For 50 years, boaters (and parrots) have flocked to this odd Florida shop

A faded paper sign inside Sailorman calls it “the hippest coolest most extraordinary marine supply store.” A walk through the Fort Lauderdale city block-sized warehouse confirms there’s truly something for everybody.

Are you in the market for a giant steering wheel? How about an enormous copper lobster? Or two foldable bikes? Looking for some light tower decor? Dusty artworks of marine life? An antique torch? Kitchen tongs? Or how about a little fabric doll trapped in a glass jar that may or may not be haunted? It’s only 20 bucks.

Or perhaps you’re the practical type, a boater looking for something more useful, like life jackets, flares, cleaning supplies, pumps, propellers and other super specific spare parts you can’t find anywhere else. Either way, you’re in luck. Sailorman has enough gadgets, gizmos, whatzits and thingamabobs to make the Little Mermaid jealous.

But how do you keep track of such a bizarre inventory?

“You don’t,” owner Chuck Fitzgerald said.

He bought the kooky marine store from a sea-faring Brit in 1985, who opened it 10 years prior. He loved the “wheelin’ and dealin’,” the usual and unusual customers and the store’s inventory of boat parts, doodads and rare relics.

Sailorman, possibly the world’s largest, weirdest and friendliest marine emporium selling new and used boat parts and other oddities, turns 50 years old this year. The store has weathered many storms in the last five decades, from boating industry shifts to a pandemic, all while servicing the local and international clientele who dock in sunny Fort Lauderdale, known as the “yachting capital of the world.”

Fitzgerald, 75, his daughter Heather Valdez, 53, and their team of family members, co-workers and an ornery parrot named Cisco have kept this wacky thrift-consignment-retail store afloat.

“I tell all the employees when they’re hired that for whatever reason the customer walks in the door, whether it’s to return something, buy something, kick tires or sell something, that they walk out with a smile on their face,” Fitzgerald said. “And because of that, I think we got a pretty good reputation.”

The crew

Originally from Michigan, Fitzgerald came to Florida after he “flunked out of college.”

He arrived with ideas to become a scuba diving instructor and some paychecks he had saved up. But when he deposited them at the bank expecting a counter check back, he was told to wait two weeks. He needed a job fast, and found one at a marine distributor in Miami. It was water-related anyway, so he felt like it was a good fit.

Fitzgerald got to know Sailorman while he worked at Land and Sea Distributing. He became friends with Cliff Hunt, the enigmatic owner who founded Sailorman with his wife Maggie after they docked their sailboat in Port Everglades. Old newspaper clippings displayed on Sailorman’s website detail the Hunts’ adventures sailing around the world in the ‘60s, leaving from Vancouver, passing through the Panama Canal, facing armed soldiers in Cuba and crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Once Hunt was sick of the retail gig, Fitzgerald bought Sailorman from him in 1985. As the business grew over the last 50 years, it moved locations several times before settling at 3000 S. Andrews Ave.

As Fitzgerald recounted Sailorman’s story, Cisco the parrot demanded to be included. He walked from his cage, said “UP!” to be lifted from the floor onto Fitzgerald’s knee, a perch from which he never moved.

Fitzgerald rescued Cisco, a 23-year-old blue-and-yellow macaw, about four years ago. He’s Sailorman’s third (and most crotchety) parrot. Unlike the rest of the Sailorman staff, Cisco is not happy to see anyone. He only likes Fitzgerald, sometimes. Cisco banged his beak into Fitzgerald’s knee every few minutes just to let him know how displeased he was with the conversation.

“He definitely shows when he’s not happy,” Fitzgerald said. “Right?”

“RAH!” Cisco squawked.

Valdez credits Sailorman’s success with its dedicated staff of about 19 people, many of whom have been with the business for decades. The staff is so close, she said, some employees are literally family.

Out of Valdez’s four sons, ages 19 to 26, two are interested in carrying on the family business one day. While Valdez handles the day-to-day logistics, Fitzgerald is still “the cornerstone of the business,” she said.

“He is the face of the company. I’m blessed to work with my father every day,” she said. “We have an amazing relationship. I can’t imagine what doing this without him would look like.”

