Family's bait shop in Mecca turns 50

It's probably NOT a good idea to walk into Causeway Sporting Goods in Mecca and say to one of the female workers there, "Can I speak to the boss?" Chances are, you already are.
Perched on the eastern end of the state Route 88 causeway in Mecca, Causeway is celebrating its 50th year of operation.
For Linda Finlaw, owner and daughter of the shop's founders, Dan and Helen Galbincea, the brick and cement block building has been her home and business ever since she can remember.
In its current incarnation, the majority of Causeway's staff is female, Finlaw said.
"That's what really unique about this business right now," she said. "It is mostly run by women." She does have a couple of guys working but only on a part-time basis, she said.
Started in 1953
Causeway got its start in 1953 when Dan Galbincea, World War II veteran and dedicated angler, decided to chuck his job as an arc welder for Mullins Manufacturing in Warren and got into the bait and tackle business.
"My dad's boss reacted with disbelief," Finlaw said. "He had four children and one on the way."
She said the people her father used to work with were in awe that he thought he could raise and support five kids selling worms and minnows.
Fifty years later, the shop is going strong, Finlaw said.
Dan Galbincea passed away in the spring of 1996. Mom is still around but she is dealing with some severe back problems and is no longer active in the business.
"Mom held down the fort with all the kids as well as working at the shop," Finlaw said. Later, Mrs. Galbincea shifted her attention to the production of the Erie Dearie lure that her husband had developed.
"I don't know how she did it," Finlaw said.
A site for the shop was discovered by her parents after they went driving one day and saw all the cars parked by the causeway at the young reservoir.
The land in question was very swampy, Finlaw said, but "they thought it was a great place for a business and gave the owner $1,200."
The Causeway Sport Shop, as it was first called, was built to her father's specifications, and it opened for business in the spring of 1953.
Business and home
The building was a business as well as a home to the Galbincea family for the first 12 years, Finlaw said. "I still can't believe all seven of us lived in the back of that shop," she said, reminiscing. In the mid-'60s the family built a house across the street from the site, and the shop was expanded and improved and became totally a business.
The house is where Linda and her mom still live today.
Her dad's Erie Dearie lure business started booming about that time as well. Finlaw said he began taking customers up to Lake Erie -- and since this was before there were limits set on the Great Lake's fish -- brought back mounds of walleye.
In fact, people used to gather at the shop in the 1960s when they knew her father was coming back from a fishing trip just to ogle the large hauls of walleye he made.
The warehouse remains situated behind the shop and thousands of the fishing lures are manufactured and shipped nationwide every day. The unique weight-forward lure -- developed through trial and error by Dan Galbincea from whittlings he made -- was a major innovation when it first hit the market in the mid-1960s.
With all the activity at the shop and production of the lure, the entire Galbincea family has had a hand in some part of the operations at one time or another.
All her siblings -- Janice Thomas, Diane Trevena, Cathy Brunstetter and Danny Galbincea III -- still live almost within casting distance of the shop. "We like to stay close," she said.
Still a family business
"I run it, but we still consider this a family business," she said. In fact, she added, it is almost a rite of passage for relatives to work at the shop.
"In 50 years, there hasn't been an aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or grandchild that hasn't worked at the shop," she said. "They are born into it in this family."
Finlaw, who celebrated a birthday this past week, said she expects to be working at the shop for years to come. "I see myself with a little cane and a walker, waiting on customers," she said, laughing.
The shop has developed over the years, and the name was updated several years ago.
In addition to live bait such as minnows, worms and leeches, the shop also offers a complete line of artificial lures, tackle, licenses, information on the lake, boat and engine rentals, refreshments and assistance in launching at the ramp Dan Galbincea constructed next to the building. There is also a 24-hour, live bait vending machine at the store.
Dan Galbincea also used to buy fur from trappers and sold ammunition for a number of years at the store, but that practice was discontinued to focus strictly on fishing-related activities.
Open all year
Causeway is open all year round, a change from the first years when it would close in the winter. "When the ice fishing got to be so good we decided to stay open all year," she said.
Finlaw said that, in honor of the store's 50th anniversary, there will be regular specials throughout the summer.
For the summer, Finlaw said, the store's hours are 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. on the weekends. The store can be reached at (330) 637-7076.
braun@vindy.com