It was, for years, a gathering place for fishermen. A place to swap fish stories, compare flies, get a good grip on a fishing rod and talk, always talk, about the one that got away.
Today, after 27 years in the fishing business, Anglers Inn will close its doors.
Shelves that were once stocked with every imaginable fishing instrument, in a multitude of shapes and sizes and in a rainbow of colors, are now nearly bare. Signs in the store read 70 percent off anything left, and any of the remaining flies are only a quarter.
The first Anglers Inn opened on Valentine's Day 1976, although Gean Snow, one of the founders, recalled customers were coming in before the store officially opened "to buy worms and things like that. We finally had to put paper over the windows so people wouldn't know we were a fishing store."
At one point, there were four stores — the main store at 2292 S. Highland Drive and satellite stores in Ogden, Sandy and Orem. The Sandy and Orem stores closed in January, the Ogden store about two months ago.
Snow helped found the original store, which was located across from the Highland Drive location, with Hugh Hogle.
About 10 years ago, Dave Scadden purchased the business. Around the same time he also started Scadden Boats, which is a business offering a collection of pontoon boats.
Consensus is that Scadden got caught in a changing market and dry lakes. The mail-order business has taken a large portion of the fishing business away from local retailers. Competition from other fishing-equipment stores also pulled customers away.
The extended drought that has gripped Utah also hurt. Fewer fishing spots have resulted in fewer fishermen and therefore fewer fishing rods and fancy lures being purchased. A heavy debt load and dwindling business forced the closure.
Webb Adams, owner of Leisure Sales, started working for Anglers about six months after it opened.
"I spent 12 years of my life at Anglers," he recalled. "It was a gathering place for anglers from all over the state. It was a great place to work. It's sad to see it go."
Snow said Anglers opened in the midst of what was a strong retail market "with Wolfes, Ziniks, Sunset and Allied all in the fishing business. We opened with a different plan. We got customers what they wanted, no matter how hard it was to find. And we created a place that was fun to come to and talk fishing. No, it's sad, very sad for me to see this."
Larry Tullis, an author, fishing guide and longtime employee, said it was sad for him to see some of the longtime customers come in after they'd heard about the closing.
"They had tears in their eyes," he said. "Their dads had brought them into Anglers when they were kids and they've been customers since. Now it's closing."
"It was a big part of our lives," said Byron Gunderson, who put in close to 20 years at the store. "It's sad to see it go."
"I worked with a lot of wonderful people, met a lot of wonderful customers and had a wonderful time," said Snow, who retired in 1996. "But, it's a different world and it's tough for a small company like Anglers to stay in business."
At closing time on Saturday, Anglers Inn will no longer be a place where fishermen can go to buy lures or swap stores or talk about the one that got away.
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