I stopped by the fly shop in Lewisburg today and the guy had a
handwritten sign on the door advertising an Orvis blow out. 40% off
rods & reels, Orvis flies $12/dozen and 30% off everything else. I
entered and asked him what was up with the Orvis deals...

He said that Orvis is going to start selling their full line at
Wal-Mart and that he's dropping his Orvis dealership and shopping for
new vendors. He wasn't very happy about it, I assure you. He sounded
like he had considered dropping Orvis when they started selling
through Bass Pro but that ~Wal-Mart~ was simply going too far.

I find an Orvis/Wal-Mart marriage to be quite amusing. Orvis has
spent a lot of money on their brand image--and that image was ever
anywhere near Wal-Mart--indeed, the image they seek is one of folks
who don't even know where the nearest Wal-Mart is.

Will I be able to buy Orvis clothing at Wal-Mart too? What's next, LL
Bean at Kmart? I'm not the biggest Orvis fan in the world, but this
move surprises me. Somewhere in NYC somebody with a closet full of
Orvis gear is panicking right now...

I assured him that Sam Walton was indeed one of the Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse, grabbed a pair of Orvis 7.5' 1X leaders, a dozen Orvis
flies, some Orvis strike putty and hit the road.

Amazed,
Tom G