[acabtp]

mixed feelings

i grew up on efinger's gear. we always shopped there for our scout camping stuff and fishing gear when i was a kid and it's where i got my varsity jacket. i rode my bike over there from somerville one day and bought a sweet knife that my mom promptly confiscated when i got home bc i'd been gone for like four hours without telling anyone where i went. lots of memories of hiding in the sleeping bag aisles with my brother etc...

but once i grew up i realized that their prices were pretty much higher than anywhere else you could shop and the old guys at the rod or gun counters were always more interested in talking to each other than helping a customer. there's a reason that many people know the store as "effinjerks"

at least when it was still in the old building it had that mom & pop feel and the smell of decades of oiled leather and seemed like a place where fishermen and hunters would feel at home. the new building just feels like any other "sporting goods" shop hawking yoga pants to soccer moms etc. i think that's probably where things went wrong... a family business can't compete with the big box stores with on sales/prices on clothing, shoes, balls, bats/rackets etc. they should have concentrated on what the big stores can't do: knowledgeable staff, local insight, variety of firearms, etc.

if it's confirmed and true, it's sad to see end like any other 107 year old family business. really, i wish that they had made some changes years ago though so that it never would have come to this.