Do you support the small Archery Shops ?

[fasteddie]

Personally , I had never felt it necessary because many of them overcharge to make up for lack of business . I wanted a string and cable replaced on my Ben Pearson TX-4 . I was going to to take it to one of the larger shops but remembered there is a shop on the Walworth-Ontario road and took it there . Dave (at Trophy Taker Archery) did an excellent job and was very reasonable in price . He didn't charge me any more for the peep than it would have cost in the Big Box Store . Kinda restored my faith in the small guy .

[rock]

im done with the shops around here getting a press building a drawboard and doing my own work !!!

[MuzzyLoader]

I support a local shop (Arnot Forest Archery).  It's kinda nice to walk in and be called by name, and then receive personal service second to none!

[fasteddie]

I stopped off at the bowshop in Williamson this past spring . My youngest son was ready to drop $ 1200 - $1400 on a Bowtech Admiral with sight , rest , quiver , bowcase , etc . I talked to the owner's dad and another guy behind the counter . When the owner arrived , he spent his time on the phone and never talked to me . I pee'd away an hour and decided to leave but I left a list of what I wanted , my home phone # and cell phone # . I never got a call . Apparently the guy is well off and didn't need my son's money .

I talked to a friend on another site and was able to get my son a Limbsaver DZ32 at a great price . My son picked up an EXtreme 4 pin sight and I found a Trophy ridge drop Zone and I set that up . It's shooting great .

Maybe the bow shop did me a favor by not taking my money !  :

[Doc]

I try to do all my maintenance myself. I have had a heck of a run of bad luck with small local shops, even some that were well established and had a reputation to protect. When you think about it, most of the so-called experts at the local shops are simply "tinkerers" that have no certification or anything that makes them any better at it than we are. So whenever possible, I take my bow to the one that I trust the most .......... me. One thing is for sure, I will put in whatever time it takes to make it right. That's a luxury that most archery pro-shops don't have.

Over the years I have never hesitated to pull any of my bows completely apart. In fact a couple of my tournament bows wound up laying on my workbench with no two pieces assembled so I could give them custom paint jobs. It was no big deal. After all, we are not talking about auto repair here....lol.

Doc

[WNYBuckHunter]

I have had nothing but great luck with one of the local shops, Bullzeye Archery. They have great techs that get the job done right, and fast and their prices a very good. Some things I still have to buy at the big box stores because the little guys just cant compete, but for services and other things, they are great. I also had bad luck with another shop around here, Shooters Supply. Those guys almost act like they dont want to do the work or business.I have started learning a bit more about doing my own work on my bow, but to be honest, I dont really have the time at this point.

[Nomad]

You bet I do Indian Mountain Archery in Hilton. Phil the owner is outstanding ! Top notch all the way. He takes his time listens to all your "stories" and is not pushy.

He sets up your bow and you come back when he's closed , just you and him in the shop ! He has you shoot, makes any adjustments, you shoot again till everything is right.

He has a "Hooter Shooter" which is like a Ramson rest that gun guys use. This fires your bow by mechanical means and removes all human factors in setting them up. He tunes it on this before you shoot, so its real close to start with.

A new guy leaves shooting good groups at 20 yards and fieldpoints and broadheads are flying the same !

Guys drive 6 hours from NYC and one guy flew in from Kanas........

[sweet old bill]

As a small archery dealer that has gone out of business this year I sure hoped I had local support. But the changes to buying direct, ebay or other from the internet pused me over the edge to not having the business to keep going. I worked out of the house and was in business for over 20 years, started when I still worked at IBM Endicott, making custom arrows. Then part time as I retired and grew thye business to a full archery shop. I loved the business and the customers. But found as they would buy form oter source and then bring a bow in and want me to resolve any problems they had even without buying the bow from me. Also the cost to maintain a inventory has increased in the last 10 years by almost 75% cost of the inventory you need to just open the door. To my past customers I say thank you again for your support of Sweet Old Bill's archery Pro shop in the past at North Pharsalia and last of Franklin NY.

[gutpile]

The guys at Westwind Archery are great. Whenever I have work done there they give me free range time to dial things in. And will even come onto the range to lend a hand.

[Nomad]

Sweet old bill, its a shame really. I'm a "knife" guy , collect, buy many what some would think high end ones.

Guys go to brick and mortor stores handle the knives, ask questions and so forth then go order on line and after shipping save 10 bucks on a $100 dollar knife.  Mean while the store has tons of money tied up in inventory , the knowledge to answer the questions, they get to see and handle the knife to see if they like it , but for a few dollars they'll put him out of businsess .

