Life is Good in Saratoga Springs
The storefront of Life is Good’s Saratoga Springs location on Broadway. Photo via the company’s Facebook page.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Life is good for John Nemjo, and not just because his businesses have sold more than 43,000 canoes and kayaks.
Earlier this month, Nemjo opened Life is Good on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, right next to his other store, Saratoga Outdoors. The Life is Good brand has been an enduring success for decades, and Nemjo attributes that success to the company’s positive, outdoorsy message.
“Saratoga has so many things that relate to the Life is Good deal. We have music. We have SPAC. We have horses,” Nemjo said. “We got the lake. We got the mountains. We got golf. We got tennis. We’ve got lots of things.”
Upstate New York’s access to the great outdoors is what made Nemjo’s stores successful, and it’s also what drew him to the area in the first place.
“I fell in love with the Adirondacks over a bunch of years and decided, hell I’ll move to Old Forge and open up a camping store,” Nemjo said.
When he opened his first Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company store in 1993, Nemjo had little money and even less experience running a business. But after three years of hard work, it became clear that Nemjo was on to something. Canoe and kayak sales began to skyrocket. His burgeoning empire grew to three stores located along the Moose River. Then in 2007, he purchased an old bank in downtown Old Forge and turned it into his first Life is Good location.
“That store took off right out of the box,” Nemjo said. “We were doing $5,000 a day in t-shirts right at the beginning. It was crazy.”
When Nemjo relocated to the Capital Region, he wanted to work a bit closer to home. So he began exploring the idea of opening a Life is Good store in Saratoga. At the time, the ski apparel company CB Sports carried Life is Good products in town. But when the CB location at 490 Broadway closed, Nemjo seized his opportunity. He took over the property and opened the first iteration of a dedicated Life is Good store in 2008.
Since then, Nemjo has steadily increased his presence on Broadway, purchasing neighboring stores when they closed up shop. Today, he owns four storefronts, including the new Life is Good location at 486 Broadway, which officially opened its doors on July 1.
“I think we’ve got the largest retail footprint on Broadway now,” Nemjo said. “I know my landlord’s making a lot of money from us.”