Business Profile: Fish and Hunt Shop in Curtis evolved from a service station
Trending
EDITOR NOTE: The Daily Press will be featuring a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series will run on a regular basis in the Daily Press.
-- -- --
CURTIS -- In Curtis, Michigan -- a small town in the central Upper Peninsula on the Manistique Lakes -- a sporting goods and powersports store that diverged from a gas station makes sales, offers rentals and provides service to outdoors enthusiasts throughout the year.
Depending on the season, those passing down Main Street along South Manistique Lake may be lured into the Fish and Hunt Shop by any one or more pieces of inventory. The store deals in powersport equipment like boats, snowmobiles and side-by-sides in addition to practical task-oriented machinery like chainsaws and snowblowers -- and more.
Mike Soder, who co-owns Fish and Hunt Shop along with his brother Jon, said that their most popular items are Lund boats, Sylvan pontoons and Can-Am side-by-sides, but that that's just a taste.
"It's soup to nuts, I always said, because we still sell a lot of fishing tackle, a lot of clothing, accessories … ice fishing this time of year, naturally … we have live bait … Husqvarna chainsaws and lawn and garden equipment," Mike listed.
The list continues, of course.
In the early 1950s, Rector and Mary Soder began Curtis Service, a gas station and store. A couple years later, the sporting goods portion of the store expanded to add boats and motors.
In 1973, further growth saw the move of the sporting equipment -- and even more products -- into a neighboring building. Today, the now two separate stores are run by the following generation of Soders. The offshoot that became the Fish and Hunt Shop is operated by Mike and Jon, while their brother Rick owns the gas station, still called Curtis Service.
It's not just the extensive product line that brings customers, new and returning, to Fish and Hunt Shop.
"The big other part of it is lots of service work, because we are a full-service dealer, not a box store," said Mike. "Service work or maintenance or -- a lot of visitors up here, so we see a lot of transients that are in for repairs, whether it's boats or snowmobiles or four-wheelers. Because it is still a destination area for fishing and hunting and snowmobiling and you name it."
Mike estimated that about 60 to 75% of their sales are done to non-residents.
Perhaps it is the location in the midst of prime vacation country that makes Fish and Hunt Shop a choice for rentals, too. The snowmobiles, ATVs and boats available may be browsed on their website at fishandhuntshop.com.
"The last five years, it's got to a point where we don't really have a slow season hardly," said Mike. "Between the storage -- we store hundreds of boats in the fall. The spring might be our quietest time, but then the side-by-sides -- and the boat shows. We'll be in Escanaba at the boat show there in March and we'll be in Marquette a week later," he chuckled.
Mike said Fish and Hunt Shop averages about 20 full-time employees. The service they provide -- hooking people up with rentals, finding parts, arranging financing, keeping stock moving -- hasn't gone unnoticed.
In 2022, Bombadier Recreational Products (BRP) -- the Canadian corporation spanning five continents which is responsible for such brands as Ski-Doo, Lynx, Can-Am, Sea-Doo and Manitou -- recognized Fish and Hunt Shop as the National Dealer of the Year in the U.S. for the Ski-Doo brand.
In 2023, they were again recognized as District Dealer of the Year.
"We're proud of it. The whole crew is. You know they're doing something right," said Mike. "Like I said -- the service part and taking care of them, that's big. Because people can get a price anywhere, but they want to be happy afterward with the follow-up."
The sporting goods store is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. During the off-season, service work, parts and big-ticket sales may not be available on Sundays.