Ginsburg Sells Uncle Sam?s; Arnold the New Owner
by July 25, 2011 12:00 am 299 views
Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters, the outdoor gear and clothing store at 1494 N. College Avenue in Fayetteville, is under new ownership.
On July 1, J.R. Arnold, a Fayetteville builder, bought the store from Robert Ginsburg, who opened the store in 1982 in the back room of the old Second Time Around clothing store on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Arnold will continue to lease the 6,000-SF space through Flake & Kelley Northwest LLC.
Ginsburg said he doesn’t believe the new ownership plans significant changes for the store, which moved to its current location, the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center, in 1985.
“I believe they intend to keep the name, the employees, the format all the same,” he said.
Ginsburg said the time commitments to operate a small business were mostly responsible for his decision to sell, citing the need to focus on other interests.
“For 29 years, as I’ve outfitted people to take backpacking trips to Europe or for a float trip down the Buffalo (River), the joke’s always been if you want to make sure you never have time to see the outdoors, open an outdoors store,” he said.
Ginsburg has hosted a weekly radio show since 1979 on KUAF-FM 91.3, a National Public Radio affiliate operated by the University of Arkansas, called “Shades of Jazz”.
He also does promotional work for the Walton Arts Center and founded of the North Arkansas Jazz Society.