FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Just got home from visiting Phil at the Tackle Box, Pete at Atlantic Bait & tackle, and Tom from Fisherman's Den.

I am shocked at the lack of business for this time of year for these hard working guys. You would think Gift certificates would be flying off the counter.
Phil has awesome gift baskets made up and still hasn't sold ONE as of today!
I was Pete's first customer in 2 days and without the Party Boats carrying and most of us finished for the season in the Harbor, Tom is also hurting at the Den. These are just three of the local guys, I'm sure Julianns and everyone from here to Cape May will say the same.

I guess my problem with this is the INTERNET! Everyone who looks to save $5 supports the big box stores, yet when they need line put on that brand new reel they expect the local guys to do it for free and they already have the line!! When the local guys have gone, were you going to get your bait, ice and last minute tackle?
The Tackle Box & Julianns have been around forever and knowone has given back more to the fishing community than Pete. When ever there was a Fund raiser Pete ALWAYS provided something to the cause and has never once said NO in all the years I've known him.

So my Christmas wish for this year is......Pick up the phone, get in the truck or car and go see these awesome hard working men. Support them like they have supported us all these years and let them know we got their backs. If not, Bob at Amazon isn't gonna have any kellies, Clams, Crabs or Bunkers for you in the Future! MERRY CHRISTMAS to all.....
Capt. Ron

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Spot on Ron these local business are the life’s blood of our fishing community. If you expect them to be there for you, then you need to be there for them.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Both of the above comments are absolutely correct. A big part of the lack of business traffic in these local stores is the convenience of internet ordering. As an example my daughter-in-law just received furniture that she ordered on line. Never saw it except in an on line catalog. I can't imagine my wife doing something like that when we were first married.
Cancun Pete is a nice guy who always is available with good advice and I'm sure the other proprietors are also nice guys. That being said it is not a great stretch to say that all the stores on Rte 36 and elsewhere cannot continue without traffic. There will be a shakeout and the result will be that we anglers will lose an extremely valuable resource. The retailers that survive will be the ones that own the building that they are in.
I hope I am proven wrong.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Pete is the best. Get in there and buy something

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Company I recently worked for had four customer bankruptcy filings over a period of about a year. Big chains, every one retail. Most were reorganizations, closing all if not a significant percentage of their stores (90% or more) and focusing all future sales and marketing efforts online. In many businesses, brick and mortar is done. It's a major issue especially to small businesses. In our industry as Capt. Ron points out, there's a personal service involved and that can't be replicated with the same level of service on line and certain products would be difficult if not impossible to purchase online if these stores weren't around. Making a conscious effort to support them year round and even more so this time of year is something that benefits us all. Every little bit helps I'm sure. They're there year round working crazy hours for our benefit, I'm sure they'd appreciate a conscious effort returning the favor. I love the information the internet provides but hate what the Amazon's of the world have done to local communities, small businesses and retail in general.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

This time of year is tough on these guys.. Stripers are done, tog on party boats is the only game in town, and its almost Christmas when most anglers are putting in more family time... years ago, guys would be buying bait and gear for Whiting and ling fishing, as well as worms, chum. mussels, hooks, rigs for winter flounder etc..

Tough situation, but its as much the tough regulations and complete lack of several traditional cold weather fisheries as it is the indifference of local fishermen. Up here, you have to search far and wide to find ANY fresh water bait.. There were still a lot of small local shops when I moved here in the 90's... They are all gone,, season is too short, and guys here are all downrigger fishermen that buy online... Only place to get bait is earth worms at Walmart.... I wish all those bait/tackle shop owners, party/charter captains that are hanging on all the best. Not the best days for many of them..bob

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Very well said everyone please get out and support your local small businesses give them the Christmas they deserve after serving us all year!!!

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

There’s a simple solution to this problem, and it lies with the manufacturers for most part ! They cut their purchaseprices to box stores for quantity purchases the mass merchants is capable of buying !
Only a couple of companies I know offer similar programs to independants , so the end result the independents are looked upon as overpriced , however to obtain their markup and keep the doors open they have to charge a little more .
They then must make up the profit by customer services , bait rigging etc,
So their not the blame for higher prices in some instances , they are forced into it by having to buy non competitively .
This is not always the case but can be in some instances , not all ! It’s a catch 22 for the independents if you don’t give them your business you both lose, so if you step up it all helps you get better deals !
Friendship prices will follow and your.both happy !

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Whole lot of preaching to the choir going on in this thread. I guess no one buys from Amazon....

Tackle box has outrageous prices and capitalizes on being the first stop off the parkway. I won't buy bait or tackle there.

I support Pete and Julian's whenever I can, have spent hundreds in bait in both places in the last year and I'm just basically a weekend warrior at this point. Do I also occasionally order terminal tackle from Amazon? Yes I do, and I would venture to guess that most do. The convenience factor is tough to beat.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

True, however Amazon won't be sending you those hundred dollars in bait when the shops are out of business. Putting in the time and effort to catch your own (if you can) will be very inconvenient.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Don't think anyone was trying to be self righteous on the thread. Think Capt. Ron's point was to make an effort to support the industry's small businesses because if we don't they won't last and if they go out the things they offer that big business and mail order can't will disappear with them. Believe that's a valid perspective. Put it another way, if NJF didn't have site sponsors which are predominantly small business owners, there wouldn't be a NJF site.

It's a personal decision each of us make that's neither right nor wrong but it has long term consequences to businesses struggling to stay in business. Don't see any harm pointing that out, these are shops that have supported us for years and personally whatever I can do to keep them around I will.

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

I too agree... i buy most of the bait and tackle stuff from local stores.. except the fishing rod and reel which i purchase rarely that too i do not want to hurt their business by returning if the rod did not fit or function well for me....

Please support local stores......

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

I couldn't agree any more with capt Ron. Pete by far is the best in the business. Was there a couple of weeks ago as I was surf fishing on that really cold Saturday. Fished a few hours with nothing to show for it except frozen hands and lost jigs. Figured I'd swing by Pete's get a jig and try another spot.

Get to Pete's and not 1 soul in the shop. Walk in and he says to me, Kenny you look like you've had a rough morning and let me guess, kinda cold out there. He then proceeded to pour my a shot of brandy had me sit down and watch a video from Cancun. As I'm sitting there warming up, by the way, I'm now sweating due to the brandy, he ties me up a diamond jig with a teaser.

I will always support small local guys. If we don't, the brandy wont be there to warm ya up

Please support your local bait and tackle guy, whoever it may be.

They count on us as much as we count on them

Re: FISHERMEN/A Christmas Wish......
 

Lets face it, its way to easy to order online. That being said it does feel good to support the local guys. My question is, why do B&T shops not have better eCommerce options for purchasing Gift Cards, tackle, etc???

Look at TD/Melt/Cab/Ama and how easy it is to buy from them. Yes you could say there is an added cost to the vendor to host an eCommerce site, but the same was said about CC purchases at the same shops. Guess what happened...average transaction goes up when CC accepted.

Local tackle shops that have proper eCommerce sites would make it more convenient for local and non local shoppers to purchase products from them, without many of us driving 50-100miles round trip.

So essentially the B&T shops need to get up to speed with eCommerce (not FB/Insta...) and that may make their winters a tad bit better. Its all part of keeping up with business.