LLH fly shop

[gfen]

Gonna have to do a couple of big posts to get some of this in...

TimMurphy wrote:
I'll commiserate that you've lost a fly shop but in all honesty has the LV ever had a real fly shop? That's not meant as slur against the LL fly shop or it's owner but merely an observation.
...
When I see what exists in places where there used to be cows and such I can only shake my head.

Don't worry, Macungie is taking care of what's left by selling off the water rights to Nestle. We should be lucky that there's no Marcellus shale here, or the township(s) would be fighting each other to help build their own wells.

I've only been here a few years, and I don't remember Nestor's when they sold fly stuff, but I do remember buying gusn there, priorities, I guess.. LLFS had its moments, it could've been great, because it was small but it was a true store for tiers. The biggest, and uncorrectable, downside was that the location was doomed to flood and mold... Part of what made it so unique, was also its curse.

There was a little shop in the Orr's building, as well. I had just gotten started, and the next season when I went back it was gone. That, LLFS and ASL.

Alpabuck wrote:
I've been critical of Rod in the past and to some extent he deserves it. I've been fishing the LL and visiting his shop for about 8 years now and the older get the better he has treated me

Maybe its you, dude. Hell, I can't imagine you as a snot nosed teenager. But, its true, Rod's cantankerous and mercurial attitude was the other downside, but I honestly think he was really working on changing that. The other guys who worked there were always nice to me, too. To be honest, I'd rather have someone who has bad days but is always startingly honest versus someone who's nice to your face, but is a bald faced liar behind the scenes.

That's what made me change my opinion on Rod the most, that and last time I was there over the summer he smiled at my kids.

tomgamber wrote:
http://www.asportinglifestyle.com/
Is that place gone as well? Never been there...just remember seeing links on here in the past.

It could've been something, except no one ever cared. It was run as a high end clothing boutique, with the Orvis fishing stuff there to help brand the place. The rank and file employees always seemed great, but they were too busy aspiring to be something they can't be and not actually stocking out the materials they sold.

I have other issues, as well.

jdaddy wrote:
They did have a few high end Able reels. Based on reports the "shop" is varying degrees of failing/closing.

You had to go there, eh?

With the primary money man now doing federal time for RICO violations, his kids are in charge of the purse strings. I suspect that its going to be a plaything and laundering front now. I guess its moving to somewhere off Airport Rd, but I can't imagine where.

Its doomed, and I won't shop there. I don't even know if I can go try to pick up clearance priced stuff.

LRSABecker wrote:
I'll tell you what, I know the perfect location for a fly shop in the valley, that is already a bait shop and is for sale

What, that place on 329?

Dude, I know you love yourself some Lehigh, but the water reminds me of standing waist deep in a sewer there.

Like someone else said, you won't win this battle in the LV. There's people here, sure, but they're not afraid to hop in their car and drive to Hamburg, Reading, or I guess Plymouth Meeting now.

Heritage-Angler wrote:
I'm surprised Rod survived there this long, and can only hope he's getting out with some semblance of good health. I owe a lot to that man, and wish him all the best. Maybe he can go fishing more now, if he even stays in the area (which I doubt).

Time to stop by the shop and say good bye to an old friend.....

I almost feel like stopping in at some point, and wishing him well, but on the other hand, I'd hate to anger him on his way out. Seems like it'd be counter productive, really.

Heritage is really going to lose something special.

 

[afishinado]

I’m sorry to hear about the LL fly shop and Rod. I wish him the best of luck.

The reality is trying to run a FFing only shop is a very difficult thing in this day and age. The big box stores sell FFing gear along with 100,000 other non-fishing SKUs to boost store volume and traffic, in addition, on-line shopping for FFing equipment and clothing hurts the brick and mortar fly shops.

Just to answer some comments about selling clothing in Orvis stores, the Company has maintained the tradition (150+ years) of selling FFing gear. If the entire store was dedicated to FFing gear alone, no store would remain open. The reality is FFing is a specialty sport and there is not enough volume of sales to warrant maintaining a store selling only FFing merchandise.

Here’s an observation, a month or so ago, Orvis offered a coupon in their catalog for customers to receive a dozen free flies. No hook, come in the store and pick out 12 flies for free. The idea was to generate store traffic for fly-fishing and hopefully sell some other merchandise. Well when the promotion ended, a large percentage of customers came into the store, picked out their free flies, and left without buying even a tippet spool. When you see such a great deal, it would stand to reason that hey, maybe if I buy a few spools of tippet and a new line to replace my worn out one, maybe they will continue to run such great promotions. Everyone wins in that case.

