The New Hamburg community rallied around them

Little did he imagine that his humble enterprise would become an inland marina, Massel's Marine, and that 81 years later, his family would still be running the business.

Today, Massel's Marine is run by great-grandson Rob with his mother Carol. It has three other full-time and two part-time employees.

The business sells Legend boats, Mercury outboard motors and is a Yamaha snowmobile dealer. It does motor and boat repairs and provides boat winterizing and winter storage, as well as administering boat safety courses and exams.

Massel's has survived numerous changes and upheavals over the decades.

Although William Massel started the business as a Shell gas station in 1932, he became ill and died just a few years later. The business was then run by his wife Emma and their son Kenneth, double sided tape who was only 17 at the time. They sold gas and variety-store type items at the station.

Kenneth and his wife Marie took over the business and later expanded into fuel delivery. Kenneth delivered fuel for home heating and area farms while Marie and employees ran the service station.

It was their son, Bill Massel, who gradually turned the business into a boat and snowmobile dealership starting in the 1970s.

Bill, who died in 2011, left the business to his wife Carol, who is now the owner and runs it with Rob.

In 1977, the year Bill and Carol bought the business from Bill's dad, a fire nearly destroyed Massel's. It happened at night when no one was there, so no one was injured, but the business was gutted. "The outside of the building was fine, but we had to rebuild everything inside," Carol says.

The New Hamburg community rallied around them. "Bill was a Lion's Club member and so the members of the Lion's Club came and helped us clean up. They just shovelled everything out," Carol says.

The pumps were fine so they were able to set up a trailer and continued to sell gas while they rebuilt the business.

For many years, Bill and Carol continued to run the service station while also getting into snowmobiles and then boats. But by the late 1990s, Shell no longer wanted to be involved in a gas station at that location.

So the pumps were taken out and from then on, Massel's strictly sold and serviced boats and snowmobiles. One of the service station mechanics was retrained as a marine service technician, and the business later took on a second certified marine mechanic.

Customers come from across midwestern Ontario. A lot of them are people who love fishing. When they retire and have time for more fishing, they buy themselves a boat. "It becomes part of their retirement package," Carol says.

Most of the boats are sold on trailers, although Massel's occasionally delivers a larger boat to a lake. Fishing boats, ranging from 14 to 20 feet in size, and outboard motors are the biggest part of the business, but it also sells larger pontoon boats to recreational boaters. The business also sells used boats.

Massel's doesn't have a big showroom but it has a catalogue online, so people can order accessories that are not in stock. "We can usually get products in here in a day," Carol says.

Snowmobile sales have declined in recent year. The increased cost and weather have played a role, says Carol. "It used to be that when our kids were growing up, everybody in the neighbourhood had a snowmobile and we would get together on a Sunday afternoon to have fun, but people don't do as much of that anymore," she says.

But Massel's is still busy in the winter. That's when the mechanics tackle bigger projects, such as rebuilding an engine. Massel's also "shrink wraps" boats, which involves covering them in protective plastic film. They are stored at a nearby site.

In February, the business gears up for the summer. That's when it displays products at the London Boat, Fishing and Leisure Show.

Massel's recently teamed up with Natural Sports in Kitchener to do cross-promotional radio advertising. "They have the fishing equipment and we have the boats, so we paired up," Carol says.

It is a business that is affected by economic ups and downs. There were good years in 2006 and 2007, followed by the economic downturn of 2008, when people pulled back on purchases. "But now, fortunately, it is starting to come back," Carol says.

She attributes Massel's survival for 81 years to its loyal employees and customers. "We just try to treat everybody fairly," she says.
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