She bought the 17-year-old apparel, screen printing, embroidery and design business from Moore on Feb. 15 as Moore semi-retired from the industry. He plans to stay on doing designs as the artistic side of things for the foreseeable future, he said.

So now, after nearly five years of Karl working for him, he’s Karl’s employee.

“It’s come full circle,” both said.

But it is taking some getting used to.

“He’s still the boss when he comes in,” Karl said with a laugh.

The business — with locations in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid — produces jerseys for local youth sports teams, hats for local breweries, T-shirts for local events and jackets for state events held locally, among countless other celebrations, businesses and life events.

“It’s fun to walk down Main Street in Lake Placid and see a dozen people with my shirts on,” Karl said.

Clothing is involved in countless different parts of life, she said.

“Some are super happy. Some are really sad. Certain projects pull on your heartstrings once in a while,” Karl said.

Sometimes she throws event shirts to kids. Other times she provides memorial shirts for remembering someone who has died.

Moore said he knows Karl will be a good leader for the business, its customers and the community it clothes. He was “delighted” to have the business change hands into hers. Karl said with the skills and knowledge she has learned in her five years at the shop she is confident in taking on the business.

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A business to own

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The office still feels like Moore’s office, Karl said, just empty. It’s sad seeing it cleaned out. To make it her own, she said, she’s probably going to give it a new paint job, add some small trees and definitely bring in a couch and TV for her kids.

Karl, of Lake Placid, has been working with Moore since 2018.

She got into the business by circumstance when she wanted a more flexible schedule than waiting tables to be with her three kids — two 4-year-old twins and a 13-year-old.

She became the production manager at Bear Essentials — essentially, she was “Greg when Greg wasn’t here.” It’s instant gratification.

“Piles build up, piles go down,” she said. “I like that I’m good at it.”

And it’s different every day.

Did she think she’d own a business five years ago? “No,” she said.

But Karl said for the past few years she’s known she has wanted to own something. She said she doesn’t own anything but her car and her kids, and she barely owns them, she added with a laugh.

At the same time, Moore had been thinking about retiring. He wanted to make sure the business would be put in good hands and not just anyone would do.

“I didn’t want to just sell it to somebody from out of town,” Moore said.

The two considered their future goals separately, contemplating their plans internally. But eventually, they learned of each other’s plans and decided the paths could converge.

When Karl offhandedly spoke about buying a business in Lake Placid one day, Moore caught wind and didn’t let the opportunity pass by. He said watching Karl work in the shop was the “final catalyst” pushing him to sell. Moore and his wife Linda offered Karl their business, and after a lot of consideration, she agreed.

“I’m pretty sure I cried that day,” Karl said.

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A veteran business

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Moore moved to Saranac Lake in 1995, coming to a job at Compass Printing right after graduating college. He grew up in Syracuse and his father went to Paul Smith’s College. A decade later, he saw a need for screen printing and apparel design in town, so he started Bear Essentials in the basement of his home with minimal equipment and a graphic design degree from SUNY New Paltz.

The business had only been operating a short time when he was deployed to Iraq with the Army in 2004. He spent 17 months overseas on deployment.

When he returned to Saranac Lake, the business was nonexistent. He found a storefront next to the Berkeley Green — at 97B Main St., on the floor below what is now The Village Mercantile shop — and started small. He grew every year, adding more clients, more technology and more stores.

In 2009, he opened a second retail location in Lake Placid — currently located at 2577 Main St. — and in 2020 expanded there with Quantum Apparel.

Bear Essentials now has more than 2,000 active wholesale customers.

“I didn’t realize how easy it is to purchase a business that does well,” Karl said. “If they’re doing well on their books … it’s not bad.”

Because Bear Essentials was in good financial shape, it was an attainable purchase she said. Despite inflation and the coronavirus pandemic, she said they have had record years recently.

Karl is concerned about what the impact of the village of Saranac Lake stopping promotion of the 6er hiking challenge will be on her summer sales. Bear Essentials was an exclusive retailer for the challenge, selling shirts, hats and buttons with the logo.

With the 6er bell right outside the door in the Berkeley Green pavilion, Karl said when she hears the clanging of the bell, she knows someone’s going to be coming right down to buy some merch. It’s almost like a doorbell for her.

But last summer the village board chose to stop promoting the hiking challenge after concerns about trail overuse and parking issues at some of the trailheads.

This will mark the first summer she’s seen without it and she worries it will be tough on the business.

She said Bear Essentials has never marketed before and she wants to do that more.

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Eye on design

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Moore said he’s always kept an eye on pop culture, taking in what is popular in the social zeitgeist and seeing if trends can be woven into Adirondack-themed designs.

One early morning, while driving on Main Street in Lake Placid, he saw the marquee at the Palace Theater — it was the height of the Star Wars resurgence almost a decade ago. He thought of the text scroll before the classic movies and figured the iconic image looks a lot like a pine tree.

Then, an inspired idiom ran through his head: “May the forest be with you.”

This goofy 5 a.m. thought became a best-seller shirt at the store.

He is always looking at people’s shirts and said he once spotted one of his designs on a shirt in Montreal. It’s a social business, Karl said, and she loves being the source for local shirts.

The shirts she makes for Hope for Miracles events are some of her favorite. Hope for Miracles is a Jay-based non profit organization started by a local family with a son who is battling the rare neuroblastoma kidney cancer.

Bear Essentials also prints shirts for USA Luge, Ironman and the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.