Shell sales by seashore suit owner

Resident now runs landmark shop started by his parents

— For 25 years, Bibbey's Seashell Shop has not only been a place where tourists can pick up a puka shell necklace or a kitschy beach scene made from assorted shells. It's a place for serious collectors, too.

The blue-hued Bibbey's, across from the Imperial Beach pier, is one of those old-fashioned shell stores where workers behind the counter know what they're talking about.

“Lucky for me, I grew up around shells and we were my dad's workers,” said Michael Bibbey, referring to his brother Marion Bibbey. “When I see a seashell, I see the scientific name.”

Bibbey and longtime employee Fidel Chavez run the shop. Marion Bibbey operates a small gift shop in another area of the store on weekends. Their parents, Loyal Joe and Elvira Bibbey, ran both a wholesale business and the store. Their father worked the wholesale side and their mother the retail side, each for more than 20 years before retiring a few years ago.

The store carries about 500 different types of shells, including a few named for Loyal Joe Bibbey, who is well-known after spending more than 40 years in the seashell business. The store and a nearby warehouse hold at least 100,000 shells, Michael Bibbey said.

Bibbey, 53, said his father got the idea to collect and sell shells after being offered big money for a couple of shells he found while stationed in Guam and later in Pensacola, Fla., with the Navy. He started selling shells as a hobby in 1957. He moved to San Diego in 1970 and opened his store in 1984 in Imperial Beach, importing shells from the Philippines.

Loyal Joe Bibbey has about a dozen seashells named after him. A few, including Bibbey Murex and Bibbey Triton, are on display at the store.

The building on the corner of Seacoast Drive and Elm Avenue, with its shelves, baskets and showcases full of seashells inside and its ocean-themed murals outside, is a local landmark. A great white shark painted on the front of the building a few years ago sparked some drama when city officials thought it might be misinterpreted as a warning.

But Bibbey says it's just good clean fun and thousands of tourists and locals have snapped pictures in front of the shark.

“People like the building because it's old I.B.,” Bibbey said. “People ask me what we're going to paint next.”

The Art Kids, a local arts group for children, has painted the building's murals for the past five years. They change panels every few months.

“I would say that besides the pier, Bibbey's is the most popular attraction we have in Imperial Beach,” said Howard Woodward, the program's director.

Business is slow these days, Bibbey said. His three largest wholesale customers are from Mexico, where tourism has slowed and they can't sell the shell crafts they have now.

But the Bibbeys own their building and are better able to weather the financial downturn than some other businesses. The store is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. It stays open until 7 p.m. in the summer.

Despite the economy, locals and tourists shopped on a recent, unseasonably warm day as the Art Kids worked on a mural. In addition to shells, the store carries shark heads, conch shells, fossils, coral, butterflies and wood carvings.

Tony Lepore, 41, and Francisco Lugo, 20, both of Santa Rosa, visited the store Monday and bought a few souvenirs for family and friends. They had just finished a job installing furniture and decided to head to the beach.

Jennifer Garcia and Tannia Contreras, both 17 and from Imperial Beach, shopped Monday for jewelry. Each had on at least one piece purchased earlier from Bibbey's.

“It's a very one-of-a-kind store,” Jennifer said. “It's very friendly, very local, very I.B.-ish.”

Shell collectors can spend thousands of dollars on shells. They look for rare deep water shells, which Bibbey travels to find. There aren't many shell stores in San Diego, so he gets his share of collectors. Shells at the store range from 25 cents to $2,400 for a giant sea snail shell from southern Mindanao in the Philippines.

Bibbey said his father had to retire about five years ago because he went blind from diabetes complications. His mother retired two years ago after having a stroke. He sees himself continuing the seashell tradition. “There's no stress with this job,” Bibbey said. “I get to travel. How can you not like working at the beach every day, especially on days like this?”

Janine Zuniga: (619) 498-6636;