Byron's report 3/18 & 3/19

[Troutman]

Byron, I was very glad to read on Sunday that Ted Myers is coming to work for you. He will be an asset to the business. I traded with him for years at Wynns and he is very knowledgable and well liked by his old customers and I'm sure the new ones also.
"Good Customer Service" is why your shop is flourishing. The big box stores around here do not know what this means. Many of us in small business have been effected by the big stores coming in and trying to sell everything imaginable, but quality products and a helpful staff that take care of customers will certainly keep a good long lasting customer base. Keep up the good work.

[Byron Begley]

Gary,

I'm really excited about having Ted here. He was always my competitor but we've stayed in touch for all these years. I hated to see Wynns go. They were an "institution" in Blount and Sevier County and I was one of their customers too. I think Ted will be happy here and I know he will be good for our shop. I'm already starting to learn a lot from him about this business. He is not only a wealth of knowledge for fly anglers, but he is also a very nice man.

The big box stores have hurt us but we've worked on new ways to reach customers at a lower cost. This website has done wonders for us. Daniel and I think we have at least 3,000 hours in it so far over a period of 18 months. We did it on our own so we could maintain it and build it in our spare time. At $60 per hour which is about the going rate for this type of work if you hired a company to do this, we would have spent $180,000 so far and we've got a long way to go.

Byron