By Basil Gist Staff Writer
As the weather warms and the crappie start biting, Cordell Outdoorz is rolling into its peak season.
Gene and Bev Cordell have been outfitting local fishermen for 21 years, and Bev said they don’t plan to quit anytime soon.
“We’ve had so many people come in and say, ‘Oh Mrs. Bev, I’m just so glad y’all are staying,’ she said. ‘I bought my first fishing rod here,’ or ‘I bought my first gun here,’ or ‘When I get married, I want to bring my kids here,’ and I’ll say, ‘God willing you’ll probably be able to do that, but that part is gonna be up to God.’” The couple sold guns as well, though chose to stop after five years.
“It felt really good ... when we decided we weren’t going to sell guns anymore and wanted to get back to the main thing, the fishing,” Bev said. “We had so many people come in and give us this look like, ‘Are you going out altogether?’” and we said we’re still selling fishing stuff and they’d say, ‘Thank God.’” Though the guns have gone, Cordell Outdoorz still stocks ammo.
“We put a lot of guns out here to a lot of good people that like to hunt and have these shooting teams and stuff, so we need to feed them,” Bev said.
The local school district’s shooting teams aren’t the only ones who have benefitted from the business. The bass fishing teams also come to the Cordells when their seasons roll around, and the couple have also given support to cheerleaders and drill teams.
“Our young people have grown up coming here, so we really want to support our teams and young people,” Bev said.
At several decades in business, the couple have seen several generations of teens come through their doors for rods, reels and bait.
“They’d come here after school and spend their allowances, birthday or Christmas monies,” Bev said. “Well, after I’d find out who they were, I would call the parents just to make sure they knew where they were at, who they were with and just that they knew they were safe and that it was OK for them to spend their money here.”
Aside from the wares on their shelves, the Cordells will order products by request if they can, calling back to the business’ start on eBay.
“He started putting fishing stuff in here and having a part-time business on eBay, because we were both working at the time,” Bev said. “We would buy, sell and trade, and whatever money we made, we’d put back in here so word got around, people started coming in and that’s how it got started.”
Their stock includes products beyond what would be used on the lake or in ponds.
“There are people that will go on vacation, go to the coast, but come here and get their stuff before they leave,” Bev said. “But our catfish rigs are pretty big, too, pretty comparable to the surf rods we sell,” Bev said. “We sell a lot of crappie stuff though, [and] if you get a good crappie rod, you can catch just about anything on it.”
Despite being a local small business, Bev explained she and Gene try to keep their prices competitive with other large outfitters like Cabela’s, Bass Pro and Academy Sports.
“We always try to make sure we price everything less than what the going prices are,” Bev said. “Like our crappie baits have gone up. How we gauge that is we look at the prices our distributor sends, and if we can possibly sell it and stock it under the big stores, we will.”
She explained that prices are going up all over. However, she gives customers some advice when they come in.
“I tell people, ‘If you see something you like at that price, get it if you can because if you don’t, when we have to reorder, it’s probably going up,’” Bev said.
When asked if they’ll keep serving their community as the years go by, Bev said Cordell Outdoorz has no intention of closing if they can help it.
“This is our family, customers and family,” Bev said. “Plus, if I wasn’t talking to people, carrying on a conversation, selling something, or getting to listen to someone’s stories or heartaches, I’d be in the house watching Hallmark and that is not a place I want to stay all day. I’d get really bored really quick.”
