beachBUB

beachBUB was born on Mother's Day 2009 when founder Bill Schermerhorn witnessed a loose beach umbrella fly down the shore and seriously injure a young girl. He asked himself why patio umbrellas never blow away — they have a heavy base — and realized that if you could fill a lightweight base with sand on the beach, you'd have the same stability without the carry weight. The name stands for Beach Umbrella Base. Schermerhorn spent years prototyping and test-marketing at a Naples, Florida farmers market before formally launching the company in 2013. The beachBUB base folds to the size of a paperback book, weighs under half a pound empty, and holds 125 pounds of sand when filled — enough to withstand winds up to 35 mph. Everything is assembled, packaged, and shipped from their Greensboro factory, staffed largely by members of his wife's tennis club. The brand has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, and QVC, and won the 2022 "Coolest Thing Made in North Carolina" award in the small business category.