I saw a blurb they are closing their shop after 73 year.
Doors close 12/29.

I had some reel repairs done there over the years.
Sad to see these old shops close but I hope the owners enjoy their retirements.
SF

I used to have my reels worked on there when I was a kid.

I sent them a spinning reel once that they never received...and four years later it showed up at my house, fully worked up, with a note saying "we found this behind a desk"...

Fish on...

Todd

Hard to believe they couldn't find a buyer at a price at or above what they will get from their inventory close-out sale. But in any case it is another loss of a small, local business with a history of supporting our outdoor activities and citing very similar factors as affected Ed's Surplus in Lynnwood.

Awesome story.

Parts inventory, could be worth as much as the building. They employed many people that would have had trouble working in other places.

Enjoy their retirement, they fixed lots of reels.....

Thanks...

Years ago (1970's) they had an inventory of Pflueger Supreme parts that no one else had. Also I liked the fact that they hired disabled technicians.

Ollie's was a cool old school place and they did awesome reel repair work. Too bad.

Had Ollie Damons work on a few of my Shimano Stradics. Did it by mail. Dropped off a reel a few years ago on my way back from fishing summeruns in Oregon. Reel was frozen, broken drag washer, mailed it back to me a month or so later. Great work for a good price. Not sure where to get my reels serviced in the future.

I went fishing in Forks Monday. I noticed that Olympic Sports was closed and now there is a fly fishing shop. Anybody know what happened to Bob Gooding? I suppose he retired.

A couple years ago, Ollie’s moved from their long-time location in downtown Portland to a new store in the suburbs of Gresham. I took a couple reels there a year or so ago. I asked how business was going in their new location. The response was not encouraging. They said their customers “haven’t found their new location yet.“

Ugh.

Ollie’s was always running on the border between being profitable and not. My sense is that they’ve crossed the line, and may not be coming back.

That’s not good news for those of us who prefer “old-school” reels. Getting spare parts for reels made in the 1970’s was possible at Ollie’s but nowhere else. Not sure what I’m going to do now when my trusty old reels need new drag washers, a worm gear, clutch pawl, or new bearings…….

They bailed me out on getting some odd parts for some reels I had. Wish them the best.