LLH fly shop

wgmiller wrote:
"Meh" came from The Simpsons I believe

http://ask.metafilter.com/18815/The-Origin-of-meh
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To that, I say "meh."

I picked it up from BBSes sometime around 1986, as my brother would use it quite frequently.

I highly doubt he was breaking new ground then, either.

Somethings just are.
 
I buy all my fishing needs from the small flyshops, being a small business owner at one time I know how tough it is. Being a good friend of Jonas at the FH, I get most of my stuff from him. I do go to the FFP shop to get things from them that Jonas doesn't have, I alsio stop at the yellow breeches shop too. I always had a problem driving buy a flyshop, when on the road, to look around and at least buying something.

Probably why I have so many flies, I'll never use!

PaulG
 
sorry - i don't buy the cabelas thing. Nor do i buy the "LV is too developed for a fly shop"

Cabelas is at least good 35 minutes from the lehigh valley depending on where you are talking (allentown, bethlehem, or easton areas). And frankly - cabelas isn't so hot..not local...and is not a pleasant experience.

NYC has plenty of fly shops..i don't see what development has to do with it. NYC is a good 2 hours away from any decent streams. Lehigh valley has the LLH, Monacacy, Bushkill, Cedar, etc...

Plenty of customers. Plenty of local streams. Problem is simply that no one has provided a true FLY shop with decent inventory.

I like the TCO idea...

Aside from the known silt btw - other huge issue with the macungie/llh issue is the amount of water that lower macungie and the city of allentown pump from the ground - they are literally sucking the life out of the stream.
 
trowpa wrote:
sorry - i don't buy the cabelas thing. Nor do i buy the "LV is too developed for a fly shop"

Cabelas is at least good 35 minutes from the lehigh valley depending on where you are talking (allentown, bethlehem, or easton areas). And frankly - cabelas isn't so hot..not local...and is not a pleasant experience.

NYC has plenty of fly shops..i don't see what development has to do with it. NYC is a good 2 hours away from any decent streams. Lehigh valley has the LLH, Monacacy, Bushkill, Cedar, etc...

Plenty of customers. Plenty of local streams. Problem is simply that no one has provided a true FLY shop with decent inventory.

I like the TCO idea...
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I don't think it's really a location thing. I think the reason most FFing shops are closing is because many guys buy their tippet and split shot at the local fly shop and buy the bulk of their high dollar equipment on-line or at big box stores to save money, or time, or to have a larger selection. No right or wrong I guess....just reality.
 
I will be the first to admit, Im one of the guys that does not help the local guy situation. I actually bought the majority of my equipment from the Orvis shop in the Lehigh Valley, and also French Creek Outfitters. But I also shop at Cabela's. Why? Convenience. I shoot pistols and fly fish, I can shop for ammo and supplies, hit the fly shop, etc. etc. I do sympathize with the local guys, and do buy stuff there occasionally. Im not a rich man, and I like my money to go a long way. Its a crappy situation.

As for Rod and the LLFS, he was a pain at times. But he is an institution, and feel that while his people skills may not have been the best, the LL is better off with him and his shop. He was the biggest advocate for that stream and some nice fly patterns came out of that shop.
 
Its the development of the LV that makes me wonder why we don't have a local shop, to be honest.

ABE is the 3rd largest metro in PA, is within a short drive to any number of quality rural fisheries and contains several quality known limestoners, plus a number of off-the-radar streams.

Its those reasons alone I can't believe there's NOT an Orvis corporate store on the radar for this area. Or some similar type service.

(crosses fingers for TCO)
 
trowpa wrote:

NYC has plenty of fly shops..i don't see what development has to do with it. NYC is a good 2 hours away from any decent streams. Lehigh valley has the LLH, Monacacy, Bushkill, Cedar, etc...
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Yes, but NYC also has about 18 million people, plus it's annual tourist draw. No offense, but people in Dubai aren't planning their trip to Reading anytime soon.

Also, there is not much comparison to the median income of a New Yorker, or a NYC tourist, to someone in the Lehigh Valley.

I've never been to the LLFS, but I've never heard anything great. Which in turn, has made me never want to go there. There is a certain fly shop in State College, TCO, that is wonderful. The staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and they remember me (which blows my mind, in a good way). So whenever I'm in Central PA, I always shop there, even if there is another place closer. As a son of a small business owner, it's all about the relationships you make with your customers, and your vendors.

I think that the LV can support a d fly shop; it just needs to be the right fly shop.
 
wsender - so we agree. Point is the LV CAN support a fly shop - if it is a real fly shop with real inventory and run properly.
 
Its those reasons alone I can't believe there's NOT an Orvis corporate store on the radar for this area. Or some similar type service.
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Have you been in a corporate Orvis store? Fly fishing selection and inventory is about the same as the store you hate so much. Same quantity of clothes and dog beds required for a sporting lifestyle.
 
jdaddy wrote:
Same quantity of clothes and dog beds required for a sporting lifestyle.
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:lol:
 
And don't get me wrong, I appreciate having Orvis corporate stores around but frankly I pretty much just abuse them for clearance items and the $25 off $50 coupons that I burn on hooks, thingamabobers, etc. But let's face it, if I need green angel hair double tung latex dubbing, I'm going to TCO for the selection. If Orvis stores had the in store selection of their online catalog it would be a whole different ballgame.
 
