Skip’s Sport Shop: A Grayling Tradition Carved in Cedar and Gunstock Oil

On the west edge of Grayling, where M-72 runs like a steady river through pine and sand, there’s a doorway that still opens to the smell of bowstring wax, oiled walnut, and fresh stories from the Au Sable. Skip’s Sport Shop has been that doorway for generations.

Clare “Skip” Madsen opened the place and set its compass. A Grayling High School graduate of 1958, he knew a rifle by its balance and a bow by the music of its string. From the beginning, he was never alone. In 1961, Skip married Gail Lucksted, and together they built both a marriage and a business. Gail stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the shop, her presence as much a part of the place as the creak in the floorboards. She kept the books, ordered stock, and met folks at the counter with a smile that made newcomers feel like regulars. Many came in for shells or arrows and stayed because Gail remembered their camp, their kids, and where the fish were last seen rolling at dusk.

Day after day, the pattern held. Skip in the back room with a bow on the stand or a rifle on the mat, patient and careful, solving the little mysteries of tune and fit. Gail out front, steady as a lighthouse, keeping the place warm and human. Together they built more than a store. They built a meeting ground for hunters and anglers, a place where the coffee was ready and good news traveled by word of mouth.

In time, the torch passed to Jack and Missy Millikin. The handoff was quiet, the way good things often are in small towns. What mattered wasn’t the paperwork, but the promise to keep faith with what Skip and Gail had built. Jack knows the counter talk and the feel of good gear in the hand. Missy is there in the thick of bow season, making sure a customer leaves ready for opening morning. And Gail is still part of the rhythm — stopping in, lending a hand, greeting customers who have become friends. Her presence is a gentle reminder of how this place began.

Skip passed on January 10, 2022. The shop felt it, the town felt it, and a lot of us who measure our lives by seasons felt it too. But the lights did not dim. Gail’s steady grace, and Jack and Missy’s careful stewardship, have kept the doors open and the work honest. The spirit that Skip set in motion still stands behind the counter.

Today, the racks hold compound and traditional bows, the gun cases are polished and full, and the shelves carry live bait and fishing tackle for every season. Whether you need a bow tuned, a rifle sighted, minnows before first light, or the right lure for a finicky trout bite, you’ll find it here — along with advice as local as the Au Sable’s bends.

You can list the address — 5765 W M-72, Grayling — and the hours — Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those are the facts. But the truth is simpler. People keep coming back because this is a place built on trust, craft, and the kind of welcome that never wears out.

Skip’s Sport Shop began with Skip and Gail in 1961, and it continues with Gail, Jack, and Missy. Hands different, heart the same. In Grayling, that’s what a legacy looks like.