Mike and Gerri Ireland have a pretty amazing story of how their small business, Ireland’s Bait Shop, got started. Fourteen years ago, their son was selling nightcrawlers during the height of the fishing season, as this sparked an idea between the two of them.
Fast forward to the present day, and the Ireland’s have now owned the business nearly a decade and a half, and the couple talked about the intricacies of the business, the Elk County community, and more.
“My wife and I own this business together, and it basically started with our nine-year-old son selling nightcrawlers fourteen years ago, and that’s how we got started with the bait portion of the shop,” Mike said, with Gerri adding that “they have an array of fly fishing and regular fishing items and keep live bait bulk orders.”
The Ireland’s are happy to have their small business in the Elk County community.
“We love it. The people here are awesome, and we’ve made a lot of good friends. They know the things we see a lot and strive for. There’s a lot of younger kids getting involved in fishing around here, and it’s good to see the parents bring them in or even groups of kids coming together, rather than going on their phones or anything like that.”
There have been several customers coming into Ireland’s Bait shop from different states, and even some people from different countries, according to Mike.
It’s nice having the business for Elk County, and we also get steady customers from Kane, DuBois, and Sykesville. We’ve had people from all over the United States stop in, and even people from outside of the country that were from Great Britain and Mexico.”
The Ireland’s take pride in providing quality customer service, especially taking good care of the bait and other items they offer, said Mike.
“It might be something simple, but people still comment on how we keep the bait in really good shape. Everything is particularly packed, put in, and checked before it goes out the door. We have a self-serve area, and a lot of places don’t usually have that. It’s not a machine, it’s an open refrigerator. You go in and get what you need and drop off your money. It’s an honor system, and we do that with live minerals and live bait.”
Ireland’s Bait Shop is continuing to grow and progress with new items.
“Every year we’re adding new things, which is how we grow this. We’re always having new products that we didn’t have the year before or all through the year, so the shop is growing constantly.”
Ireland’s Bait Shop is located in Weedville at 22862 Bennetts Valley Highway. If you want to find out more about the shop, you can visit their Facebook page or call them at (814) 335-1021.
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