Route 9 West: Gone Fishin'
D&G Sports Shop,
449 Main St., Leicester
That's because when times are tough, his business booms. Simply put: "When people get laid off and times are tough, they go fishing," he said.
Lemieux says business was better in 2007 than in years previous. In all, he says the shop, which is tucked away in the first-floor of a historic 19th Century home, brings in annual revenues in the "six figures."
D&G Sports offers more than just bait and tackle. The modest-sized store sells fishing rods, apparel, and products for the outdoors set. And on Feb. 1, Lemieux celebrated 17 years of operating the store.
Prior to that, he ran an antiques shop out of the same location that he took over from his father.
Reeling It In
He got into the fishing supply business by accident. Someone walked into his shop looking to liquidate his own fishing supply store.
Lemieux bought the equipment and soon, at the urging of a cousin, set up a bait operation around back. As eBay took more antique business to the Internet, he decided to solely concentrate on the fishing business.
"It was a no-brainer," he said of the transition. And he's outlasted most of his competitors. The average lifespan for a bait and tackle shop, according to Lemieux is three to five years because the profit margins are low and the hours are atrocious. Someone always has to man the store, particularly on weekends.
But over the last two decades, he said he's established a core of loyal customers that have kept him in the black.
"Business has been good for me. I can't complain," he said.
But Lemieux isn't completely confident about his financial future. Weather can put a serious dent in his business. Securing health care is also "almost impossible" because his wife is ill.
"The health care is my major, major expense," he said.
And of course, he shares the concern of many in his industry over the decline in interest from younger generations in outdoor activity.
"I can see the writing on the wall because the youth today aren't getting involved in outdoor sports," he said.
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