I had a quick staff meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss a couple of important issues: new inventory and increasing sales. Like many companies, the last 18 months have been very difficult but sales are thankfully getting back on track. As the economy and our sales return to normal (whatever ‘normal’ now is), we have had the opportunity to free up some time to look at what, if any, new inventory we should be bringing in and secondly, identify a service provider to assist us with the redesign of our website so we can make shopping at WILSON’S easier.
Our conversation covered a number of bases and as we were wrapping up our meeting the door opened and in walked a young man I had met at the 2010 Toronto Sportsmen’s Show this past March. He had 5 cardboard boxes balanced in one hand as he 
opened the door and walked in with a big smile – and a cane in his other hand. He reminded me of our conversation at the Sportmen’s Show about being a fly tier and wanted to display some of his flies and see if he can do some tying for us. As he opened some of the boxes he had carried in I couldn’t help but be impressed with his workmanship but immediately told him that the person to talk to about flies is our manager Vasilios “Bill” Katraouras because Billy has an eye for quality and detail that keeps all of our suppliers on their heels.
As we inspected the boxes of flies on the table the door opened and in walked a long-time friend who was looking for a new pair of wading boots and a few accessories. I interrupted my conversation with the fly tier to say hello and before we could say much the door opened again and in walked Wally Schmidt. Wally is one of our fly fishing school instructors who, along with our other instructor Sheldon Seale, is running a great program at the Wilmot Club in Newcastle. Wally smiled, said hello, and the door opened again and… you get the picture.
Everyone who walked in the store was happy because, well, they were walking in the store. Not that our store is special (much as we think it is), it’s just that they were walking into a fly shop. I think it might be the same mind-set that women are in when they enter a shoe store… They weren’t at work and they were not doing something work related. They were focussed on fly fishing. I couldn’t stay long to chat as I had another meeting to attend but as I left I thought to myself that in spite of how stressful these last few months have been, the appeal of working with the guys at WILSON’S isn’t so much about the sport and it isn’t about the business. It’s about the people.
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