I find Orvis to be reasonable on a lot of items and those are the ones I shop them for. Same with Cabela's and Gander. My use for the local fly shop is either as a convenience (otherwise, I'd learn to plan ahead) or for a relationship, where I buy a small amount of stuff from them in exchange for the lies they want to tell or the truth they want to reveal. I take both their prices and advice with a grain of salt. I would buy equipment such as rods and reels, waders and other higher end long-term purchases if they would be competitive on those items with other stores. I don't have to get the same price, but in light of whether I selected the rod or used the expertise and stock of the store to select the rod, I don't feel obligated to pay substantially more than buying mail-order. Truth be told for me, the small destination shop is very quaint, but I don't depend upon any one, not even Feathered Hook, to enjoy this sport. These shops get my business within these parameters and some of them treat me politely as a result, others less politely.
 
I can't believe how all of you talk. You cry because a shop went under but tomorrow you'll all brag how you got such a good deal at so and so sew smart stores. Oh well more of the little guys will go under as long as everyone runs to the big stores and frabric stores, who wants to open a buisness with those odds. sorry had to rant....
 
I've only got one thing to say about Rod and his store, my dog loves his Orvis bed!
 
I fully understand your problem with this sandfly. How do you feel about supporting small shops that are wise enough to start a solid online sales model? TCO has a full line up of Winston rods, however I have bought all of mine from a small fly shop in Idaho. I mean I am supporting a small shop, just one that is not local. Having said that TCO has a solid international sales model for Winston and Sage product to EU countries. They have chosen to adopt that niche and EU folks are supporting my local shop. Is it not kind of a wash? Now I would NEVER go into a shop asking for free advice and testing out equipment that I plan to buy else where. I find that practice to be unacceptable.

For those buying at Cabelas are you doing so for price? I don't find Cabelas to be any less expensive than TCO. In fact a lot of the items are full MSRP per dealer/manufacturer agreements. A Winston at Cabelas will be the same as TCO. A pack of Hareline dubbing is the same at both places. Assuming that Cabelas or Orvis or other "evil big guy" is not your local shop, why do you order online versus buying locally?
 
Mail order is a convenience to the customer and it saves the retailer labor if he needs savings there. Typically, the small shops have junky web and mail order operations, letting e-mails and orders sit around for days, having difficult to use web interfaces. I think this is because they concentrate on walk-in customers to the detriment of the mail order purchaser. Just as a for instance, if I wanted to patronize sandfly's shop, I have a 4 hour drive. Will he sell me my rod for 100s less than Cabelas so I can cover my gas? Will I find it just as easy to mail-order from him? How will he feel if I am dissatisfied and wish to send the item back and get my money returned?
 
Jdaddy, I don't count tco as a small mom and pop operation, to me and a few others that own small shops they are up there with cabelas, how many stores do they have now????

jack if you were to buy a custom rod here and order it with your name you are stuck we cannot remove a name. My rod builder has some rules on buying one of his rods. I am the dealer for his rods thats all. Mail order from me is easy for in shop supplies. other things take a little longer, I con not have inventory like cabelas. (reason I am small everyone goes to cabelas) I do give specials to customers that keep coming back though.

got to go need sleep for bambi tomorrow, and no I didn't see one today.
 
Jdaddy, I don't count tco as a small mom and pop operation, to me and a few others that own small shops they are up there with cabelas, how many stores do they have now????
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Seriously? Cabela's Hamburg store's maintenance department probably has more employees. TCO has 4 stores. Do "small" shop owners begrudge them for having 4 stores and probably 10 employees? None of which was close to my point, which was how do you feel about small shops that have adopted a strong online sales model in addition to their store front? These guys seem to have found a marketable niche and filled them, thus continuing their brick and mortar existence.

Jack, I see where you are coming from re: ordering online. I guess I am lucky to have both Cabelas and TCO close by. I only use online purchases for things I can't source locally, but again I am dealing with a "local" shop for someone else. I would have loved to buy my Scadden from a local shop putting a $1,000 sale in their pocket but no one had a comparable product (other than Cabelas who sells Scadden and I would rather buy from Scadden himself for the same price and put extra money in that small businesses pockets).

As for LLFS, there was not much in there at all to buy! The one thing he had that was kind of a niche product was his honey bug material, and frankly that is where I bought all of mine.
 
Sandfly has the remaining stock of genuine honey-bug material. I'm sure he'd be glad to get it out to you right away. I have no small fly shop that is convenient. They are all out of the way. I have done business with Little River Outfitters in Townsend, TN by mail order. They give appropriate attention to mail order customers. They will sell me an Orvis product at catalogue prices and pay for the shipping to me themselves. I have to pay Orvis shipping and Cabelas as well. Guess where I buy my Orvis products?
 
jdaddy wrote:
Have you been in a corporate Orvis store? Fly fishing selection and inventory is about the same as the store you hate so much.
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Fair enough, I have no problem with the amount of stuff that was stocked in the store that I don't hate but hold a grudge against their customer treatment, I have an issue with the amount of stuff they never bother to restock the shelves with.

That's the problem here, they blew their load on buying the clothing, making the store look nice (and I'm sure whomever gets it nice will apprechiate the custom fine carpentry work that went into the gun racks that never saw a firearm), and the gigantor 1000+ gallon acrylic cylinder salt water tank that, y'know, never held a fish.

I can only begin to speculate what THAT cost.
 
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