LAKE OF THE WOODS, ONTARIO - Seventeen years after Ted and Bud Burger sold their namesake Twin Cities sporting-goods stores, they are doing what they always did.
Except now they will do it from an island cabin.
"We hunted and fished when we were working, and we still do," Bud said one day last week.
But the identical twins who grew up in the Twin Cities might in the end be remembered less for their field skills -- polished though they are -- than for their groundbreaking retail outlets, which presaged a nationwide shift to sporting-goods megastores such as Cabela's and Gander Mountain.
In fact, the brothers' six stores, when purchased by the third generation of the Erickson family of Holiday gas and convenience store fame, became the flagship outlets for the Gander Mountain chain of outfitters that stretches across the country today.
"When we opened our first store at 44th and France in Edina in 1970, we were 25 years old and had one employee," Bud said. "When we sold the stores in 1995, we were 50 years old with 400 employees."
Added Ted: "And having one employee was easier."
Because the brothers pursued hunting and fishing so intently, they knew which equipment was needed for which activity, and knew also the difference between high- and low-quality gear.