12/29/2023 0 Comments Gulf breeze bait and tackle![]() ![]() Steve Hayes, president of Visit Pensacola, reported tourist development tax collection from Oct. Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle Shop is thriving at a time when tourism is up for both Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. “They saved us a couple years there,” he says. John Wright says BP then replenished the shop in the fall by averaging its last three years of revenue and writing a check in that amount. The bait and tackle shop stayed open throughout 2010, and the owners managed to withstand operating at a loss without laying off any of their full-time employees. Customers are traditionally few and far between in January and February, and the owners count on revenue generated from the tourism season to hold the shop over for that dry spell. ![]() The oil spill essentially wiped out the tourism season for the shop. Withstanding the aftereffects of the BP Deep Horizon oil spill in the spring of 2010 was more troublesome. “We’re certainly not recession proof, but we’re recession resistant,” Mitchell says, “because anyone can justify going fishing to bring home food.” Vic Mitchell says the economic downturn affected their bottom line, but only to an extent. John Wright says they survived the aftermath of the hurricanes by selling lanterns, LED lights, batteries, boots, rain gear and the sort. They managed to survive a seven-year stretch in which two hurricanes struck, the economy tanked, and 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. The white-haired owners, casually dressed in T-shirts and shorts, say business is flourishing in their 35th year owning the shop. His father, 70-year-old John Wright, and 66-year-old Vic Mitchell co-own the shop. “We’re a little bit space challenged, but we try to get as much product as we can on the shelf,” says 44-year-old general manager Victor Wright. The pungent smell of fishing bait greets customers as they walk into the Gulf Breeze Bait & Tackle Shop.Īs powerful as the odor is though, step inside the shop at 825 Gulf Breeze Parkway and sight overwhelms smell among the five senses.įrom outside, the white structure appears modest in size with its narrow frame, but inside it makes up for its width in length, and virtually every inch of the 3,000 square-foot facility is occupied by fishing equipment, clothing, food and beverages. ![]()
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