bababooey
05-22-2009, 11:34 AM
http://app.com/article/20090515/SPORTS06/905150321
Glad to see these guys back in business. They were icons of an era. :clapping:
Giglio's makes a welcome comeback
By JOHN OSWALD • STAFF WRITER • May 15, 2009
When Bruce Springsteen sang, "maybe everything that dies someday comes back," I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking about Giglio's Bait & Tackle in Sea Bright.
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-e4m3Yko6bFYVc.gif?labels=Sports
But that's what happened.
Forced from its 40-plus-year home almost six years ago by a new landlord, who raised the rent out of reach of Ernie and Tom Giglio, the father and son had to close the landmark family business.
Like most businesses shuttered by rising costs, it's rare for one to get a second chance at the same location.
It's harder still if that business happens to be a bait and tackle shop, which have never been known as generators of vast wealth, but more as labors of love, owned and operated by devoted fishermen.
These same shops are also the victims of tougher fishery regulations, which limit catches of the most popular species like fluke and take the incentive out of the sport for fishermen who want to catch something for the table.
But starting Saturday, May 16, Giglio's is back from the dead and I, for one, am glad.
Some guys like traditional hardware stores, others a mechanic's garage, still others favor a golf pro shop. Then there are those who are most at home in a well-stocked deli.
Give me a bait and tackle store any day and Giglio's was always a favorite.
It was opened in the early 60s by Art, Armand and Robert Giglio.
It had the rough-hewn wood floors, trophy stripers mounted on the walls, faded photos of bygone fish and fishermen and ancient bamboo surf rods with open-faced reels loaded with old-fashioned twine. Giglio's was a serious place for serious fishermen.
It was a little intimidating as a kid going in to buy spearing for snappers while these hardened anglers were telling tales of big bass and angry blues. These were tough guys with weathered faces in faded flannel.
Just to walk in there brings back great memories of balmy summer evenings when my father would splurge on some soft shell crabs to try for a striper. They were a little extravagant at at three for a dollar and the debate always followed whether we should just eat the crabs and forget the fishing.
Tom Giglio told me that once the store closed, he kept his hand in the tackle business by filling orders for old customers from his surveying and engineering office in Avon. But he kept his eye out for a place to continue the family business.
"We looked at a space that was available in Sea Bright, but it was new and there was carpet on the floor and it just didn't feel like a tackle store," he said.
For once, events conspired in favor of the Giglios, and the old building changed hands one again and the former space became available.
Some of the old artifacts are gone, but the rough wood floors remain and the store retains the old Giglio's atmosphere.
Tom Giglio and his father Ernie will be splitting duties at the store, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tom Giglio said the plan will to be open till 8 in the evenings once things get settled and they can find some extra help.
Tom is also planning a few special surprises for opening day on the 16th.
Everybody loves a good comeback.
Glad to see these guys back in business. They were icons of an era. :clapping:
Giglio's makes a welcome comeback
By JOHN OSWALD • STAFF WRITER • May 15, 2009
When Bruce Springsteen sang, "maybe everything that dies someday comes back," I'm pretty sure he wasn't thinking about Giglio's Bait & Tackle in Sea Bright.
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-e4m3Yko6bFYVc.gif?labels=Sports
But that's what happened.
Forced from its 40-plus-year home almost six years ago by a new landlord, who raised the rent out of reach of Ernie and Tom Giglio, the father and son had to close the landmark family business.
Like most businesses shuttered by rising costs, it's rare for one to get a second chance at the same location.
It's harder still if that business happens to be a bait and tackle shop, which have never been known as generators of vast wealth, but more as labors of love, owned and operated by devoted fishermen.
These same shops are also the victims of tougher fishery regulations, which limit catches of the most popular species like fluke and take the incentive out of the sport for fishermen who want to catch something for the table.
But starting Saturday, May 16, Giglio's is back from the dead and I, for one, am glad.
Some guys like traditional hardware stores, others a mechanic's garage, still others favor a golf pro shop. Then there are those who are most at home in a well-stocked deli.
Give me a bait and tackle store any day and Giglio's was always a favorite.
It was opened in the early 60s by Art, Armand and Robert Giglio.
It had the rough-hewn wood floors, trophy stripers mounted on the walls, faded photos of bygone fish and fishermen and ancient bamboo surf rods with open-faced reels loaded with old-fashioned twine. Giglio's was a serious place for serious fishermen.
It was a little intimidating as a kid going in to buy spearing for snappers while these hardened anglers were telling tales of big bass and angry blues. These were tough guys with weathered faces in faded flannel.
Just to walk in there brings back great memories of balmy summer evenings when my father would splurge on some soft shell crabs to try for a striper. They were a little extravagant at at three for a dollar and the debate always followed whether we should just eat the crabs and forget the fishing.
Tom Giglio told me that once the store closed, he kept his hand in the tackle business by filling orders for old customers from his surveying and engineering office in Avon. But he kept his eye out for a place to continue the family business.
"We looked at a space that was available in Sea Bright, but it was new and there was carpet on the floor and it just didn't feel like a tackle store," he said.
For once, events conspired in favor of the Giglios, and the old building changed hands one again and the former space became available.
Some of the old artifacts are gone, but the rough wood floors remain and the store retains the old Giglio's atmosphere.
Tom Giglio and his father Ernie will be splitting duties at the store, which will be open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tom Giglio said the plan will to be open till 8 in the evenings once things get settled and they can find some extra help.
Tom is also planning a few special surprises for opening day on the 16th.
Everybody loves a good comeback.