The Stormriders store at 75 Liverpool Street in Hobart is reverting to its former identity as a Red Herring surf shop.
The change is taking effect this morning, with new signage going up from around 7am.
The store will now operate as The Red Herring Surf Outlet, carrying sale stock from other Red Herring locations across Tasmania alongside full-price products at the front of the store.
Luke Johannesen, manager of the Red Herring flagship store at 104 Elizabeth Street, said the decision came down to customer loyalty.
“Tasmanians don’t like change much,” he told Pulse.
“Stormriders, people like it, but they don’t love it like they do Red Herring.”
“Red Herring is Tassie born and bred and we’ve decided to change it back.”
The Liverpool Street store was originally a Red Herring before being relaunched as a Stormriders in December 2023.
An iconic Volkswagen Kombi van had sat perched above the Liverpool Street shopfront for around 27 years before it was removed in November 2023 when Red Herring relocated its flagship to Elizabeth Street.
The van was later sold, with all proceeds donated to Lifeline Tasmania.
While Red Herring is a surf store, Stormriders was built around five pillars of skate, surf, fashion, music and art.
Johannesen said the idea behind Stormriders was to run a street-focused store with skate and snow gear alongside the surf-oriented Red Herring flagship.
Parent company Wilson Retail runs 15 stores across Tasmania and New South Wales and in other towns the two brands work well side by side.
“In New South Wales we’ve got Saltwater Wine stores, which is basically the Red Herring version of New South Wales and Stormriders in the one town and they just basically bounce off each other and work really well together,” Johannesen said.
“But Red Herring, people just are very loyal.”
The rebrand brings the number of Red Herring stores in Tasmania to four.
Johannesen said existing staff would stay on, with some Red Herring employees likely to share shifts at the outlet.
