Tomorrow is the beginning of the 2012 trout season here in Ontario and we want to pause to appreciate where we have come from and what lies ahead. We began our 15th year in business last week, we now have a second store in Fergus and this marks our 1,200th post on our blog. Any one of these occasions in our books is worth celebrating but we think the fact that they are all happening at the same time is pretty cool. Frankly, it boggles my mind that I have sat at a computer 1,200 times to type an entry onto this blog but it boggles my mind even more that WILSON’S is now in its 15th year of business. It seems like only yesterday that my parents (both now deceased), the rest of my family and my friends all gathered at our original location in downtown Toronto to celebrate the opening of our fly shop back in April 1998. That said, what completely blows me away is that we now have a second store in Fergus on the banks of the Grand River. To be honest opening a second store in Fergus is something I have dreamed about for years but in the category of “careful what you wish for” it is now a reality and our whole team is scrambling because we didn’t have time to properly prepare for it. In one sense this new store scares the heck out of us but we realize that had we not acted on it as quickly as we did someone else would likely have done so and the opportunity would have been lost – forever. So, after speaking with our families, our customers and our conscience, we took a deep breath and took the plunge. We have not yet resurfaced – and likely won’t for some time – but the shot of adrenalin we have taken through opening our second store in Fergus is keeping us on our toes!

I personally look back on the years since WILSON’S first opened with mixed emotions. Much has happened in those years on both a professional and personal level and to be honest I would not change any of it – even the dark times. I was 35 years old when I decided that I would open the kind of fly shop I wanted to find as someone new to the sport and while I am probably more surprised than anyone that 15 years later we are still around I am also proud of what we have built. I think the only reason why we are still here after the ups and downs we have experienced is simply because it is still enjoyable. If we take a step back we also realize that what makes working in a fly shop enjoyable is all of the customers we meet on a daily basis who share our passion for fly fishing. We realize there are very few people who are able to say they love what they do and we are fortunate to be part of that club.

We have had many people work in the store over the years – both good and bad – and we have learned much from each of them. Some of this learning was related to fly fishing, some of it was related to business and some of it was related to, well, let’s just say it is related to how some people choose to live their lives. Until recently, our friend Eli Garrett held the record for being the longest serving employee of WILSON’S. We appreciate Eli’s loyalty as much as his honesty and hard work and always enjoy seeing him at industry functions. Eli’s record was recently surpassed by Vasilios “Bill” Katraouras who manages our Toronto store. You could not ask for a better person to have behind the counter in a fly shop and Bill’s thoughtful words and actions make being a part of the team at WILSON’S fun.

We truely have a team working at WILSON’S and each one plays an important role in helping make our fly shop a business. Hugo Ma, John Lambert, Danny Desiato and Sheldon Seale are all equally passionate about fly fishing and each brings a special skill set that makes our team better with them on board. To that end, If you are not aware our rogues gallery now has a second chapter in Fergus headed up by Rob Heal who is managing our new store and heading up our new fly fishing guide and education programs. Rob is one of the most respected and well-liked fly fishing guides in Ontario and we are delighted to have him on our team. Working on a full-time basis with Rob is Mike Pratt who is one of those young guys who you want to find in a fly shop. You know the type: knowledgeable, helpful and full of energy. Jay Mowat and our old friend John Hoffman round out the team at WILSON’S Fergus and we are thrilled that they have agreed to join us.

So here we are. 15 years, 1,200 posts and 2 stores later and we all hope that you like what we are doing as much as we like doing it. We hope you agree we are heading in the right direction but we are always open to any helpful advice you may have so please send us an email with any thoughts you want to pass along. We thank you for your ongoing support and wish everyone tight lines this season!

One of the critical ingredients to running a business is having the right people in place. This is especially true in specialty retail and perhaps even more so in fly fishing retail. Unlike a run-of-the-mill retailer that sells, for example, shoes a fly fishing store does not have the luxury of being able to hire someone off the street, giving them a uniform and a name tag and putting them behind the counter to take orders. Customers who walk into a fly shop expect that the person behind the counter will know at least as much about fly fishing as they do – and hopefully more. People expect a level of expertise in fly shops that is frankly tough to find as an employer. Not only do these employees need to know fly fishing they need to know how to sell the product and, most importantly, how to treat customers. People come into a fly fishing store to shop the first time but they come back because they enjoyed their experience. Finding employees who understand the concept that the customer comes first is surprisingly tough in fly fishing retail. We don’t quite know why but in our experience many potential employees who we think are normal, sentient beings undergo a sort of transmogrification when they get behind a sales counter that turns them into complete knobs. Some put it down to the ego that is unfortunately found all too often in fly shops. We attribute it to being just plain stupid and the bad customer service that results is the reason why we have had to let go more than a few people over the years. These people for whatever reason could not grasp the concept that the sun in fact does not shine out of their derrières.

