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David Jaffe and Robert Wolfe at their camp store.

Camp-y Business

Wolfe
It obert
didn't want to go
to law school.
Neither did his
friend, David
Jaffe. Instead,
the two young
entrepreneurs decided to
take a chance.
On October 31, just six
months after finishing col-
lege, Mr. Wolfe and Mr.
Jaffe, both 22, opened
Moosejaw Mountaineering
and Backcountry Travel, a
camping and travel store in
Keego Harbor. "We lost our
minds and opened up a busi-
ness," says Mr. Wolfe.
He and Mr. Jaffee had
discussed opening a store for

a couple of years. But the
pair were notorious among
friends and family for their
creative schemes; no one
knew for sure whether this
particular plan would actu-
ally pan out.
"We also had a salad-ma-
chine invention," Mr. Wolfe
says. His partner laughs
and finishes the thought:
"We just came up with a
million ideas. Until the day
we actually opened, there
were a lot of skeptics."
Mr. Wolfe agrees. "We
didn't know we were doing
it until the day we signed
the lease."
The two met and devel-
oped their love of camping

David Jaffe
and Robert Wolfe
bring their love of
camping and travel
indoors with their
new business.

SUSAN KNOPPOW

SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

at Camp Seagull, which
they attended from elemen-
tary school until just last
year. By age 17, they were
too old to be campers, so
they worked in the kitchen.
Subsequent summers were
spent as counselors, then
trippers and eventually as
directors of the summer
camp in Charlevoix.
Neither Mr. Wolfe nor Mr.
Jaffe had much retail expe-
rience prior to opening their
store. Mr. Wolfe was a po-
litical science major at U-M;
Mr. Jaffe studied history at
the University of Wiscon-
sin. In addition to working
at Camp Seagull every sum-
mer, the two young men

held a variety of high school
and college jobs, during
which they saved up for
their current venture.
Once they settled on the
Moosejaw idea, their plans
quickly took shape. Mr.
Wolfe and Mr. Jaffe spent
six months researching and
planning their business,
consulting with people in
the camping industry and
friends in a variety of retail
businesses. They learned
about credit and financing
and utility bills and dealing
with wholesalers.
And they learned a lot
through trial and error.
Every day is hectic, full of

CAMPY BUSINESS page 68