Friday
Apr222011
It's Official
Friday, April 22, 2011 at 6:46AM 
The Kaufmann's death watch appears to be over.
Update on Friday, April 22, 2011 at 2:45PM by
El Guapo
El Guapo
Here is the new Kman's web page.
tagged fly fishing business, kaufmann's in Business
fly fishing business, kaufmann's in Business
Reader Comments (8)
Lil bit sad :(
Welcome to the unemployment line, # 345,323,345,111
Say it's not true...
Super sad. Sending prayers and good vibes to Lance and the crew.
Kaufmann's was my fly shop starting at 9 years old. Randall, John Hazel and Jerry Swanson taught me to cast, to tie flies, to know my bugs. Rod Robinson, Gordon Nash and Randy Stetzer were the best role models a young flyfisher could hope for. And in the final days, Jakob, Jad and Brian made a great crew.
Still lots of good times ahead, but an unfortunate passing of a legendary shop.
This REALLY doesn't surprise me. The 3 times I bothered going to the Tigard store I basically had to beg them to help me. In fact, on my first visit I had to ask two people for help!
I'd gone in with a gift certificate to buy my first pair of boots, the guy started to help me but when another customer came in, he left me standing there and didn't come back... Obviously this customer had bigger pockets. After waiting 5 minutes for the guy to come back, I had to go over to the counter and ask someone else for help. To this day, I still believe the mistake I made was telling them I was using a gift certificate for only... $200.00
I thought/hoped this was a one time occurance however, the next 2 times (that I convinced myself to stop in again) I had similar expierences. My conclusion: If you weren't a regular, high-roller you weren't worth their time.
I never hope that any business fails. ESPECIALLY a Fly Shop. But, I won't miss Kaufmann's R.I.P.
Oddly enough they just had a listing on Groupon about 2 months ago. $48 fly fishing lessons. I found out after my wife bought me a lesson. Doubtful I'll ever be able to make use of it. They're still not communicating with local media.
Email today from groupon
We are writing to inform you that Kaufmann Streamborn has closed. While most of you have already redeemed your Kaufmann Streamborn Groupon, we know that some have not, and we want to get you your money back as soon as possible.
If you haven’t used your Groupon, please email us at support@groupon.com and we’ll be happy to issue you a full refund to your original credit card used for the purchase or give you Groupon Credit.
We were big fans of Kaufmann Streamborn, so we’re especially sad to see them go. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you for your continued support.
Regards,
Justin S.
Groupon Customer Suppor
this is a biggie. they had at least 2 shops - or 3? big and well-respected with a seemingly profitable online business going. since the website has also shut down, it looks like the entire business is gone, not just one shop. with the inventory they must have, you would have thought that they might continue, at least temporarily, selling online. so it sounds like bankruptcy, with the banks taking over and locking the doors until a strategy for liquidating the assets can be put in place.
with the economy the way it is, the closing of small mom & pop shops is to be expected. but kauffman's is a biggie. a very bad sign for the industry.