Craig Eisenberg – The Swim Guy

I grew up in Palos Verdes and have spent almost all of my life in the SoutBay. After my dad, Juels, passed away we moved to Manhattan Beach. Prior to my current retail endeavor, TheSwim Guy, I owned a ski and snowboard business in Redondo Beach for 25 years that morphed into TheSwimGuy. We provide over 300 swim teams, municipalities and colleges with their swim gear, apparel and accessories. I developed a niche in a large retail market. I am married to Allana, she is a teacher and is amazing! I have two children from my first wife, Ava and Van, my wife Allana has two daughters, Maya and Sela. My son Van graduated from Mira Costa last year and is currently entering his sophomore year at San Diego State University. Ava is a rising senior and Maya is a rising sophomore at Mira Costa. Sela will be starting 6th grade at Hermosa Valley. We are extremely vested in the South Bay community.

 

The Swim Guy is a family business that has reinvented itself over the past 70 years old. It was started by my grandfather, father, and now is run by my brother and myself. My mom, Ilene, known as Queen Ilene, is 84 years young. She is the only one who never worked in the family business and my dads final word was to make sure that we all took care of her and she never had to worry about anything.

 

The original name of the company was H & H Jobbing and was located in Downtown Los Angeles on Los Angeles Street. The name H&H Jobbing came from what is called a “jobber” which nowadays many have no idea what that means. A jobber is someone who buys large amounts of merchandise and then resells it. The merchandise ranged over the years from womens suits, handbags, Jordache, Fila and other products/brands.

 

We bought a building in the South Bay when we were selling ski and snowboard products and gear. This was very daunting for us as being a tenant and an owner. These years taught me a lot about business and myself. We ended up selling the building and we honed in on what we believed was the most profitable part of our business, The Swim Guy. Swimming is a great equalizer, everyone swims!

 

The Swim Guy should really be called The Swim Guys because my brother Michael and I are partners. Michael runs our store in Santa Monica and also does the back end part of the business, ordering, building websites, etc. I am the face behind The Swim Guy. I love being out at the swim events with all the swimmers and their families, chatting, getting to know each of them and being a part of the swim community in general.

 

The people! I love the people. I get the opportunity to meet swimmers and their families when they are just entering the sport, learning the strokes and new techniques and joining teams. Meeting swimmers of all ages and all abilities is incredible. I get to help people, watch kids grow over the years and become positive members of the community. Many drive by the store and yell, “Hey Swim Guy!” The Swim Guy has become a brand and a name all on its own.

 

If you believe in something, don’t give up! I struggled in retail for many years, failure is a part of life, I have failed and then picked myself right back up. It takes an enormous amount of time, effort, drive and persistence and belief in yourself and vision to be successful. If you know what you are doing is right and you believe in it, don’t give up on that dream.

 

I have built something special that I do not want to see go away. Who knows what or who will be The Swim Guy in 10 years, but I do know that we will still be around in one way/form or another. My wife loves to travel and I have a feeling that in 10 years we will be exploring and traveling a lot together.

 

Anything by Slay!

 

I’ve lived in the South Bay my whole life, with a brief stint in Cheviot Hills.

 

I’ve met all walks of life in this store and in this community. Through these doors come a lot of personalities from billionaires to normal everyday people. I don’t know if I can answer that. I’ll answer it by saying this…I’ve been in the South Bay for so long it’s hard to go out in this community without running into someone I know.

 

I love the Manhattan Creamery. I have many fond memories of enjoying chocolate bananas with my kids over the years.

 

I just think that the kids and the families are amazing. I raised two kids in this community and the way they look out for each other, they are there for each other, we live in a community where people really do care about each other. My kid’s friends and their parents are my friends and we are a community, one for all and all for one.

 

Michael Phelps, the guy is just excellent. I would meet him at Uncle Bills to see how many pancakes he could eat. He’s tackling social issues, mental illness, he was the best at what he did.

 

I watch whatever my wife wants to watch, then she falls asleep after 10 minutes and I am drawn into that show.

 

I am a pretty open book, I let people into my life. I have had some health issues over the last few years. I have Chronic Intermittent Urticaria which is where my face swells up at night, my eyes swell shut and it is hard to breathe. It is something that a lot of people have but not a lot of people talk about. It happens at night, when I, my body stops moving for the day. In addition to the swelling, I get red raised blotches all over my body. It is an auto-immune disease that will not kills you, but is extremely challenging to live with at times. I have been to every doctor in LA. When you see me at 11am in the store, that is not what I woke up looking like at 7am. Having this disease has taught me to constantly have compassion. You really have no idea what someone is going through.

 

Dinner with my kids, anything with my family.

 

My dad.

 

HOME: My wife Allana and our kids are home. We can live anywhere and create it together.