Fishing Gear Company Finds New Home In West Ocean City

Fishing Gear Company Finds New Home In West Ocean City
Pure Lure owner Brendan Hanley, pictured with his dog Piper, is pictured inside his new retail store in West Ocean City on Harbor Road. Photos by Bethany Hooper

Fishing Gear B Fishing Gear CWEST OCEAN CITY – After years of planning and months of renovation work, an Ocean City-based fishing brand has a new storefront at the commercial harbor.

In May, Pure Lure Reel Fishing Gear open the doors of its new Pure Lure Brand House in West Ocean City.

Located on Harbor Road, the storefront was once home to L&L Marine Electronics. And while the building has sat vacant for many years, Pure Lure owner and founder Brendan Hanley said he is excited to take over the 7,500-square-foot facility.

“It’s set up to do a brand where we can have a retail footprint, a wholesale component, and an online component all in one building,” he said.

In 2018, Hanley partnered with Quiet Storm owner Bill Dreibelbis to introduce a new brand of performance gear and casual attire called Pure Lure Reel Fishing Gear. And after a successful test run, Pure Lure expanded its collection in 2019 and placed its products in roughly 20 retail stores.

“We used last year more as a testing and proving ground,” Hanley said, “to see how product would be received and what categories worked the best.”

Dreibelbis and Hanley are no strangers to the retail industry. The two first worked together in the late 1980s, when Dreibelbis was a representative for several retail brands on the east coast and Hanley was his sub-representative. Today, Dreibelbis is the owner of Quiet Storm, a successful retail store with nearly a dozen locations in five states. Hanley, who spent years working with some of the nation’s top brands – including VonZipper, Billabong, Huk and Under Armour, to name a few – is now using his expertise to build the Pure Lure brand.

Hanley said he has been working on plans for a storefront for years. And late last year, he and his friends began the task of transforming the L&L building into Pure Lure’s headquarters, repainting the interior and exterior, adding nearly 900 square feet of retail space to the first floor, and renovating the third floor to include corporate offices, a showroom, and website operations, among other things.

Located at the West Ocean City Harbor, Hanley said the new storefront would promote the brand and introduce new items. Since 2018, Pure Lure products have been tested and approved by local watermen, including those that dock their boats in front of the company’s new facility.

“This is not about just trying to do a ton of business. This is really about showcasing our brand,” he said. “Every few weeks we’ll have a few new styles that will trickle in, and we do have certain products that are online and in-store exclusives … It allows us to test certain things right here, right in front of the market we cater to.”

Until recently, retail establishments remained closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Hanley said he and his small team have used that time to focus on renovations, online sales and wholesale accounts.

“It’s kind of like being the captain of a boat and you are in the eye of a hurricane,” he said. “It’s going to be choppy for a period of time, but after every hurricane there’s smooth water. We know once we get to the outer wall, the other side will be fine.”

Now, with the opening of the new store, Hanley said he is ready to welcome customers. In addition to performance gear and casual attire – including shirts, shorts, hats, jackets and hoodies – Pure Lure is offering drinkware and coolers.

Pure Lure Brand House is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, visit purelurefishing.com.

“The most important thing to me was to build an authentic fishing brand,” Hanley said. “I want it to be right in the heart of the harbor, being in the ‘White Marlin Capital of the World’ where we have some of the best fishermen – best boats and captains and mates – right here.”

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.