Fins & Furs Closed Down .......

[NorthJerzyG]

Stopped in around 6:30 this morning and they were closed. Waited for a little while until a woman who appeared to work next door told me they closed last week. Checked on my way home around noon and it was still dark.

Anyone else here know about this, or know why?

[AndyS]

Damn, another one gone !!

[NJSquatch]

Sad epidemic

[tradingfrank27]

That's a shame. The owner was a nice guy but it seems bait shops in that area never last. use to be 3 on 23 when I was a kid yet there are 15 massage parlors every 3 miles on 23

[Billfish715]

Has anyone tried looking for a local hardware store lately? Fishing and hunting stores are at a premium for sure. Retailing has taken on a whole, new chapter. Sure, you can buy stuff online or in a major, national sporting goods store. But, where do you buy information, advice, know-how, techniques? Sportsmen's shows? YouTube? This forum?

While the fishermen on this site are great, it's not the same as going into a fishing tackle store and having your questions answered or reels serviced or rods repaired or even given advice about where to fish. Where would anyone go if they wanted a record fish weighed in?

These are some observations and perhaps a call for help to the tackle industry to help us average fishermen to keep fishing and to encourage more people to pick up a rod and reel and fish.

[HBird11]

Well said ^^^

[Drossi]

Sport shop is a tough row to hoe. Rental costs are high. You can't really afford the overhead of hiring someone to work in the shop so it becomes an owner/operator thing. Now a good shop with bait and hunting supplies needs to be open early and stay open late and be open weekends to accommodate customers going to or coming from a day's fishing/hunting. That severely cuts into said owners fishing/hunting time. All this plus the items you sell have to have enough mark up to cover your overhead costs and provide a living wage to the owner. This markup often pushes the costs of many items into a range where consumers complain that they are too high and that said items can be order cheaper on-line, so that's what they do rather than spend at a brick and motor shop. They'll stop at the shop for info, items needed immediately, and to check out other things they might want but can order cheaper over the "net". All of this is bad news for the shops survival. I often wonder how shops that aren't directly at a fishing destination survive at all.

[Chrisper4694]

not for nothing but i hear this same conversation over and over again and it's a double edged sword...

if i go to a local place and they are rude or annoying to me or never have the proper tackle needed locally, i'm not going back sorry. And I've never been into this place particularly, but some of these places close due to bad business practices and it's that simple.

that being said, I try to go into Dow's on lake hopatcong to shop from Laurie whenever i can. and it is still tough to keep these businesses going even if you are extremely friendly and helpful (which Laurie is!)

It is what it is i guess...there's a reason i've learned to fish almost exclusively with lures and occasionally dead bait...we might see the day where you can't get live shinners or herring

[NorthJerzyG]

I just thought it was weird that they didn't even sell off their remaining stock before closing? No going out of business liquidation, just a sign on the door that says closed. And I wasted a good 30-40 mins of fishing time waiting for them to open, LOL..........

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

It is what it is i guess...there's a reason i've learned to fish almost exclusively with lures and occasionally dead bait...we might see the day where you can't get live shinners or herring

I almost never buy live bait; especially in the summer. I got a trowel for earthworms and minnow traps and/or small hooks to catch baitfish.

I don't catch alewife in the lakes, but I have watched others do really good with a sabiki rig.

If all the baitshops close, we will survive. Some people might have to learn new skills, but we will survive.