H&H Sport Shop

The History of H&H Sport Shop – Maple Lake, MN

1950. Originally owned by Morry Eggana and Bill Baker, H&H Sport Shop was once a filling station and drive-in café.
1951. The space was sold to Mrs. N.E. White, who renamed the station White’s Texaco.
1952. Frank Hogan and Leslie Hamilton purchased the lot from Mrs. White and renamed the business H&H Sport Shop. The following October, Frank Hogan and Les Hamilton finalized their plans to construct a 24 x 40 building to modernize their drive-in restaurant and move the existing drive-in to the back of the building to use as storage space. Their ultimate goal was to have more space to service cars and provide ample dining space.
1953. Jim Churchill purchased the property from Frank Hogan and had a grand reopening He and his wife, Jody Churchill, continued operating with the name “H&H Sport Shop” even though it was no longer the initials of the owners. Jim could often be heard around the store referring to it as “His & Hers Sport Shop” and would jokingly say that it would all be half hers eventually anyway, so he might as well stay calling it that.

Moving Into the Digital Space 

After decades of physical locations, Mel’s Outdoors decided to become an online retailer so it could provide excellent customer service as an outdoor sports store to even more folks across the country. We love connecting with outdoor enthusiasts nationwide and providing the best products available.