Thousands of motocross spectators today will wend their way up the Washougal River past the sleepy general store next to the steel bridge at the Clark-Skamania line.
Hopefully, say the store’s family owners, the fans won’t forget their wallets.
This could be the busiest day of the year for Washougal River Mercantile, which is ready to welcome crowds of dirt-bike fans, riders and pit crews that will breeze by on the way to the 2010 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship at Washougal MX Park, a couple of miles up the road. The national race often signals the height of the summer season for the out-of-the-way country store.
“Nobody gets the weekend off during motocross,” said Ted Fuller, 79, the Texan-born patriarch of a family business that employs his wife, Charroll, four of their six adult children and umpteen grandchildren.
“We’re the only store around for 10 miles,” Fuller said.
That’s why its racks are flush with snacks such as Doritos and the 36-foot-long cooler is stockpiled with ice-cold drinks. Day trippers and overnight campers alike will find gas, propane and sunscreen at the 5,000-square-foot mercantile. The store also carries a full line of groceries, hardware and fishing tackle, and features a delicatessen, a feed store and a gunsmithing shop.
The Fullers say customer turnout from the motocross race is always critical to the store’s annual sales. But this year’s event, expected to draw more than 20,000 people, is more important than ever to the business, after a two-year slump due to the recession.
Since the start of 2009, store sales have dropped by at least 10 percent compared with its peak years in 2004 and 2005, said Charroll Fuller, 77, the shop’s bookkeeper. She declined to say how much the store makes in a year.
She is keeping her fingers crossed that the motocross race will start the store’s season off with a roar.
“Basically, it’s what helps us get through the winter,” Charroll Fuller said.
She added that the weekend’s gross sales could equal what the store takes in for a typical full month in the off-season, making the event crucial for covering monthly insurance bills, as well as quarterly and annual business taxes.
“Without the motocross, it would be pretty hard to cover all that,” said Charroll Fuller, who met husband Ted at a Portland USO dance in the 1950s.
In 1977 the Fullers bought the store, which was then a tavern called the Riverside Cafe. The couple changed it back to a store and raised their family in a tidy home attached to the back of the two-story building.
Two sons, Marcus Fuller and Christopher Fuller, and two daughters, Jeri Connolly and Diana Shiluk, still work at the store as co-owners with special duties in its daily operation. Many of the Fullers’ 25 grandchildren also serve as fill-in workers during the summer.
“They are good workers and they have a good work ethic,” Charroll Fuller said.
Economic impact
The Washougal River Mercantile isn’t the only east county business revved up to profit from this weekend’s motocross racers and fans, said Brent Erickson, executive director of the Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce.
“When they come into Clark County, Les Schwab, Highway Fuel, the restaurants, Safeway, the Best Western and the Rama Inn all gain increased business,” Erickson said.
He said the event would generate “thousands of dollars” in sales by conservative estimates.
