As you may have heard, Stacy Soloviev recently purchased Jack’s Marine, the iconic Bridge Street marine supplies and hardware store with a long and storied history (and awesome toy department).
Named for its original owner, Jack Calabro, who for decades ran it with his wife, Dorothy, Jack’s has most recently been owned and operated by his daughter, Camille, and her husband, Mike Anglin.
We wish Camille and Mike all the best as they retire after many years of service to the community. And, we wish success to the new owner, who has announced plans to continue the business.
When we saw that the Anglins’ son-in-law, Scott Feierstein, had posted a lovely note on Facebook honoring Jack’s Marine, we had to share it. Here it is, with his blessing:
A little over 20 years ago, I started coming to the Island to be with my wife and her family on weekends. At the time, her family, the Anglins, had a fire in their store Jack’s Marine.
They were devastated, to say the least. When I arrived for the first time, Kim took me to see the burnt store and then to the trailers they had set up as a temporary store. The amount of stress they went through and yet still managed to get those trailers set up was incredible.
It was wonderful to see that they were actually busy, and the community supported them during this crisis.
Unfortunately, when I started dating my wife, her grandfather had already passed six months prior. From what I have heard about Jack over the years, he was a really special man. I’ve never met anyone that didn’t like him or had any bad stories about him. Anyone that knew Jack probably has a story or an image of him in his one-piece jumper that I’ve seen in photos.
Thankfully I knew his better half really well. Grandma (Dotty/ Dorothy) was very special to me. I hadn’t had a grandma since 1986; I lost them both at a very young age. Grandma treated me like her own grandson. We went on trips together, and we spent many hours doing puzzles, playing cards, and creating so many other wonderful memories.
Jack and Dotty started Jack’s Marine 75+ years ago (1944). To put that into perspective, the NBA (national basketball association) only began two years later.
Jack’s became an island staple. Both of their children grew up spending many hours at the store, as did Camille’s daughters, Kim and Amber. Both generations have so many beautiful memories as children spending time there.
Years later, Camille and Michael came back to New York from California to help run the business and begin to make it their own. When Camille had the idea to make Jack’s part Toy store, the inner circle was skeptical. However, the idea came from Camille’s need to get toys for her own girls, and she soon turned the toy area into the happiest section of the store.
Toys became a big part of their success as they took the store into a new era. Personally, I always considered Jacks to be a toy store for all ages! Sanders, drills, legos, grills — what more could you ask for! Michael and Camille worked so hard 7 days a week, for a really long time.
During mooring season, Michael would be out on the water for 12 hours a day. I can still smell him as he entered through the kitchen door into the laundry room to disrobe and wash the stink on his clothes and his body. Though it wasn’t the best smell, it was always funny to get a whiff as he pretended to attempt to touch us with his stinky hands on the way to the shower.
We had the honor of smelling it one last time this year as he had to go back out on the water in his seventies to finish them up for a sick employee.
Twelve months out of the year, Jack’s was open to the public. Of course, there were a few years when they decided to take some vacations (how dare they! LOL), but Jack’s rarely closed for the most part.
I am so glad that my kids will have some memories of the family business: fishing off the docks with their grandfather; sleeping in the store with their mother, Kimberly; running lemonade stands in the driveway; going for rides and fishing on the barge; riding in the dumbwaiter up and down, and running around the isles playing tag. Jack’s was a big part of all of our lives.
For me, Jack’s was an extension of our home. I spent hours having breakfasts, lunches, and those delicious peanut butter cookies that Joanne at the Island Food Centre used to make. When I started a little summer business during college, Michael and Camille let me use the store to build longboard skateboards in the back and in the stock area upstairs when it rained. I got to dress as Batman, Spider-Man, and a stormtrooper during the Christmas season and take photos with happy children as they came in to make their Christmas lists.
Before my children came around, I was the guy that Camille would give new toys to test and figure out. And. That. Was. Awesome! It’s hard to believe that Jack’s isn’t a part of our family any longer and that I won’t be popping in there to visit my in-laws. But I am so grateful and lucky that Jack’s was a big part of my life for over 20 years.
I know that for Michael and Camille, selling Jack’s was bittersweet. But they earned their time in the sun, and I look forward to seeing them enjoy the next chapter of their lives. If you made it through this story and have any stories about Jacks, I’d love to read them.
Visit his Facebook post to share your memories of Jack’s Marine. Or, send them to us at editor@shelterislandgazette.com and we’ll forward them to Scott.
