Sportsman’s Landing back in the family

Brian Hagarty now holds the keys to a treasure that’s been in his family since the 1940s—Sportsman’s Landing on Clearwater Lake.
The all-in-one store was owned by Hagarty’s aunt and uncle, Doug and Elaine Marsh (now Mercier after a remarriage) up until Doug’s passing in 1994.
Before that, it was owned by Mercier’s parents.
But from 1994 until just recently, another couple owned Sportsman’s Landing. When they put it up for sale last fall, Hagarty knew he had to have it.
“My uncle who had had it, when he died, I was thinking about buying it at that time,” Hagarty recalled. “But it wasn’t the right time and didn’t work out.”
He took possession of the store in January and opened it earlier this month, complete with a ribbon-cutting.
“The store was a real hub of the lake in years past,” Hagarty noted. “It was just the place you stopped in to say hello and it just seemed to be the focal point of the lake.”
But he believes that feeling has changed a bit over the years, saying the previous owners didn’t have the store open as much.
“Things have really changed on the lake, so I think I’d really like to return it to that,” Hagarty remarked. “In fact, buying it started off with a conversation of ‘Gee, I hope someone buys it who wants to bring it back to life like it was.’
“So it went from there to ‘Well, you should just do it yourself,’” he added.
Hagarty noted Sportsman’s Landing originally was named “The Fish Club” when his aunt’s family—the Fourniers—owned it.
In the early 1960s, the name changed to the one it’s known as today.
“Interestingly enough, the place has burned down twice, so it has a bad track record,” Hagarty chuckled, hoping a tragedy like that won’t happen again.
The general store offers anything one might need on the lake—propane, groceries, liquor, souvenirs, parking—a little bit of everything.
“And we’ve expanded the coffee shop as a place to drop in, and we’re doing ice cream and a few other things for our customers,” Hagarty noted, adding he hopes it helps return it to the way it used to be.
“We always say the conversation and the coffee is always free,” he smiled.
But for Hagarty, owning the business is a new venture to him. He has a lot of experience, but not in direct retail.
“I have some experience with this business, though,” he noted. “I worked here one summer when my uncle had died to help my aunt out and I certainly have been on the lake all my life.
“But this is my first shot at being in direct retail.”
And despite being quite busy, he said he’s enjoying it so far.
“I’m having a lot of fun—it’s exciting,” he enthused. “If you enjoy meeting people and saying hello to people, then this is the place to be.”
It’s not just Sportsman’s Landing that has a history. Clearwater Lake, located 30 miles north of Emo, also has an incredible history.
“There’s been lodges and settlements here for almost 100 years,” Hagarty explained. “And lots of interesting stories. In fact, there were lots of rumours that Al Capone had an interest in some of the lodges nearby.”
He indicated the “gangsters” from the 1930s and ’40s in Chicago used the area as a fishing haven, and now it’s quite a popular area for district residents and tourists.
“There are 190 cabins on the lake and about seven lodges in the area,” he noted. “I lot of people don’t realize there is that many . . . but it’s still a very quiet lake with lots of undisturbed landscaping around.
“It’s truly a beautiful place.”
In fact, the actual name of the lake is Burditt Lake, but everyone calls it Clearwater Lake because the water is so clear.
Hagarty stressed buying Sportsman’s Landing is like a dream come true.
“I really always looked with admiration on the lifestyle my uncle had when he ran it. He was an avid outdoors person,” he said. “For me it comes full circle.
“I’ve been on the lake my whole life. It’s always been vacation time at the lake and now I’m getting to live here,” he added.