Jim Strege stands in front of Triangle Bait & Tackle last week, a store he’s owned since 1981 and has adapted from a convenience stop to a fisherman’s go-to.
SNOHOMISH — After 43 years, Jim Strege is looking to relax.
He has spent most of his life serving the Snohomish community and the surrounding area.
After attending college at the University of Washington, Strege decided to purchase Triangle Beverage at the corner of Second and Maple in the early ‘80s. “I’ve been here at this spot since ’81. It was a little convenience store when I bought it,” he said.
At first, the business struggled during a time when every year a couple new convenience stores would pop up. “In the early ‘80s, it was the start of the convenience store craze. Where all the gas stations used to just service vehicles, then they all started putting in convenience stores,” Strege said. “Which made it tough on us because we were always the smallest one.”
The store was also at a bit of a disadvantage due to the property not having the land space available to build and operate a gas station. The decision to start selling fishing tackle was made to help bring more revenue in. “So we went ahead and added a bit of tackle in the mid-’80s. I had it up for sale for about a year and no takers, so we tried something a little different,” Strege said. “It took us a long time to get there. We just kind of built any money we got and put it into the tackle. It took quite a few years before we had more tackle than convenience store items.”
Officially changing the name to Triangle Bait & Tackle in 2008, Strege would no longer operate the business as a convenience store and switched to selling only fishing supplies. “We finally got rid of our walk-in beer cooler and all that and went full-on tackle. Been 100 percent tackle since … , even though we were selling tackle since about ’86,” he said
At different times over the past 20 years, Strege’s son, daughter, nephew, sister, father and two aunts worked with him in the store. There was only one non-family member to work at Triangle Bait & Tackle, but was treated like family.
“(I’ve) been fortunate and we didn’t limit ourselves to that, just worked out that our family members wanted to come in (to work),” Strege said.
When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, Triangle Bait & Tackle had to close for five weeks. However, the revenue at the business doubled when they were allowed to reopen.
“We were one of the lucky ones. A lot of businesses got hit hard, but it actually helped us because there wasn’t much to do. You’re allowed to go out fishing, but you couldn’t go indoors and do anything. So a lot of people took to the waters and we were able to maintain our business,” Strege said.
Up until recently, Strege helped sponsor some local area fishing derbies, such as the Everett Coho Derby, Lake Stevens Kokanee Derby and the Lake Roesiger Fire Department Kids Derby.
Since October, his business has been up for sale. There is no particular reason behind Strege’s decision to look for new ownership. He has been preparing for around five years to sell his business and “it is just time to retire.”
“It’s tough you know, for 43 years I probably averaged about 55 hours a week,” Strege said. “Business still is improving. We are selling at a high point. It’s nothing that I have to sell, it’s just simply retirement. I’m 67 years old.”
Strege is also looking forward to spending time with his three children and six grandchildren once he retires, as well as doing some fishing and crabbing.
Born in Everett in 1957, he has stayed mainly in Western Washington besides a few years playing baseball in California. Strege has also lived in Arlington, Lake Stevens and now resides in Mount Vernon with his wife Brenda.
“(It’s) hard to plan. People ask ‘What are you going to do?’ and I just kind of joke ‘Well, I’m not going to come to work,” he said. “Wife and I might probably travel a little bit. Do little outings and stuff … just see where journeys take us.”