We are fortunate to have a great team in place in our Toronto store that is lead by Vasilios “Bill” Katraouras. Backing up Bill are Hugo Ma, John Lambert, Danny Desiato and Sheldon Seale. They make everyone feel welcome and we are lucky to have them all on our team but these guys can’t be in two places at once and with a second fly shop opening shortly we have been faced with trying to figure out who we can get to help Rob Heal who will be running the new operation under Bill’s guidance.

Well, we have! We are delighted that we have found a second full-time and 2 part-time employees to work alongside Rob in our new Fergus store. In addition, we have added 3 more fly fishing guides to our team all of whom have drift boats. There are temporary signs in the windows of Unit 6 at 105 Queen Street West in Fergus to make people aware that we are opening our fly shop on the banks of the Grand River shortly but the most important issue – having the right team in place – has now been resolved. We will be posting pictures and bios in the coming days as we start to move inventory and fixtures out of our store in Toronto (and my garage at home).

Watch for more details shortly – our team is growing!

I am a lucky man because not only do I have a new family I love, I also started a new job in commercial real estate 4 months ago that I enjoy and going to work at my ‘day job’ is fun again! (for those who may not know, I get to pay the bills at our store but do not work in it – at least not yet!). However, in addition to those items above I am lucky because we are now working on an opportunity to open a second fly fishing store in Fergus on the banks of the Grand River (which is something I have dreamed about for 15 years). Finally, I am lucky because I have great staff working with me at WILSON’S.

Hugo, John, Sheldon, Joel and Danny make a great team but my manager in particular, Vasilios “Bill” Katraouras, is someone I would love to clone. Not only has he been in fly fishing retail longer than the majority of people in the industry, he has forgotten more than most people ever learn about the sport. His leadership behind our counter makes us a better company and I am very lucky to have him heading up our team.

I have written in the past that one of the greatest kicks I get from being in fly fishing retail is just meeting the people in our sport. I have also written that I do not want to be an expert and this is not because of false modesty. Those who know me know that I am truly not an expert fly angler. Nor am I an expert fly tyer or rod builder. Heck, I’m lucky some days to cast a line beyond the tip of my rod. That said, I also do not want to be an expert because, not only do I not have the talent, I know for a fact that it would take the fun out of the sport for me. I am just a fly shop owner who loves fly fishing and the challenge of building a specialty retail business. In a perfect world I would be able to melt into the background and not have anyone know that I have anything to do with our store because I prefer to have the real experts – my staff – front and center.

Well, Bill recently got a call at the store from someone in a local fly fishing club who wanted to speak with “the boss”. I have asked Bill to field these calls because I hired him to be “the boss” and he runs the store so well that I trust his judgement implicitly. Well, our local caller insisted on speaking with ‘the boss’ so after realizing that his explanation was going nowhere, Bill, being the gentleman that he is, politely took the message and passed it along to me when we met yesterday morning. When he gave the message to me I looked at it and asked why he wanted me to deal with it.

“Billy, you’re the boss – you deal with it.”

“Jim, I tried. This guy was adamant that he speak directly with ‘the owner’. Sorry. You’ll have to return his call.”

“Okay. What’s it about?”

“I think he wants a donation…”

“Did you tell him that I would ask you what we should consider giving?”

“Yup. But he wanted to speak with ‘the boss’”

I appreciate this person calling and we will do what we can to help but sometimes being the boss is frustrating. Oh well. I will return his call as soon as I can.

