Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Ghillies Fly Shop closes it's doors.


This week, one of my favorite fly shops closed.   Ghillies Fly Shop was my local shop and I say that because it was just a block away from my office in Downtown Colorado Springs.  I spent many hours there in the last year and a half as it had moved from central Colorado Springs to the downtown location.  I tied flies and did all of my fly tying classes there since I was basically able to do what ever class I wanted and to introduce anglers to some of my favorite fly patterns for sale.  With the shop goes a place to get locally tied patterns and regionally favorite patterns that weren't available in the big box stores.  I owe a big thank you to Gary for allowing me to come into the shop and invite some of the best tiers around the Front Range to come down on Saturday's in the winter to tie for the customers.  Sitting, watching these tiers was such a great experience and I certainly learned a ton of new tricks and great ideas.  I also owe Gary a big thank you for never saying anything when I went rummaging through old boxes looking for hidden treasures and through the new boxes of material when they arrived and taking things before he could ever mark them off the receiving worksheet.  It was a fun ride and I will miss tying flies for the customers, many of who never knew who tied them.  I am proud to say that I did.   I plan to offer some patterns on my blog for sale, but need to plan that out.  I love tying and even though I won't be tying for Ghillies, I will still be tying, possibly at Anglers Covey, to offer a few of the local favorites.  Thanks Ghillies Fly Shop and thanks Gary for a good time!

8 comments:

  1. dang, Juan, that's just not right. Losing a good fly shop is always a big loss the the entire fly fishing family.

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  2. Add another to the list. Its becoming evident that soon the only fly shops around will be internet based and that is not a good thing. Both my home town shops closed some time ago and I miss them. Sorry to hear that Jaun.

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  3. It´s a sad thing. This is a worldwide problem...here in Norway we have just a few left as well. As you say, a lot of local knowledge and tradition is lost, as is the direct contact with customers. I worked in one myself for many years and tied flies for customers. Flies tied by underpaid workers in Asia and Africa will be offered at a low price. A truly sad story!

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  4. Guess that's why the fly rod that I ordered never showed. Going to check the credit card now--great!

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  5. That's too bad, I just found out. It is always sad (and bad for local state level economy) when independent bites the dust.My husband sure enjoes his Korkers boots and we like Gary's personality. I wish him to overcome this roadblock

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  6. I stopped in this morning only to find the door locked. I only needed some leaders and thought I would support the small guy in town. It was a real bummer to see the place empty.

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