I’ve been something of a pro shop junkie since I was a kid, when dad would take me with him for a Saturday breakfast at The Chili Hut, then we’d go spend a lot of time browsing and BS’ing at the local Western Auto. Back in the 1960s that’s where you shopped for guns, ammo, accessories and fishing tackle. If it wasn’t hunting season you could always find a handful of locals sitting around a little table covered with sporting publications and catalogues drinking coffee and sharing their views on every topic imaginable — many of which weren’t really appropriate for a small town boy who rarely traveled out of the county.

As the saying goes, I guess some things never change, because today, the hunting shops I visit most frequently are those that are still trying to create a sense of camaraderie within the local hunting and shooting communities.

They do this in different ways, depending on their individual circumstances. It’s a different ballgame for a big box store such as Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s or Sportsman’s Warehouse than it is for a smaller mom-and-pop store. Bottom line, relationship building is essential. Relationships build trust, and without trust retailers are pushing the wheelbarrow uphill when it comes to making sales.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have the opportunity to create physical communities of loyal customers. These communities provide tangible value that keep customers in stores longer, bring them back, and spread your brand story through word-of-mouth referrals. And word-of-mouth is powerful! A 2016 Nielsen Survey showed that 82 percent of Americans says they seek the opinion of friends and family before making a purchase.

3 Keys for Creating a Successful Store

There’s been a lot of talk lately about how online shopping is turning brick-and-mortar stores into dinosaurs heading for extinction. Last year I attended a seminar that essentially said that was true only if you allowed it to happen. Rather than dwell on the past, the focus was creating the successful store of the future. The three key points made were: 

1: Build a sense of community. To do this you must realize that your shop needs to fill a larger purpose than simply selling stuff. New or revitalized store formats will have more space that allows for social interaction as well displaying merchandise and providing services like setting up bows, scoping rifles and so on. Studies have shown that the consumer of tomorrow will spend more time in a store that offers them a chance for human contact and social interaction with both staff and other customers. It’s just like that little table in Western Auto decades ago, with a modern twist. A cool blog on community management can be found by clicking here.

2: Going social. Not social media per se, but instead a store that creates a concept of community that connects customers with experiences and people that can enhance their own enjoyment. Several hunting, archery shops and gun stores I visit have staff members that are certified hunter safety instructors, for example, and they can always be found giving classes. They actively promote banquets for conservation organizations and use these banquets as a place to network with potential customers. They have picture boards where hunters post hero shots, sponsor youth sports teams and scout troops, hold range days, host instructional seminars and even community events like litter clean-ups on nearby roadways.

3: Use the internet. Like it or not, social media is a powerful force with today’s consumer that is not going to go away. For hunting communities, using it can be tricky given the restrictions many popular SM sites place on hunters and gun owners. So while you have to be smart about it, you have to be actively engaged. You also must have a modern, easy-to-navigate, and informative website; if it doesn’t allow customers to buy products online, how about a discount coupon good on an in-store purchase only? Or how about an online newsletter that soft-sells your shop but also offers general information hunters need like tag draw deadlines, news stories taken from DNR press releases, new product information, highlights a success story from one of your customers and so on. Send it to everyone on your email list every month.

Parting Thoughts

Whenever possible, hire people that are hunters and shooters. Nothing is more frustrating than going into a store and dealing with help that doesn’t have a clue. Just this past summer I went into a local Walmart and Dick’s looking to buy an over-the-counter archery deer tag. It should have been a simple thing, but in both places not only did the hired help not know what I was talking about, they gave me the “look” that said they thought I was kind of disgusting.

Needless to say, there wasn’t a place for hunters to hang around and shoot the breeze.

What do you do to create a sense of community? Drop me a note at editor@grandviewoutdoors.com, I’d love to hear about it.

PRO STAFF: The author of this article, Bob Robb (above), has been a full-time outdoor writer since 1978. He's a former staff editor for Peterson's Hunting magazine, as well as the former editor of Western Outdoor News, Peterson's Bowhunting, Inside Archery, Whitetail Journal, Predator Xtreme, and Waterfowl & Retriever magazines. He's hunted on five continents with both rifles and archery equipment, and lived in Alaska for 15 years, where for a time he held an assistant hunting guide's license.