Anderson: Keeping 'mom and pop' resorts in the family

Though not often featured on the business pages, family-owned resorts remain a going concern in Minnesota and across the nation. The smallest of these sometimes have been called "mom and pop'' operations, and in many cases they have been just that: a husband and wife with a half-dozen cabins on a small lake and a few dozen minnows to peddle from an old refrigerator. ¶ Fewer of these businesses dot Minnesota vacation country today than once was the case. One reason: The value of land on which some of these outfits operated increased so dramatically over the past 25 years that many owners opted to subdivide and cash in. ¶ Additionally, a half-century ago, many children followed their parents into resort ownership because they had few other occupational opportunities. But as kids from a broader range of social and economic strata attended college, including sons and daughters of resort owners, fewer have opted to return home and work sunup to sundown at the family resort. ¶ At least two outfits owned by Twin Cities couples are fighting this trend and being sold to family members.

One is Spirit of the Wilderness (elycanoetrips.com), an Ely canoe outfitter, outdoor retail store and bait shop. The other is KaBeeLo Lodge & Resort (www.kabeelo.com) in Ontario, a drive- and fly-in fishing operation a few hours north of International Falls.

Both will have booths at the Northwest Sportshow when it opens for a five-day run Wednesday at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

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Steve Nelson, 64, is a self-described corporate dropout who had labored about 24 years in pharmaceutical and medical-device sales and marketing when he and his wife, Kathy, 63, bought an Ely canoe outfitting business in 1999.

"I was doing well, but that's not where my passion was,'' Steve said.

At the time, their daughter, Ginny, now 36, was a student at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Just as technology has transformed large businesses, so too has it changed small outfits, including the Nelsons'.

"With advances in technology, we can do our business in the wintertime from just about anywhere,'' Steve said. "Over the next two to four years, as we transition the business more to Ginny, we plan to spend less and less time there. We want to retire and do some traveling.''

Ginny and her husband, Rob, a fishing guide in the Ely area, have two daughters, one 15 months, the other almost 4. The seasonal nature of the family business also benefits them.

"In summer, the business can be crazy busy, but I still have opportunities to see and be with the kids,'' Ginny said. "In that respect, raising a family in this business is nice, especially in winter, when I can contact customers and answer e-mails from home and still be with the kids.''

In Ely and along the periphery of the Boundary Waters, canoe outfitting can be competitive. And tourist visits to the area often fluctuate with the economy.

"As with any small business, you're buying yourself a job, in a way,'' she said. "But we see room for growth, for sure. Part of that will be achieved by going to sport shows, like we will in Minneapolis this week. And part will be achieved by marketing our business in new ways.

"It's a good life.''

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When East Coast residents Harald and Ann Lohn first saw KaBeeLo Lodge in northwestern Ontario, they loved it so much they bought it. The year was 1983.

At the time, they had two toddlers, Kristin and Erik.

A Toronto native, Allysson was working for the Canadian government in 1997 when she first arrived at KaBeeLo. She and her co-workers rented a cabin at the lodge while updating the region's geologic maps.

"I was there all summer and never met Erik,'' Allysson said. "But the next summer, after driving 24 hours from Toronto to get to the lodge, he was the first one I met. By the end of the summer, we were committed to one another.''

Married in 2004, Erik and Allysson soon were helping Erik's parents run KaBeeLo. The lodge's primary business is flying anglers to its 13 outpost camps on area lakes. (Anglers also headquarter at the lodge.)

At one time in the 1990s, KaBeeLo had as many as 26 outposts serving not only anglers but moose, bear and grouse hunters. But economic upheavals since 2000 have taken a toll on Canadian resorts, as has a weaker Canadian dollar. KaBeeLo survived. But many didn't.

Now Erik and Allysson are ready to take on what can be a complicated business, given their operation's dependence on float planes.

"Erik and I know the distractions we compete with, because we see it in our own family. In fact, part of the allure for us in buying KaBeeLo was the opportunity to get our kids up there and occupy them with eye-to-eye contact, not screen time.''

Dennis Anderson danderson@startribune.com