Chapter 9

Mel's Trading Post

Walking through the doors of Mel's Trading Post, a sporting goods store located at the south end of Rhinelander's downtown district, is like taking a step back to a simpler time. There are none of the bright lighting and endless racks of mass-produced merchandise of the discount chain stores. You won't find rows of cash registers or overhead security cameras. What you will find is a tremendous variety of quality outdoor gear packed into two floors of a historic building, what was once the original Rhinelander Montgomery Ward store. You'll also find salespeople who know what they are talking about and are committed to helping you find just what you need. Whether it be duck decoys and rigging, wool shirts and pants, rifles, scopes, and cartridges, Mel's most likely has what you are looking for.

The store's origins go back to the late 1940s. “Dad started with the store in 1946,” said Mitch Mode, one of Mel Mode's five children and current store owner. “He was a good baseball player and actually had a contract with the Chicago Cubs. He seemed well on the way to a baseball career, but a back injury put the skids on that plan.”1

Mode returned to his hometown of Rhinelander and jumped into business with friend Del Stengl, who operated a variety store on Brown Street called the Trading Post. The store carried “the most varied supply of sporting goods in northern Wisconsin,” but also appliances, televisions, and souvenirs. The Trading Post was a great stop for tourists due to the Norway pine trees that added a north-woods touch to the store interior. The trees were created with mortar-covered steel columns as trunks and real pine boughs, which were replaced twice a year.

In the early 1960s Mode acquired the entire business from his partner and moved the store into its current location, Rhinelander's old Woolworth Building. Now known as Mel's Trading Post, the store continued to offer a diverse mix of merchandise but no longer sold appliances or electronics. Concentrating more on hunting and fishing gear, Mode also took advantage of ever-changing recreational trends. “Dad was a big skier and began to offer downhill gear as skiing became popular in the 1960s,” recalled Mitch. “He also had a Honda motorcycle business for a time and got into cross-country skiing equipment when that sport exploded in popularity in the 1970s.”

Although the Trading Post's core through the years has always been hunting and fishing gear, the “golden age” of deer hunter activity at the store was back in the 1950s and '60s. Mitch fondly remembers those days when the store was a magnet for hunters on the Friday before opening day of the gun season.

Before the time when hunters could purchase their licenses and permits early, a great influx of hunters would descend upon the store the Friday before Saturday's opener—to purchase licenses and party permits and to stock up on last-minute supplies.

“It was like a circus,” Mitch recalled. “It was a very special day of the year, almost like Christmas. We'd have a line of hunters fifteen to twenty deep waiting to buy licenses and the store would be wall-to-wall people. In those days there was no blaze orange requirement, and everyone in the store would be wearing red wool. My sister would drive home from college just to be there for that day, it was such an exciting day.” The store would fill with local hunters and their friends and relatives from out of the area, as well as out-of-state hunters. “Since the season had yet to begin everyone was in a festive and happy mood,” said Mitch.

In the times before the blaze orange requirement and hunter safety training, hunting accidents and fatalities were much more frequent. In small towns across the north, insurance companies offered short-term “deer hunter policies,” life insurance just in case the hunter was a victim of a fatal accident. “At the Trading Post, Dad would set up a card table right in the store for agents to sell insurance to hunters,” said Mitch. “He would alternate between the two agents in town each year.”

After the season opened, a Mode family tradition was to visit the old Hotel Fenlon down the street to see what deer were currently hanging on the meat pole erected in front of the hotel. In those days every business in town benefited from the deer season and catered to hunters for nine days. The hotels were packed with hunters, cafés and restaurants promoted hunter specials, and special church services were held for hunters.

“Although deer season is still a very big thing, deer hunting had a much bigger impact in those days than it does today,” said Mode. “Customers to the store are more spread out now, buying licenses and gear early, although there is still an increase in business just prior to the opener.”

Mel Mode loved to hunt and fish, particularly duck hunting up on Lac Vieux Desert, but he had little time for these pursuits—the downside to owning a sporting goods store.

“When Dad was building the business he worked long days, seven days a week. There was just no time to do anything else,” said Mitch. “One time someone lifted a fishing reel and pretty much eliminated Dad's profits for the week.” A tireless worker, Mode loved to be in the store—there was no drudgery about it for him.

While growing up, the Mode kids also put in their time. “The first job I remember that I actually got paid for was when I was seven years old,” recalled Mitch. “Dad had purchased boxes of fishing lures on some closeout. They were all jumbled up in big cardboard boxes. I sorted them out one by one and received a penny apiece for my efforts.”

All of the five Mode kids worked at the store as time allowed. “During the summer we were all there,” said Mitch. “When I was junior high age I remember Dad would wheel a popcorn machine in front of the store and for seventy-five cents an hour I would sell popcorn.”

The summer months also brought in the fishermen. “In those days people came up to the northwoods to fish; fishing was the real focus for family vacations,” said Mitch. “Customers would bring to the store the big fish they had taken out on the lakes. Dad had made a box with a glass front that fish could be displayed in. It was cooled with ice and placed outside the front of the store. There was always someone's prize musky or walleye on display. Sometimes a fisherman would call at one or two in the morning, wanting dad to put a fish in the box. It was a big thing.”

Mel's has changed through the years, but it still retains the flavor and atmosphere of an old-time sporting goods store. There is an enormous variety of items on the shelves and racks, although nothing in great quantity. But more times than not you can find what you are looking for.

Although Rhinelander has experienced an influx of discount chain stores, the family-operated Trading Post has been able to survive through the years by fostering an exceptionally strong customer base, from younger people buying snowboarding gear to the die-hard waterfowlers, deer hunters, and anglers.

“Our key is our people. We have the local expertise, experts in duck hunting, fly-fishing, firearms, skiing, and camping. They know the area and offer more than just ringing up a sale,” said Mode. “While the big stores can hurt business, we aren't so much competing against them as we are competing for people's discretionary funds, the limited amount of money they have to spend on recreation or entertainment. There are just a lot more things for people to spend their money on these days.”

Another key to the continuing success of Mel's Trading Post is the quality of items sold at the store. “I don't sell cheap stuff,” said Mitch. “I want high quality, but at a reasonable price. I don't want a person coming back with something that is broken or defective. I want satisfied customers.”

This combination of exceptional customer service and a diverse line of products has kept Mel's Trading Post going strong for more than sixty years. When you step into the store and the old original wood floorboards creak underneath your feet, and you scan the racks of wool and flannel shirts, rifles, and duck decoys, you know you've found a piece of hunting and fishing tradition.