About us
Kevin and Marnie McAughtrie are not strangers to small water-access only communities, residing previously on Quadra Island, Pender Island and most recently, Salt Spring Island.
Kevin’s love of the sea started at a young age in eastern Ontario and continued when his family moved west to BC. An avid sports fisher, Kevin has managed numerous sports fishing resorts and marinas up and down the coast of BC and most recently in Metchosin. His background also includes a strong retail history with Worlds Fairs, Expo, and ski resort destinations. He looks forward to exploring the fishing grounds in and around the Bamfield area and supporting local derbies and other community events.
Marnie has been in the retail industry for her entire working career of 37 years, most notably in the gift and souvenir industries as both purchaser and sales agent. As well, she has a background in guest services and event planning. Her most recent position was as buyer and manager for a large clothing store on Salt Spring Island, and also offered a retail consulting service to several sports fishing resorts. Her love of cooking has inspired her to create a small deli area at the store, with plans for future expansion.
Kevin and Marnie are happy to have made the move to Bamfield, where they can utilize their accumulated skills in creating a fun and creative retail shopping experience for their customers as well as a fishing experience their guests will remember and cherish for years to come.
History
Lars Eric Wickham and his brother Charles purchased an old abandoned lifesaving building located in Pachena Bay in 1924. The building was sawn into five sections and towed into Bamfield inlet where it was re-erected on the western shore of Bamfield and operated as a general store first by Mrs. McKee, followed by S.G. Ryan, William Fullerton and Graham and Mary McCubbin. In the spring of 1962 the store burned to the ground. A building which had previously been the Kootenay Loop bus depot in Vancouver was barged to the site by new owners, Shirley and Barney Smith. Since then the store has had several owners, and in October of 2015 was purchased by current owners, Kevin and Marnie McAughtrie. Goods continue to arrive mostly via boat, providing both the Bamfield community and its many visitors with fresh groceries, deli sandwiches, ice cream, fishing tackle, and new for 2016, boat charters.