Printer Friendly Version - Bob Harris: A Family Legacy in Decoys

Bob Harris, the third generation in his family to live in his Ingham Hill Road house, started the Harris Outdoors business with his wife two years ago. In May, they moved the business to a new, larger storefront on Boston Post Road.

OLD SAYBROOK - Bob Harris would never have started Harris Outdoors were it not for the recent recession.

He'd worked for years as assistant sales manager and then manager of the town's Chrysler dealership. But then came the recession and tough times in the auto business-and so he left.

To craft a new career, Bob returned to his roots and his love of the out-of-doors.

As a child, he'd spent many hours camping with his parents and grandparents and pursuing outdoor activities like fly-fishing and duck hunting, which was at the core of the family business.

That business was making realistic wooden duck decoys. As a teen, Bob learned to carve the decoys from his father and grandfather and to paint them from his father and grandmother. And as a teen, when hunters would bring back decoys at the end of the season for a paint touch-up, he did the work.

His grandparents began the Ingham Hill Road family business, Harris Duck Decoys, after the Old Saybrook Wildfowler duck decoy factory at which they worked burned down in 1957. At Wildfowler, Bob's grandfather had been in charge of carving the wooden decoys, and his grandmother was in charge of painting them. The decoys they created, both while at Wildfowler and later in Harris Duck Decoys, won awards at national and regional shows.

In the 1980s, the traditional wooden decoys began to be displaced by ones made of Styrofoam and plastic materials. They were not as realistic-they floated and bobbed on top of the water-but they were cheaper. It became harder to make a living solely carving decoys.

So though the family continued to make wooden decoys, they also had to find other ways to make a living. When Bob's dad, a disabled vet and a design engineer, returned to live with the Harrises, he also returned to the family trade-and began making decoys once again in the Ingham Hill home workshop.

"Harris duck decoys still win ribbons at the annual Ward Chesapeake Challenge competition in Salisbury, Maryland," says Bob.

This major duck decoy competition is specifically for working hunter decoys. Each entry is thrown onto the water and observed by judges to assess whether it floats in the water as a real duck would.

But Bob also had another career idea: he wanted to help people in crisis as an emergency medical technician (EMT). So he took time out to get re-certified as an EMT and started working as a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Old Saybrook's volunteer fire department.

"I'd taken my first emergency medical technician course in the late '80s. Now I could take the time to become a volunteer firefighter and get re-certified as an EMT," says Bob.

When he worked at emergency incident sites, he noticed that other responders admired and wanted to know where to buy the flashlights he used-they were brighter and more rugged than others. This was what led him to the second leg of his new career: getting a wholesale license so he could sell these flashlights on the Internet through Amazon and eBay as Harris Outdoors, the new family business.

Bob and his wife, Lauren, started the business in 2012 just after Superstorm Sandy and expanded beyond flashlights to hurricane-preparedness products like dried foods with long shelf lives. They already had a tax ID number because, back in 1998, Bob and his dad and had started a service business restoring old derelict wooden decoys.

"Harris Outdoors literally started outdoors in two campers in our back yard," says Bob. "Some nights Lauren and I had 300 boxes to pack up for shipment."

In addition to the flashlights and hurricane-preparedness products, Harris Outdoors expanded its offerings to include kites, metal detectors, knives, and duck-hunting, fly-fishing, and camping supplies. And finally, just after Memorial Day this year, Harris Outdoors opened a storefront on Boston Post Road.

Lining the store is a high shelf on which are displayed a collection of wooden duck decoys that is at the core of a multi-generational business.

"The products we sell are products we believe in and use ourselves," says Bob. "The store has done phenomenal. And it's been a beautiful fit for us because I like talking to people. In the spring, I hope to offer fly-fishing and archery products like longbows and recurve bows."

Having the store now open also allows Bob to pursue his other passion of being a volunteer EMT and firefighter.

"I always had a passion for helping people and handling the more challenging [emergency] calls. I've responded to motorcycle accidents, a plane crash, people hit by trains, boat fires-you name it. I love always being able to help. And to be a good EMT, you constantly have to practice your skills to be confident and make the right decisions quickly."

So in addition to his responsibilities at the store, Bob has EMT volunteer shifts two days a week at the Old Saybrook Ambulance Association, at which he's assistant chief, and two days a week at the Westbrook Ambulance Association in addition to his volunteer firefighter duties in Old Saybrook.

"Fortunately, there are a lot of people like myself that have local businesses and can respond to emergency calls from where they work," he says.

Bob is the third generation in his family to live in the Ingham Hill Road family house built in 1938 with surplus wainscoting, lumber, and even the Hepburn House clawfoot tub, all salvaged from the hurricane-destroyed family home.

"My goal-once our kids are older and on their own-is to semi-retire and go back to painting and carving duck decoys," says Bob.