[SteveMcD]

Well.. for one thing there are not really any traditional archery shops where I live. As a tradional archer I make my own arrows and get most of what I need through the same archery suppliers the archery stores use anyway.

[SweetMike]

Hi guys,

    This is my first post here. looks like a pretty informational forum. I just wanted to say that i do all my buisiness with a local shop "barretts bow hunting" i bought my alpha max there last year and he had me all set up and out the door quick. I finished 2nd in a local tourny that following weekend so im pretty happy with his work!!!

[fasteddie]

There used to be an Archery Shop at the top of Irondequoit Bay in West Webster . It was "Sal's Archery Shop" . The guy had the manners of a brick . I always felt intimidated when I went in there . If you asked him any question , he wold talk down to you like you were stupid .

For the life of me I can't figure out why he went out of business !  : ... : ... : ... : ... :

[burmjohn]

I used the local shop for a few things.  I needed a new peep put on, and got my release from them.  The release was the same price after shipping if I ordered it online. 

[Fantail]

Well I bought my Bow at AJ's so you could say I support a local shop. But it would be a drive for minor maintenance, where a tech or two I know are more local elsewhere.

[fasteddie]

There is a shop on Rt 96 in Farmington . I think it's called Jim's Archery or something or other . Anyway I stopped in there about 4 years ago and thought the guy was rude . Needless to say , I never went back to spend any money ! I hardly ever see any vehicles in the lot ........

[vipertech]

I've bought all my bows from Guerin-teed Archery in Marion NY.  The owner Todd is a good guy and does good work.  He has a pretty good indoor range.  He also always seems to have a great selection of used bows. 

I have done business with Archery Solutions in Williamson.  My experience there has been better than what Fasteddie describes.  They have one of the best indoor ranges around.  Then again, I used to work with the owners Dad,  I shoot the indoor range fairly frequently, and I helped teach an Archery Hunters Ed course there.

[A6A6]

i will always goto a local small archery shop before any large box store... as long as the price is considerably close..

im not gonna get slaughtered,

most of the time a smaller place will have alot more knowlede than any kid behind the counter on his summer job at cabelas or gander...

no offense to the kid either ..

but eddie , your right. sometimes these sports shops have a certain attitude or cockiness about them..

almost as if you need them...  but that can be the case with anything in life..

maybe they just had a bad day , too bad he lost your buisness.

there is a guy here in brooklyn that is pretty much the only guy around .

his attitude sucks , his prices are outrageous and on top, he had no clue about archery, rifles or BUISNESS ETHICS AND MANNERS... the guy is a total  A-hole. and its not just once in a while its always..

the shame of it all is that he still makes buisness, people still go there and deal with his prices and attitude  just because he is the only guy around for miles.. being nyc, there is alot more tree huggers than sportsman.. 

always support your local buisnesses... box stores are taking over the planet

[burmjohn]

I support a lot of smaller businesses on the Web.  Although not local to me, they are local to someone

[bowhunter72]

i buy all my archery supplies from a local shop(legends of fall).they know you by name and treat you as a person not a number.they stand behind any product they sell and the people working there are the owners.i think this is the premier full time bow shop in central new york and its worth the drive

[fasteddie]

If I needed something done to my bow that I felt I couldn't handle , I wouldn't hesitate to go back to Trophy Taker Archery in Walworth . Dave has a small shop in the lower level of his home . He was quite cordial and did excellent work . And , he is closest to me .

I havn't been able to catch Gueren-teed Archery open when I am in the area (which is seldom) .

[Doc]

Ok ...... So how do you evaluate a pro-shop? We all know how badly some of these guys can screw your bow up. The timing of such screw-ups could cost you a good chunk of your season. So what criteria do you use. There seems to be no meaningful credentials to go by. I have had my bow screwed up miserably by a bow shop that came highly recommended. Others that I have had some good history with all eventually go out of business. So right now, if I had to have some work done, I wouldn't have a clue who to go to.

So, when your in this situation, do you just hand over your prized bow, cross your fingers and hope for the best, or have you all figured out some method of interrogating these guys to see if they really know what they are doing?

Doc

[sits in trees]

i feel as a bow hunter your much better served learning how to completely dismantle your bow right down to the limbs/axles and replace and tune your own equipment, it's not really rocket science and well worth the effort.

[SteveB]

Another good reason to use a recurve ;D

[burmjohn]

Eventually I'll get a bow press, then I guess there would not be a need for me to go local.  I know my local guy has skill, I watching him rig a peep, new string, etc.  He is actually really reasonable for work, its just the cost of the bows that are out of hand.  Which is the reason I bought my bow online, and then went there for some minor tweaks such as adding the peep and adjusting my draw to the right length.