[tkdeerhunter]

The bowshop in my town just went out of business. This is the second on in the town to go out of business. Now the only shops around are half hour & 45 mins. away. What does a guy have to do to keep a bowshop open. There are alot of people who like to shoot in this town, but now will not have a place to shoot this winter.

 

[rembrandt]

I went thru the same thing with Whitetail Country and then the Pawn shop here in town. Now, I have to go about 35 miles to a good archery shop. Just not fair to us folks with gas prices so dang high!

 

[phf]

help

Im sure this is going to start a debate on archery proshops but this is one of the things we have to go through when we decide to save a few extra dollars and buy things in catalogs or on the internet instead of spending the dollars in our local shops. It is worth the extra 10 dollars here and there to have them around. Now in your case you will spend that same money or more driving to other shops. Im not saying that you didnt support them but archers as a whole need to try and support them when they can.

 

[Dale_B1]

First pro shop business is a really really tough business. Most shops are seasonal-----3 to 4 months in order to make enough to stay open year around. Attitude of the shop owner, type of service and products. Plus above all a really, really good customer base. Our pro shop(I work there part time) is open seven days a week year round------no indoor range(way too many good clubs in our area). We need to make 99% of our operating capital in about a 4 month window so we can survive for our customers. We are strictly a archery shop, that is a dealer for around 20 different bow lines, about any acc. and we work on any bow worth working on. this shop has been in business for over 20 years so I would say the owner knows what he is doing.:wink:

 

[jkkfam89]

buy a lot of stuff frequently, online is a choice you may have to use

 

[bownutt]

Being strictly an archery shop is very tough as Dale said and in most cases they do not survive because the owner or owners start dipping into the cookie-jar. My Wife and I started our shop 8 years ago from our home primarily building arrows and doing basic repairs. To do it right, IMO the owner needs to let the customers build the shop. If the owner know's how to provide customer service and be detailed in the work they perform, the shop will grow. That is exactly what we did and even in a small town, our pro-shop has been doing well. It all comes down to the attitude of those operating the shop and what exactly the owner is willing to sacrifice while building his/ her shop.

 

[cbmac]

This may be harsh, but

If 30 min is too far away, I'm confused. If there were 4 shops within 45 min of each other, that is a lot of competition for most communities. No wonder they can't all survive. I hope the best shops are the ones left. How close do you want a shop?

 

[BowRegards]

Instead of a pro shop, form a club and rent a space for a range.

 

[Joel C]

If 30 min is too far away, I'm confused. If there were 4 shops within 45 min of each other, that is a lot of competition for most communities. No wonder they can't all survive. I hope the best shops are the ones left. How close do you want a shop?

I agree. 30-45 minutes isnt too far to drive to make a purchase and with that many choices it sounds like competition is pretty stiff.

 

[clinometer]

I live in a place that could only support one shop...actually more like 6/10ths of a shop. None have stayed in business for more than a few years. Problem is the pro either 1: doesn't know what they're doing or 2: may or may not know and is too arrogant to offer quality service. Plus, archery only is very tough. One might have to suck it up and diversify into other sporting goods to pay the bills...

 

[cbmac]

More than one sport

I live in a place that could only support one shop...actually more like 6/10ths of a shop. None have stayed in business for more than a few years. Problem is the pro either 1: doesn't know what they're doing or 2: may or may not know and is too arrogant to offer quality service. Plus, archery only is very tough. One might have to suck it up and diversify into other sporting goods to pay the bills...

Many years ago a friend had a SCUBA shop, and was in this bind- the community couldn't quite support one shop. He tried to combine it with another specialty sports shop- bicycles. Didn't work.