BUSINESS NEWS
Coast River Business Journal
Meet the Merchant
January 2021 • 13
Interview & Photos by Emily Lindblom elindblom@crbizjournal.com
Englund Marine & Industrial Supply
Kurt Englund, president
95 Hamburg Ave., Astoria
503-325-4341
Englund Marine & Industrial Supply offers fishing gear and boat parts.
Kurt Englund is the president of Englund Marine & Industrial Supply.
Describe what Englund Marine & Industrial
Supply does and who it serves.
“We supply fishing gear and boat parts for com-
mercial and recreational fishermen and marine
applications. We also stock a full line of industrial
supplies. A lot of it goes to our local mills, loggers,
construction companies, fabricators, municipalities
and so on. And we get a lot of general residents in
for home projects as well.”
Tell me about the history of Englund Marine.
“In 1944, my grandfather started the company
in downtown Astoria, in what’s currently the Mo’s
(Seafood & Chowder) building. Over the years,
we’ve branched out along the coast. We’ve got a
store in Ilwaco, Washington, and one in Westport.
And then in Newport, Oregon; Coos Bay, Oregon;
Crescent City, California; and Eureka, California.
“We also have a life raft service center in War-
renton. And we have an inland warehouse in Port-
land, a satellite out of Missoula, Montana and one
down in Tempe, Arizona. They mainly do wholesale
business for the inland marine market. We’re pretty
spread out in a bunch of small operations if you look
at them individually, but that works well.”
How has Englund Marine evolved over the
years?
“Traditionally, we were based around commer-
cial fishing, commercial fishing gear and parts for
commercial fishing boats. So over the years, we’ve
expanded into recreational fishing. And as I men-
tioned, with our warehouses inland, we’ve gotten
into that business on the wholesale side. Then we
also have an industrial business. I want to say about
20 years ago, we bought Fisher Brothers Industrial
Supply that was in Astoria since the late 1800s. And
then we also have a retail website.”
Could you tell me about your own
background?
“I was raised in Astoria and went to Astoria High
School, and I always worked summers and after
school for our company. I went to the University of
Oregon, and came back to Astoria after I graduated.
I did spend some time in our Westport, Washington
store and our store down in Eureka, California, and
then came back to Astoria, probably about the mid-
90s or so and I’ve been here ever since.”
What has it been like working in and now
being the president of your family business?
“It’s had its ups and downs, but mostly ups. My
dad is still active in the business. And my brother
runs our life raft service center in Warrenton. And
then a couple cousins of mine, one runs our store in
Newport and one runs our store in Coos Bay. Those
are all key positions. So it’s been nice to have peo-
ple involved with the family business that treat it
like their own.”
What do you enjoy most about the company?
“What I enjoy most about the company is the
people. We have a good solid base of people at all of
our stores. It’s fun to work with this crew and then
also our customers. We get a lot of repeat custom-
ers, local people in the store day after day, we know
them on a first name basis and so I think that’s the
most enjoyable part about it.”
What are some challenges Englund Marine
faces?
“On the retail side, with how the internet’s
grown over the last 10-plus years, it has always put
pressure on a lot of local brick and mortar type busi-
nesses, and we’re no different in that way. Another
major challenge each year, is we have the unpredict-
ability of fishing seasons that are always coming up,
and how do you gear up or stock up for a season that
you’re not really sure how it’s going to play out? So
that’s definitely an ongoing one.”
How do you navigate those challenges?
“By having some good people on staff that have
a feel for the upcoming season, and how we should
buy and get prepared for it, that’s about all we can
do. A lot of times, you may not know. When seasons
are announced, it might be too late to get some mer-
chandise. So we have to speculate ahead of time and
be able to have inventory on the shelves for what’s
needed.”
What do you hope for the company’s future?
“We hope to keep it growing by hiring quality
people. We’ve got a lot of long-time, 20 to 30-year
employees here. And as they begin to retire, we need
to keep replenishing ourselves with quality people.”
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