In the mid-’70s, Alvis Hunt wanted out of coal country. With his mind set on Florida, he persuaded his family to relocate from a middle-of-nowhere burg in western Virginia to sunny Sarasota. The migration included his daughter Aledia, and her husband, Lee Tush, both in their early 20s. Alvis had been a serial entrepreneur in and around the town of Grundy, Virginia, and he wanted to set up Aledia and Lee with their own business. He homed in on Mr. CB’s Bait & Tackle, which first opened in 1959 on Stickney Point Road, and presented it to the kids as an opportunity. “He pulled me off the beach to go see it,” Aledia (pronounced “Aleeda”) Tush says.
The young couple was perplexed at first. Given their small-town Appalachian roots, neither had an affinity for bait, tackle or boats, let alone boat rentals and repairs. When they expressed their doubts to the paterfamilias, Alvis responded, “You’ll be fine.”
He bought the property and fronted the seed money to his daughter and son-in-law…