Sam and Nancy Grimone (Enterprise photo — Susan Moore)

SARANAC LAKE — Sam Grimone says he missed the people, and that’s why, 13 years after selling the Blue Line Sport Shop, he and his wife Nancy opened a new hunting, fishing and camping store called Woods and Waters.

He spent his last 12 years working for the American Management Association, but he said sitting at a desk all day was bad for his health, and speaking to people on the phone rather than in person was bad for his spirit.

“That’s my passion; I love people,” he said on Wednesday, the second full day his new store was open.

“You shouldn’t get into a business like this because you like hunting or fishing or sports. That’s the wrong reason. You’ve got to love people, because it’s really a business of people. Unless you put people first, it doesn’t work well.”

Woods and Waters is located at 255 Broadway in a retail cluster that includes a dollar store, a liquor store, a drug store and a hardware store. The front half of the modest-sized store is full of fishing gear, the back half is full of firearms and related equipment, and camping gear and a few sporting goods line one wall.

“Limited space, so we’re trying make the most of every square inch, without overdoing it,” Sam said.

At first Sam’s plan was to sell firearms part-time, but then he decided to leave AMA for his health. For the last 10 months he and Nancy have been working on this store, in a building they lease.

Their son Chris helped set up the computerized cash register system.

“Without Chris I’d be months behind,” Sam said. “I’m of the old generation, and I struggle with that kind of stuff.”

The Grimones agreed to a five-year non-competitive agreement when they sold Blue Line to Matt and Corey Rothamel, but that is long past. So why compete with them now?

“Our hope is that we can complement them,” Sam said. He compared the situation to when the National Army store used to be across the street from Blue Line at Saranac Lake’s core downtown intersection.

“I suspect you could say we were competitors, but in reality there was a symbiotic relationship,” he said.

He compared it to a mall with numerous stores clustered together, some of which sell the same kinds of products, drawing in customers because it gives them options. He also compared it to car dealerships.

“When I was a kid, you would never put your car dealership next to another car dealership,” he said. “Now, that’s the way it works.”

Saranac Lake also has other stores that sell camping gear, such as St. Regis Canoe Outfitters and Adirondack Lakes and Trails Outfitters, and Sam said there’s “absolutely” a big enough market of outdoor enthusiasts here to support them all.

“You don’t necessarily have to be social friends with these people to be in a position where both of us can benefit,” he said. “We’ve already sent people down there [to Blue Line Sports]. Our first day we sent people down there. In fact, before our first day, when we were working on the store, we sent people there. So it’s our hope that the community will benefit.

“If people can’t find something in town [and] they go to Plattsburgh, that’s certainly not as good a scenario as if they could go somewhere else in town.”

Blue Line Sports owners Cory and Matt Rothamel declined comment. Their store is bigger than Woods and Waters and is especially well stocked with fishing tackle.

Sam said deciding what to stock in his smaller store required them to drop some peripheral items, but they also beefed up other areas.

“We’re deeper into fly fishing than we ever were,” he said. “We try to focus on the core of bass fishing, trout fishing, fly fishing, the core of camping. Basically, firearms and ammunition is what people will expect from us, but I think they’ll be surprised by our fishing department.”

Woods and Waters built up to its opening with a series of mysterious newspaper ads, asking questions such as “What’s new on Broadway?” before finally announcing the business with a big color ad June 7. When the official opening finally came Tuesday, Sam said it lived up to his hopes.

“So many old friends came in and wished us luck over the last couple of days and helped us kick things off,” Sam said. “It was awesome; I’m not going to lie to you. It was heartwarming; it was almost overpowering.”