End of an era as Albany Rods and Tackle emptied out almost two years on from death of long-time owner

The end of an era was signalled at the weekend when removalists emptied out Albany Rods and Tackle. The popular fishing shop had been a mecca for local and visiting fishing enthusiasts for generations, but the Stirling Terrace store has sat in situ without opening since the death of owner Jim Allan in late 2021. Thousands of dollars worth of fishing apparel, rods and tackle were removed from the premises late last week, which is now up for lease. Albany fishing expert and Western Angler editor Scott Coghlan is currently travelling through the north of WA, but said it would be a “strange feeling” to walk past the store with something else in it. He said it was “probably the first tackle store I ever went to”. “It’s bit of the end of an era I suppose. Jim’s store has been there a long time, I’m 53 and it has certainly been there for my entire life,” he said. “Even beyond Jim’s passing it has been a fixture on Stirling Terrace. “I used to look in every time I walked past to see if Jim was there to say hello.” Mr Allan had owned the store for 30 years since purchasing it in 1991. He had started working in the store 15 years earlier in 1976 ahead of the closure of the whaling station. Mr Coghlan said he had hoped the store’s legacy would continue as some people had shown interest in purchasing the business. He said small independent stores provided service and advice that was not often available at bigger chains stores because they were “still generally owned by people like Jim who love fishing”. “It was Jim and Jim’s store which got me into fishing,” he said. “It was a small store that wasn’t intimidating so you could walk in and chat to the guy behind the counter and get firsthand information from a local guy who knows what’s going on.” He said the store’s prominent placement on Stirling Terrace had allowed it to welcome in people “just wandering past”. “When I was in there you’d often see people come in who clearly hadn’t fished much or were new to the area and the store was their first port of call,” he said. “They’d think ‘I wouldn’t mind having a fish’ and that was the shop they went to.” He said there was a gap in the market in Albany left by the closure of the store, and that it was unfortunate more and more independents tackle stores had been closing. “If you go into a smaller store you get that extra bit of service and attention,” he said. “Hopefully the small independent stores survive, but with bigger stores around and online shopping there is a lot of challenges.”