As a customer, I have purchased FFing stuff both on-line and from the big box stores; I’m sure all of us have at one time or another….no real sin. But the one thing I’ve always done was to purchase the bulk of my equipment, not just tippet and split shots, from a brick & mortar fly shop to support their business. There’s still a lot of great fly shops left in PA, pick out a local fly shop or one near your fishing destination, and buy some stuff. If you don’t….don’t complain about that lack of fly shops in your area.

It’s a lot like catch & release fishing, if we are short sided in our thinking and keep a limit every time out, before long there will be no more fish to fish for……all IMO.

 

[afishinado]

Another rant. Tim Murphy is spot on about unchecked and unplanned development. This is happening not only in the Lehigh Valley, but all over PA. I live in Chester County, and it’s unbelievable how in such a short time, the County has been developed with homes and strip malls. The only thing that has not been developed is the infrastructure in the areas such as the roads, water and sewer systems. A 5 minute trip by car a few years ago has turned into a 25 minute trip on the same two lane road with a traffic light every 100 yards at the entrances to the all the developments.

When I travel back to the rural areas of NE PA where I grew up, I see a different kind of development, roads cut through the mountains for windmills and natural gas exploration. I shudder to think what our State will look like in 10, 20, or 30 years!

Enough ranting for now. Glad to see you back posting again Tim. We were missing the “old coot” perspective on a lot of subjects on here….. ;-)

 

[JackM]

I think if a store of any kind depends upon the sympathy of its customers to stay in competition for business, it is doomed to failure. The only way to have a successful FFing retail outlet is to get a user-friendly internet presence as well, run the store from your home or have an office in the store to run a sideline business after keeping up fully with the website orders and shipping responsibilities. If I wanted to run a Flyshop near a minor destination stream/watershed, I would combine it with a campground and/or convenience store, and or motel/cabin rental.

 

[Chaz]

There is an Orvis Shop.

 

[CLSports]

The odds are stacked against any retail fly shop being able to survive without enough diversification of inventory to satisfy a large customer base outside of just fly fishing. That is why I stated a while back that the only sure fire way to attract a largely male client base that is in the age group of 25-65 is to have what every guy wants. You need to open a fly shop/bar/strip club. The best way to sell merchandise is to get the customer drunk and have an attractive young women sell you merchandise or their guiding service. Guys will open their wallets. Guaranteed. Consider this free advice to any perspective businessmen out there.

Seriously though, most other people have already stated what is happening to the local fly shops. It is impossible to sell enough inventory in a retail location to remain profitable. Everyone likes the small shops to be there for us when we need them to purchase various tying materials, tippet or a few flies that we forgot to tie up, but those purchases are not nearly enough to keep a shop in business. If we consider a once every year or two purchase of a new fly rod or reel the majority of us turn to an online store to price shop for the best deals so we can get the most out of that large chuck of change we need to lay down for our equipment. Local shops cannot realistically carry every brand of rod and reel in every size to satisfy what one person is looking for. I guarantee if there was a poll started that asked who had purchased a rod or reel via the internet vs. a local shop it would be easily 90% or more of us that purchased online. Even if a shop did gear its inventory to sell 90% of its merchandise through mail order it is still a tough venture because the entire world is now vying for your business. Selling a service rather than merchandise is a great way to make a larger profit, but in a poor economy people will cut back on excess spending for non-essential services as well. The businesses that still thrive in a down economy: bars and strip clubs.

I owned a retail store for 10 years in the 90's. It was a decade where the small retail stores could still thrive. Not any more. I now sell my merchandise on ebay exclusively. Even that is a tough marketplace with so many other dealers that you need to compete with. It is too easy to price compare and you need to be the cheapest to sell anything.

Mods: please don't delete my post. I know I am not completely family friendly here, but I am making an honest point.

 

[SBecker]

gfen wrote:

LRSABecker wrote:
I'll tell you what, I know the perfect location for a fly shop in the valley, that is already a bait shop and is for sale

What, that place on 329?

Dude, I know you love yourself some Lehigh, but the water reminds me of standing waist deep in a sewer there.

Like someone else said, you won't win this battle in the LV. There's people here, sure, but they're not afraid to hop in their car and drive to Hamburg, Reading, or I guess Plymouth Meeting now.
[/quote]


Jerry, He makes a pretty good business there and the constant traffic is also a plus. You know how many people fish that dam and below? A ton, plus you have the Coplay, the Hokey, Ranger Lake, Tri Boro, and a couple other streams withing 5 minutes. It is a really nice shop and you would just keep it a bait shop with a large fly fishing section. I know it's a dream and will never happen, but I think it's a perfect set up for a shop.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Shane - We both know what Willy puts into that business (time wise), and without his "other" ventures, he'd be starving. In reality, your dream could easily be a prison sentence. By that I mean a real living hell. Imagine being surrounded by the things you love to do, but can't because you have to work the shop. You can only rely on family to take up so much slack, and then you have to pay someone. Deduct that from the bottom line and it's ugly.

