denovich wrote:
I was there today... Had a difficult time finding a use for that $25 off coupon. It's a clothing store with a fly fishing display. The fly tying materials were priced reasonably enough that $25 of $50 of materials was a good deal.
What did they not have that you were looking for?
I checked out the store set-up. The store carries > 100 fly rods from trout weights to salt water weights from tip flex to mid flex to full flex and in price ranges from low to high, the entire Orvis brand reel line is displayed, a wall of fly line to match the all the rods, waders and boots in all sizes, packs and vests and nets and FFing gizmos and tools and leaders and tippet along with a selection of flies, FFing books and DVDs, fly tying materials, tools and vises.
Plus they added a learning center where you can sit down and plug into the Orvis "Learning Center" on the store laptop or search other FFing sites or videos to get info on anything FFing.
In addition, they along with other Orvis stores will be offering free fly tying classes this winter and free fly-fishing classes this spring in the store and the water. All this to promote the sport of fly-fishing and to get new folks involved.
Fly-fishing is a small niche of the market. In other words, there aren't enough FFers to support a store of that size, and in that location. (See RLeeP's post above). In addition, FFing is very seasonal while clothing is not, for the most part. Clothing always has been a big part of the Orvis product mix and always will be.
Check out any Cabela's store and note the space in the store dedicated to FFing stuff vs all the hunting clothing and merchandise as well as spin fishing and other outdoor sports. Maybe1% of the store is FFing? That's why it is so tough for a 100% dedicated "Fly Shop" to survive in this day and age, and why many are not around anymore.