bow shop

[huntergreg]

how do you go about starting your own bow shop? How do you become a certified dealer

[VFT]

I'm not sure Greg. I have thought about it myself, then realized that the owner of our local shop is always in the shop. He rarely gets a chance to get into the field. Never goes to any bow shoots, he's always cutting and flecthing arrows, setting up bows for free or talking with BSers that will never leave his shop.
Sounds like a great job... until you have it.

[Panzer]

Mr. Bill is right on that one. It sounds like a lot of fun, but when you HAVE to do it, any hobby quickly loses it's appeal and becomes work. I used to run the biggest pro shop in Baghdad :D and I spent most of my time setting up bows, making repairs, refletching arrows, running shoots and coaching. I hardly had any time for myself to relax and shoot.

The pay wasn't great either.

On second thought, maybe it was.

[UrS0NvS]

not that hard at all....

call your state tax office and get a tax license for a small business:

get in touch with every company you want to sell their product.

most accessory companies don't have a problem with you running out of your house, the deal is with bow companies. bow companies want a store front and advertising in the yellow pages or some kind of advertising showing store hours.

now here is where it gets into the money:

most companies want to know you can sell so much of their product per year before they will even do ANY business with them. usually for a bow company its between 10 to 25 bows from their line or so much overall from their company.

if you are wanting to turn your garage into your bow shop or your basement and want a bow line, think again. I know there is alot still that have a company in their home but they have been around forever and they have been "grandfathered " in. you have to have a seperate building either on your ground or in a existing building that will cost you rentwhich in terms if you are smart will raise your prices on accessories.

selling accessories is where you will get most of your money at, not with the bow.

a good start is gettting to be a dealer for lancaster archery supply. they only want you to guarantee 1500 a year which truthfully isnt squat once you get into 3-d or hunting accessories.

[huntergreg]

Thanks for the info. I recently talked with a bow shop in a town 40 miles away and he told me all the ins and outs. He told me he makes enough to pay the bills and a little on the side. He also said he doesn't make much off the bows. When the end of the year rolls around and you still have bows you have to mark them all down and most of the time he brakes even on the bows. It took him 5 years to finally get around $60,000 inventory. He is only open from 4pm to 8pm and has a job during the day. he said if he only had the shop he would have been out of bossiness in the firs year. He also never gets to hunt much when hunting season comes around. always fixing bow. Would be fun but probably cant support a family with it.

Thanks again everybody keep on hunting and have fun

[Oldaro]

I found out people like to shoot at funny targets. Invent, build, and/or acquire funny targets, and I think you'll have a best-seller archery accessory line, because that aspect is sorely missing in the sport.

The range can encompass really anything, the main thing is, it's different from usual. So, from 2-D funny pictures to be pinned up on the target buttresses, trough styrofoam cups filled with colored dust that explode when hit, to mechanical reaction targets, to battery-powered space-separated arrowhit-joined centerpoints that let out bells & whistles when hit, to water-bags-on-a-seesaw shootoff gadgets, to... well, why not?... 3-D human figures with interchangeable heads (now that's a transpolitical target that should sell like love!)

:D

Then there are paper sheets with awards names written behind the stuck-on target dots, targets like feather dusters with really tiny core (to hit), weigt-balanced coin on the wire that comes back upwards when hit, rubber arrowheads (1-2" dia.) to be stuck over the tip of an arrow to shoot at mechanical targets... or similar stamp version, to leave a mark on the paper, so you know what Tom, Dick & Harry hit...

The list could go on, but the best will be those that you'd like to shoot for fun... and profit... and thought of yourself.

Good Luck! Let us know...

:)