products. Speaky’s has seen surf boards evolve from hand shaped wooden malibu’s, to computer generated epoxy pop-outs. The introduction of leg ropes and wetsuits changed surfing accessibility forever.  

In the late 1970’s Speaky’s started stocking skateboard gear and supporting local skateboarders in the Geelong region, these skateboarders also helped pioneer Australian skateboarding. Through the 80’s the support grew with Speakys sponsoring up to 15 skaters at a time, in the form of the Speaky’s Skate Team.  Some of Geelong’s best skaters were part of the team. During this period, Speaky’s would support local competitions by providing prizes and competition support and still does today.

Al Miller – Speakys Skate Team

In the 90’s skateboarding changed and popularity dropped off. The style changed from bowl and ramp skating to more Street Skating and developed a strong underground movement.  Speaky’s continued to sponsor a small group of skaters during this time and continued to do so through to the early 2000’s, when in about 2010 skate popularity picked up again. This newest change saw street style tricks move back into ramps and bowls which developed into what is known as Park Skating. The year 2020 would have seen both Park and Street skating introduced to the Olympics for the first time.

Annabel – Speakys Sponsored Skater 2020

For the last 50 years Speaky’s has supported a very strong and renowned Geelong regional skate and surf culture. Standout customer service has been pivotal to the shop’s longevity and continuing success. Excellent service is firmly embedded in the stores core values and is just as important to the experienced staff today as is was to the staff of previous years. Testament to this are the current generation of loyal customers who have had a strong association with the store since they were kids and who now visit with their children and grandchildren in tow.   This culture of customer service will also be part of the shopping experience for the online customer. 

Since Nathan purchased the business 2019, he has been able to take the business in a new direction. He has created and developed the first Speaky’s online store and has even had the graphics on the iconic car print flipped, so the car is now seen to be travelling forward in to the future. A future we can’t wait to share with our valued customers as we continue to support the Geelong regions skate and surf culture and future legends!