Bart’s Watersports celebrates its 50th year of success

By RAY BALOGH

Staff Writer

With his characteristic gratitude and selfless altruism, Bart Culver summed up his half a century of business success in less than 30 seconds.

“The cornerstone to our building reads, ‘Dedicated to our customers and staff.’ They are the two things that make this business great. I will always be indebted to the people who work here and have allowed me to live out my curiosities, of which I have many.”

In 1974, Culver launched his enterprise, Bart’s Water Sports, in a two-story house in North Webster. After two years, the business outgrew that location and Bart’s moved to the south edge of town, setting up a warehouse and shop now occupied by Pedals and Paddles.

Bart’s operated at that location for 20 years before building a warehouse on a 44-acre parcel fronted on SR 13 north of town. The business moved into the warehouse in the fall of 1994, and the following year Bart’s opened its new offices and shop. A subsequent addition brought the current building footprint to 35,000 square feet for the warehouse and 5,000 square feet each for the store and office space.

Bart’s now employs “six year-round employees and a couple of independent contractors and we will hire this year probably 12 to 14 seasonal sales and warehouse staff,” said Mike Wilson, manager. “We’ll hire mainly college students, with a few school teachers who are coming back to work in the summer.”

Wilson looks forward to Bart’s busiest season in May, June and July. “I think the most fun part of our corporate culture is in the spring, when the college kids come in with such excitement and enthusiasm for learning and experience and keep the rest of us younger. They are coming out of college right when we need them, so the timing and relationships are perfect.”

Wilson, a retired school teacher, started his career at Bart’s in 1978 by working summers, and went full time in 1988. In his 44 years with the company, Wilson acquired a bird’s-eye view of the census of employees and customers who have come and gone over the decades. “Our employees have been dedicated and our customers have been loyal. Some of our customers have been with us all 50 years. We know them by name and they know some of us by name.”

Indicative of Culver’s care for his employees, Wilson recounted “probably the biggest decision in our 50-year history.”

In the late 1980s, Culver considered moving the entire enterprise to Bloomington, for logistical reasons involving labor availability and proximity to UPS and FedEx hubs.

“We went down and looked at warehouse land and office space,” said Wilson. “When we got back, Bart asked the year-round employees who wanted to go down there. I was the only one to raise my hand, so he decided to keep the business in North Webster.”

Wilson also noted Culver’s acumen and prescience in adjusting the business to evolving national and international commercial circumstances.

“Bart has always been kind of on the forefront with catalogues and mail order, and then in the 1990s with the internet — which many people thought was just a fad — Bart really got a hold of it and we were early adopters of the potential of the internet.

“We used to print more than 1 million catalogues a year and now we hardly print any. We still do some print ads and flyers in the summer, but we don’t call them catalogues.”

Over the decades, Bart’s has attracted some notable customers, including the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan and Mitt Romney, who “is a big waterskier and buys from us from time to time. His whole family must be waterskiers, because his orders will include various intergenerational sizes.”

Bart’s offers “all the toys you can use in or around or behind your boat,” said Wilson. “We are loyal to our niche and will keep offering the latest and greatest in watersports.”

Besides products, Bart’s offers expert guidance and instruction for first-time and novice boaters and skiers, from a staff eager to serve. “We try to greet people within a couple minutes of their entering through the door.”

Every year Bart’s gives away plastic tumblers, and has crafted a special logo for this year’s 50th anniversary. The store holds sales every Memorial Day weekend, 4th of July and Labor Day weekend.

Bart’s is open seven days a week, though store hours vary by season. Call (800) 348-5016 or visit barts.com for current store hours or other information.