Just for the record, if anyone reading this needs to speak with ‘the boss’ please do so at your convenience – his name is Bill and he is the manager of our store in Toronto. Billy can be reached at 416-869-3474 and he will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. And I will be more than happy to let him know you’ll be calling…

This time of year is busy because, well, many of us are last minute shoppers. The blur of the season is heightened for those of us who work in fly shops because we also have to place our pre-season orders. So on top of serving customers, keeping the store clean, doing returns, updating the website and keeping our significant others on the right side of happy we have been meeting with manufacturer’s reps to go over their 2012 product lines. We have some exciting things coming down the pipe so stay tuned!

Our store manager Billy and I had a conversation with a good friend of the store yesterday. Kim is heading out on a trip to BC in the coming weeks with a handful of other anglers from the Toronto Area and he was kind enough to relay a conversation with one of the anglers in this group that had all of us scratching our heads – and it involved me. Kim explained that this other person was wondering what skagit lines he should bring and how he might best balance his rod and when Kim mentioned to him that he should come to WILSON’S for advice the response was, “I am not interested in supporting that store because I have heard that the owner is a jerk.” Kim was a bit embarrassed passing this information along and while I was disappointed to hear it I appreciated him relaying the story because this is not the first time we have heard comments like this – and until yesterday none of us could understand why.

For a few years now I have heard similar things about myself and each time I have scratched my head in wonder because, at the risk of sounding defensive and/or self-serving, anyone who knows me personally knows otherwise. Our conversation then steered towards trying to figure out why people have this misguided opinion of who I am and what the store is about and we think we finally figured it out…

I am from a smaller town in northern Ontario and grew up with the expectation that you treat people the same way you want people to treat you: with respect, kindness and courtesy. That said, the reason I opened WILSON’S is because when I first got into fly fishing in 1993 I walked into what was then the only fly shop in Toronto and was treated like dirt. After that experience I figured a lot of people were likely treated in a similar fashion so I decided to open my own store and focus on providing the 3 things I wanted to find in a fly shop as someone new to the sport: great service, excellent selection and friendly advice.

Although one of my life’s goals is to ultimately work in the store I have yet to do so because I work in commercial real estate to help pay the bills. It takes money to grow a business and doing things like launching our new ecommerce site is not possible without the occasional injection of capital. I am not at a point where I can walk away from my current job but look forward to the day that I do. So while I do not work ‘in’ the store on a daily basis I do work ‘on’ the store every day and I am always trying to figure out how to make things better for our customers. It is a constant juggling act and although we are not even close to where I think we can get to with the business I hope you will agree we are heading in the right direction.

A big part of why we are heading in that direction is the current team we have in place. As anyone who runs a company will attest, having the right employees is one of the toughest things for a business to identify and this fact is even more difficult for a specialty retailer. A fly shop can’t hire someone off the street like a shoe store and have them start serving customers because our employees need to have a level of product knowledge that at least matches (and hopefully exceeds) that of our customers and this knowledge comes only with years of practical experience. Over the years I have had employees who have ranged from great including Billy, Hugo, David, Ian, Sheldon, Danny, Eli, Simon, Gord, etc and unfortunately some bad employees who will go unnamed. It is important to note that many of these ‘bad employees’ were not bad people, just bad employees, and we get along to this day. But one of these folks sticks out above all others and we realized yesterday that he is likely the reason why we keep hearing, “Wilson is a jerk!”

As Billy and I talked with Kim about why this image persists we started telling telling stories about this one employee in particular and we finally realized why the store has had a stigma in certain quarters for all these years. While this ex-employee is not a bad person he was caustic with customers and did more damage to the image of WILSON’S – and me – than I could have ever imagined. Frankly, I now know he often treated people the same way I was treated in that other fly shop all those years ago and I am embarrassed by the legacy of mistreated customers he left behind. As an absentee owner I was initially unaware of what was going on but I started to hear how he was treating people and his actions ultimately lead to his dismissal. Notably and unfortunately for me, it turns out this person also often represented himself to customers as ‘the owner’ of the store and they rightfully assumed he was me because he didn’t correct their assumption. It is this misconception that haunts the store – and me – to this day. Yes, the person who represented himself as the owner was a jerk… he just wasn’t me.

So what can I/we do about it? Likely nothing other than make people aware that their perception of who I am and what we are could not be further from the truth. The only thing we might ask is that anyone reading this who has this impression of us – or knows someone who does – comes in and judges for themselves. As for me, my friends and family will likely attest that I can be a jerk at times but I like to think – and hope they will agree – it is the exception rather than the rule…