It makes my heart go Var-o-o-o-o-o-m!

The 2012 Sports Illustrated swimsuit model ‘rookie-of-the-year’ is Kate Upton. Ms. Upton is what my dad called a ‘varoooom’ girl. You know…she ‘gets your engine racing and makes your heart go varooooom!’ Kate hails from St. Joseph, a coastal town along the shores of Lake Michigan, and she’s considered by the Chamber of Commerce to be one of the best things to happen there since the Whirlpool factory moved in. But she’s not my ‘varooooom’ girl; Wolf’s Marine Store is! Wolf’s bills itself as the ‘Midwest’s Largest Marine Accessory Store.” I call it the Midwest’s Largest Marine Museum.

 

If you think a West Marine store is the ‘end all and be all’ of marine stores then you haven’t been around boating long. When you enter Wolf’s you take a step back in time. The wonderfully ‘different’ smells of the sea assaults your nostrils. You know and love the smells; stale harbor water, a little diesel odor, fresh pine, dust and stale musty air. No amount of Fabreze could change Wolf’s. Not with the amount of rope they’ve got or jumbled stacks of teak, rack after rack of pontoon seating or the rolls of upholstery fabric, captains chairs, miles of rub and hand rails, rigid hull inflatable’s. Have I mentioned the dive shop? Or the boat repair department. Wander outside and check out the used boats for sale. 

Before the professionally designed, extremely organized well-lit, wide aisles, homogenized, sterile and ‘uniform’ corporate effort of the national chains there was as ships’ chandlery in most seacoast towns of America. Local guys who knew local needs filled stores with thousands of items; manila line, brass fittings, engine parts, canvas, paint, linseed oil, palms, needles, beeswax and more to serve the harsh world of the maritime trade. They could supply a ships captain with 5000 feet of ½ manila line, 5000 lbs. of local food stuffs or 5000 gallons of red lead bottom paint or just a new 5000 lb anchor. Unfortunately, not a lot of them survived. 

At Wolf’s there is no membership cards, no catalogs, no corporate uniformed employees, no hand-held scanners recording your purchase for the perpetual inventory gnomes and no fancy displays. Just a huge, old industrial warehouse filled with treasures. Some stacked in out of the way corners, some are in bins, some in boxes and some on skids. To see a great deal of the stuff, you have to move other stuff first and then get down on your knees to sort through stuff. Some of the stuff sells quickly and some of it will never sell.

I just love to wander Wolf’s. It’s mysteries and wonders are like a museum, but not the sterile or protected-from-touching kind. It’s more of a living historical nautical ‘bazaar’; a step back in time. At first I glide from area to area quickly, because each step reveals another treasure. My initial trip around the store is somewhat fast and cursory. Then on my second pass, I look at every item, sometimes I find myself just looking at the item in awe. I think about who I could buy this item for or where I could use it or is there something here that I should buy for my next boat, h-m-m-m-m, even thugh I wasn’t thinking about buying a new boat. Electronics, marine hardware, cordage, faux lighthouses, one legged wooden captains….Wolf’s has it all! And I look at it all! 

When I needed a rear swim platform for ‘The Waterdog’ I got it at Wolf’s. When I needed a special bow staff I got it at Wolf’s. When I was thinking about upgrading my helmsman seat I spend hours crawling over the inventory at Wolf’s. And the prices sure beat the heck out of the well organized, computer driven, bright lighted corporate store!

Don’t get me wrong I really, really like West Marine…. But I worship Wolf’s.

I’m sure Kate Upton was happy to ‘varooooom’ out of Benton Harbor for the lily white sands of St. Tropez and the bright lights of Broadway, but me, I’m at my happiest when I’m ‘varoooooming’ around Wolf’s.