Our only hope for a fly shop here in the Valley is if TCO takes a chance and puts a shop here. Tony has the skill to make that work, and I think it would do well for him.

On second thought.........."Amanda's Bait, Bagels, Brownies, & Cookies" would be a HUGE hit! (I am SO there.)

 

[Chaz]

That's the Fly Shop that we are left with, and it is an Orvis full service store, so it carries the full line, whatever that is.

 

[Chaz]

You know I've never purchased a single FFing thing online, simply because, what do you do when it isn't right? How do you try out a rod you might want? Can't do that online.
Flies from Sri Lanka? The popel that tie them have never even seen a trout fly. Even the flies in most shops, unless they are tied locally aren't worth a crap.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Chaz wrote:
That's the Fly Shop that we are left with, and it is an Orvis full service store, so it carries the full line, whatever that is.

That's OK if you consider Reading as part of the Lehigh Valley. The Reading store is superb, but it ain't here. Traffic makes it one UGLY trip out and back. It's almost easier to drive to Philly and back. At least the traffic actually moves at more than a crawl.

 

[whheff]

Sorry to hear that the LLFS is closing. I have one of his rods and I really like it.
I started fly fishing there and was lucky enough to meet and learn for Al Miller and some of the other regulars there. I know that Rod had his moments but that was Rod. I saw him give things to people that were worth a lot of money. I will miss him and the shop.
Like Gary said its location was its draw and curse. If you could open a shop in the barn, that would have beeen better than the spring house.
I wish Rod the best in what ever he does.

 

[sandfly]

there is no way you can live off of a fly shop. even with a online store unless you have $$$$$ to burn...trust me, been doing it for years...

 

[wgmiller]

Heritage-Angler wrote:
That's OK if you consider Reading as part of the Lehigh Valley. The Reading store is superb, but it ain't here. Traffic makes it one UGLY trip out and back. It's almost easier to drive to Philly and back. At least the traffic actually moves at more than a crawl.

And Cabela's is just down 78....

 

[gfen]

afishinado wrote:
Just to answer some comments about selling clothing in Orvis stores, the Company has maintained the tradition (150+ years) of selling FFing gear. If the entire store was dedicated to FFing gear alone, no store would remain open. The reality is FFing is a specialty sport and there is not enough volume of sales to warrant maintaining a store selling only FFing merchandise.

Orvis, the company, takes alot of flak for $400 dog beds, but anyone with a clue can recognize that one rich old lady's purchase of dog bed gives more profit than a year's supply of dubbing for 100 anglers.

However, I think the valley residents are more likely venting at a certained Orvis dealer, and his beautiful show room where Orvis branded clothing is only the tip of the money iceberg.

I can easily get a Barbour Heritage Classic Distressed Bedale for $500, but I can't get a pack of olive zonker strips for six months.

Or, y'know, my $1200 reel refinished after it was ruined.

I'd be estatic if Orvis opened a corporate store here.

CLSports wrote:
You need to open a fly shop/bar/strip club. The best way to sell merchandise is to get the customer drunk and have an attractive young women sell you merchandise or their guiding service. Guys will open their wallets. Guaranteed. Consider this free advice to any perspective businessmen out there.

If you build it, I will come.

Seriously, but give it an innoculous name like "CLS Sports," not "CLS Flies, Beers, and Babes a-go-go." Ktnx.

Chaz wrote:
That's the Fly Shop that we are left with, and it is an Orvis full service store, so it carries the full line, whatever that is.

TCO or A Sporting Lifestyle?

Too far and "meh," respectively.

 

[Tony300wby]

"Our only hope for a fly shop here in the Valley is if TCO takes a chance and puts a shop here. Tony has the skill to make that work, and I think it would do well for him."

I think a shop like TCO could survive in the valley. It has enough backing through mail/internet that it could survive the slow season. TCO has a great selection of products and manufacturers so its not just catering to a one product line customer base. I believe that as important as a stores product line is, equally as important is the staff. The staff must know the products being sold and be decent to the customer. I have been in alot of fly shops in my life and alot of the staff are less than desirable people to deal with.

HA, put the bug in his ear. Let him know that there is even a unemployed local that could manage it for him.

Good luck, Tony

 

[Tony300wby]

gfen,

Excuse my stupidity. What is "meh"?

Thanks, Tony

 

[gfen]

Tony300wby wrote:
gfen,
Excuse my stupidity. What is "meh"?
Thanks, Tony

A nice, family friendly way to sum up my feelings.

 

[jayL]

On a semi related note, Jonas informed me today that the feathered hook is phasing its tying gear and materials out. It's a shame, but a good business decision IMO.

Some good deals to be had if you're in the area.

 

[wgmiller]

"Meh" came from The Simpsons I believe

http://ask.metafilter.com/18815/The-Origin-of-meh