CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Surplus owners Ira and Lynn Wachtel have sold their store for outdoors enthusiasts to their daughter and son-in-law, Shira and Dan Epstein.

It's the second time the 63-year-old store has passed to a new generation. Twenty-nine years ago, the Wachtels bought the business from Lynn's parents, Leo and Anne Weisel.

"At this point, the business goes on as usual, with everything going on exactly as in the past – and with two more competent hands on deck," Ira Wachtel said. "The first major change will be to get an e-commerce site up and running."

Customers can still expect to see the Wachtels around the store at 303 S. Neil St., C.

"Both Lynn and I will continue to be active in the store, but in a diminishing capacity as each year passes," said Ira Wachtel, 60.

Both Shira and Dan Epstein have business backgrounds and enjoy the outdoors. Dan was controller at the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago, and Shira has her own graphic design and marketing firm, Trillium Creative.

The couple, who married in 2008, moved to Champaign from Chicago, where they had lived in the Lincoln Square area.

Dan Epstein, a 38-year-old certified public accountant, said he liked the idea of being an entrepreneur, and he and Shira wanted a change in lifestyle.

"We really like the lifestyle here. It was a big draw," he said.

Epstein said he loves the outdoors and adventure, having climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Rainier in Washington, hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, and taken a six-day survival course in glacier mountaineering.

"Both Dan and I are passionate about spending time outdoors," said Shira Epstein, 36. "Dan's into mountaineering, and I'm into backpacking. It's an opportunity to work in something we're passionate about."

Shira said she has fond memories of her grandparents running the business, which was originally at 115 S. Neil St., C, before moving to 40 E. University Ave., C, in 1965.

"I remember playing hide-and-go-seek in the warehouse with my brother, and I worked there during high school and college," she said.

Shira Epstein said she started Trillium Creative in 2003 and will operate it at "a somewhat reduced capacity" as she splits time between it and the store.

She said she'll work on new branding and corporate identity for the store, as well as developing an e-commerce site. A resident of Chicago since 1996, she was art director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago before earning a master's degree in business administration from Northwestern University.

Ira Wachtel said the decision to pass the store to a new generation came up unexpectedly.

"In July, this wasn't on the radar for us," he said. "In August, when the children came to us with the idea that they'd like to come and take over the business, we began a conversation. We were phenomenally enthusiastic, and it allows us to move forward as a business really should.

"It seemed like an appropriate time to transition to generation three," he added.

Champaign Surplus employs about 25 people. Its major departments include camping, footwear, outerwear, clothing and military surplus – the category in which the store got its start.

Leo and Anne Weisel opened the store in 1947, Ira Wachtel said.

"I came into the business in October 1975 after doing grad school work and purchased the business in 1981," he said. He and Lynn moved the store from University Avenue to its current location in 1983.

After working at the store, Dan Epstein said, he has learned that "my in-laws do a phenomenal job running this business. They really know it well; they know the customers well. ... I've got a lot to learn from them."

The Wachtels also have a son, Jonathan, who is a planner for the city of Lakewood, Colo., immediately west of Denver.

As for their daughter and son-in-law, Ira Wachtel said he's pleased to know Champaign Surplus is in good hands.

"It makes us very happy to know the business is able to continue in downtown Champaign, with young, capable people to operate it and keep it viable," he said.