Popular outfitter Foutz’s Hunting and Fishing Shop is no more.

Closeout sales and an auction Thursday cleared out just about everything left of the shop at 68 Plaza Way in Cape Girardeau about three months after owner Danny Foutz died in a car accident.

“Since then, we’ve just been working at the shop trying to get it ready to sell,” said Mary Foutz, Danny’s mother. “He built this shop up from a bare building into what it was.”

Foutz’s shop was well-regarded among the region’s hunters and fishers.

“He knew his business. He knew fishing, and he knew hunting,” Mary said.

A view of outside of Foutz's Fishing and Hunting Shop during their closing auction Thursday in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

“And his people skills were amazing,” said Christi Foutz, Danny’s ex-wife. “He could remember everybody’s name.”

“And when people came in and they asked questions, he could answer them, whereas if you go to Walmart ...” Mary said, trailing off. “Danny could help people.”

Christi recalled how he opened the shop in another nearby building in 1998 and had been in the current location since about 2000.

“He sold a bass boat,” she said. “That’s what he used [to obtain startup funds].”

They said once the sign comes down off the building, it will be hard to see the business disappear.

People wait in line to pay for their auctioned items from Foutz's Fishing and Hunting Shop during their closing auction Thursday in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

“We hoped we could sell it as Foutz’s Hunting and Fishing Shop and keep it here and just leave everything here, but the building was not his (Danny’s). He rented the building,” Mary said.

The Foutzes said they were told by the landlord, Michael Jessup, if someone bought the business, the new owner would have been able to rent the same space, effectively carrying on the Foutz shop. But that did not happen.

“Somebody was going to buy it, but it was rented to someone else, the shop was,” Mary said. “So we had to do something different.”

Jessup, in an interview Friday with the Southeast Missourian, denied having offered the Foutzes such an assurance and said the decision to rent to another person was influenced by vendor contracts.

He said was unaware of anyone wanting to buy Foutz’s, and the person who will move into the space, Wade Winchester, has exclusive deals with hunting-bow manufacturers.

“What I said was I would be happy to entertain anybody they had that would be a buyer just like I would any tenant in my mall. I would vet them just the same,” he said. “The reason the people aren’t buying the store is because Wade Winchester, who’s going to be taking over the store, has the bow contracts. The bow contracts don’t transfer. What he explained to me is that when somebody dies, those contracts end.”

“I had nothing to do with that; that’s Wade’s thing,” Jessup said, later adding Winchester’s shop will open in August.

Mary Foutz watched attendees packing up the last remaining items Thursday evening and said there is a small sense of relief in the fact while her son’s shop is gone, it’s at least taken care of, and the sale and auction gave them one last opportunity to see the customers who loved Foutz’s Hunting and Fishing Shop.

“This, I think, is more than we hoped,” Mary said.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

68 Plaza Way, Cape Girardeau, Mo.