Madison paddling shop owner says he’ll sell rather than close Rutabaga

Madison’s Rutabaga Paddlesports may not be closing after all, though owner Darren Bush still plans to transition to a new career as a hospice chaplain.

Bush, who has worked at the specialty sporting goods shop since 1990 and owned it since 2007, last month said he made the decision to move on from Rutabaga after a serious heart attack led him to reevaluate his life.

In an interview with WPR’s “The Larry Meiller Show,” he said his announcement was followed by hundreds of emails and direct messages asking “What are you doing? How can you do this? You can’t do this.” Some of those messages were from potential buyers of the business.

“I decided, if I can choose … the person who’s going to run it the way that I do it, and have the same ethos and sense of community, I would consider (selling),” Bush said.

Bush said he still feels called to work as a chaplain. But he was impressed with the number of responses he got from people who feel a connection to the kayaking or paddling community that Rutabaga has played a role in building. As planned, he will continue to work on the annual Canoecopia event in Madison. He also said he plans to stay on part-time with the shop during an ownership transition. 

He said it’s still important to him that the next owner of Rutabaga share his values.  

“If it’s a couple of private equity bros who want to plaything,” he said, his answer would be “‘Nope, sorry, you’re not going to keep it going the way that I want it to go.’ (But) I’m not concerned about that, because the kind of people that are interested in this are interested because of the community that Rutabaga has created.”

The news that he is open to selling, he said, prompted a new wave of online responses. 

“I feel like George Bailey at the end of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’” he said. “‘No man is poor who has friends.’” 

Editor’s note: Rutabaga Paddlesports is a WPR business sponsor.