Dave Zutler, a Sailorman employee of 35 years, agreed. “He’s the glue that brings the company together,” Zutler said as Fitzgerald grumbled. “He’s a good guy.”

Many years ago, Zutler recalled, the store got a pallet of Adler Barbour refrigeration systems on a Monday. At the time, Zutler had been thinking of getting one for his boat. He asked Fitzgerald (several times that day) if he could have one from the pallet. Fitzgerald struck a deal: If Zutler could sell every single Adler Barbour by Friday 6 o’clock, he could keep one.

For the rest of the week, Zutler approached every single person who walked into the store. “Do you want an Adler Barbour? Do you want an Adler Barbour? Do you need refrigeration?” He dwindled down the stock to just two, one for a customer and one for himself. On Friday, at 5 p.m., he was working on one guy to take the last one, but the customer didn’t want it.

At a quarter to six, Zutler looked over at Fitzgerald, who shrugged and said, “A deal’s a deal.” Dejected, Zutler began to close up shop for the day.

“You know what, you did really good,” Fitzgerald told him a few minutes later. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d sell as many as you did. Take that last one. You earned it.”

Scoundrels, sailors and Cisco

If Fitzgerald had a nickel for every time someone convicted of a high-profile murder was a Sailorman customer, well, he’d have two nickels. That isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Don Aronow, a famous designer and speedboat racer, was killed by hitman Robert Young in Miami in 1987. Young was a “good Sailorman customer,” Fitzgerald said. He even came over for Thanksgiving.

“We didn’t realize that until after!” Valdez said.

There was another “real nice guy” who came into the store and tried to get Fitzgerald in on some underwater business idea. A few weeks later, the FBI showed up asking about him, Fitzgerald said. Apparently, the guy killed famous promoter and hot rod racer Mickey Thompson and his wife in California in 1988.

Other well-known customers are less seedy, like the late actor Gene Hackman and Jimmy Buffet.

Most of Sailorman’s clientele are run-of-the-mill boat and fishing enthusiasts. As the boating industry shifted from sailboats to mega yachts, Sailorman was able to adapt with customers’ changing demands. The store’s true niche is in used, discounted boat parts. Experienced boaters prefer to see and feel the rust in person instead of looking at it on eBay, Fitzgerald said.

Far-flung customers remain loyal to Sailorman regardless of where they are in the world, from the Caribbean to Europe. Earlier this week, Valdez got an order from Jamaica to send over some life jackets. Instead of shopping at nearby marine stores, many customers prefer wiring money to Sailorman.

“We do what we can to help people enjoy their passion of boating. And I think it shows,” Valdez said. “That’s one of the reasons why we have been successful.”

The store’s reputation catches up with its staff, even when they’re on vacation. One time, when Zutler was visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris, he overheard someone in another gallery say, “Isn’t that the guy from Sailorman?” When he went to Bergen, Norway, while at a restaurant on the top of a mountain, a man approached him.

“Are you Dave from Sailorman? You see that black sailboat down there?” the man said, pointing down at the harbor. “You sold me that Adler Barbour seven years ago. It still works!” He paid for Zutler’s drinks the rest of the night.

Nick Homayed, a longtime customer from Michigan, stopped by Sailorman with his 6-year-old daughter Deena this week. They come to Fort Lauderdale every year to fish and always make sure to swing by the store to get boat parts and life jackets for the best prices.

“I love it. It’s like a ritual for us to come here,” Homayed said. “Even when we don’t need anything we still buy something.”

Fitzgerald walked up to Deena and handed her a little flashlight. But there was something else she was interested in.

“The birdie,” she said.

“OK,” Fitzgerald said as he walked them to his office. “Just don’t stick your fingers in the cage.”

Keeping customers happy pays off in the long run, Valdez said. She recalled a recent encounter when a customer left the store very upset because UPS lost a package carrying a boat part he needed. When the package finally arrived, Valdez called him to offer the part at discount instead of selling it to someone else full price. “You have a customer for life,” he told her.

“I’m sure nobody would copy our business model,” Valdez said, laughing. “But its worked for us.”

If you go

Where: Sailorman, 3000 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale

Hours: Open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on Sundays.

Info: www.sailorman.com