Owner Jerry Holbrook is closing up shop for good although he still plans to sell wares at the Alaska State Fair. Holbrook has owned the store four years and managed it since 1991. It�s been a fixture for 23 years along the Parks Highway on the west side of Wasilla.

Thursday morning marked the start of a huge clearance sale at the store for fishing and hunting gear that also boasts a enormous Carhartt and Helly Hansen selection, a 70-foot-long wall of footwear, scouting supplies and an unpredictable mix of other marginally outdoorsy stuff ranging from swimsuits to pajama bottoms to plastic clogs.

Before the doors opened, lines of people snaked down the sidewalk in front of the store. Another clump of gear-loving, discount-hunting humanity massed in the parking lot.

A security guard blocked the door. Free hot chocolate from a nearby coffee stand did little to soothe the restless shoppers.

�We probably didn�t get the doors open until two minutes after nine,� said Roberta Ball, a consultant Holbrook hired to sell off inventory. �They were yelling, 'Some people have to get to work. Let us in!� �

Holbrook said his going out of business has nothing to do with the Sportsman�s Warehouse coming to Wasilla. Developers say they expect the new store to open in mid-November.

Instead, Holbrook said, he spent the last two years cultivating an online business - alaska.wwdb.biz - based on an Amazon.com Web marketing model. He got into business as a financial investment, and knew he�d sell the store at some point.

�The community has supported us so much, it�s just humbling. Sales are exactly four times what they were when I came here,� Holbrook said Wednesday, preparing for the clearance. �So this is not a desperate act by any means. The store is healthier financially than it�s ever been.�

Holbrook�s customers came out Thursday morning to shake his hand - and grab a trove of clearance-priced gear: half-off fishing reels, waterproof gloves for $9.99, stuff that sold for $60 slashed down to $14.99.

One shopper lurched by with a half-dozen heavy pairs of Carhartt overalls in his arms, grunting, �I�m watching somebody else�s stuff.� Another walked around trying not to jab people with three Ugly Stik fishing rods in his grasp.

Jalan Van Nice stood for long minutes in front of a rack of $24.99 hammocks, looking for a good door prize for the Lazy Mountain Bible Church �beast feast� later in the fall.

A little boy wandered by, clutching a pair of little rubber boots with frog faces on the feet. His mother, Leilani Belliston, held a clump of blue and pink camouflage shirts and pants for her 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.

Belliston, a former employee, said she�d miss the store. For outdoor supplies, her family will probably shop at Sportsman�s Warehouse. �But Girl Scout gear, Boy Scout gear, there�s no other place to buy it in the Valley,� Belliston said.

A white-bearded sourdough who identified himself only as �Jerry from Jerry�s Silver Coin Rings� stood at the crowded counter with his hand on a 54-inch fake lure, a display item, marked down from $299.99, and then half off from there.

Jerry said his buddy bought the oversized lure, and he doesn�t know what the guy plans to do with it. But Jerry, saying something about �all the pretty girls� in the store, said he�d use it for an opening line: �I�m going fishing with a lure big enough to catch you.�

Ball stood nearby, working a table where shoppers signed up for prizes handed out each day, such as a 37-inch digital LCD television set and an iPod nano, to keep a flow of customers coming.

Ball, the owner of RB Retail Consulting Inc., expects the sale should last through the fall.

In 18 years of helping businesses liquidate inventory, Ball said she�s never seen anything like the customer dedication Holbrook generated with his store and his �one-of-a-kind� easygoing personality.

�This definitely will stand out in my mind, where the people really embraced the store so much in this town,� she said. �Everybody knows Jerry. Everybody�s really sad to see it going.� Find Zaz Hollander online at adn.com/contact/zhollander or call 352-6711.