Some who are reading this currently have shooting ranges and some do not. If you do, I’m sure you’re currently offering leagues and open-range shooting. And if you don’t have a range, perhaps you’re considering building one, or moving into a facility that will accommodate one while also running the numbers to see if it will fly. Regardless of the boat you’re in, this article aims to outline creative ways your range (or future range) can drive more traffic and yield more revenue.

Because I’m not a dealer, I spoke with a few folks to compile some detailed insights just for you. First, I talked with Neil Overbay who has been an avid archer and bowhunter for more than 2 decades. He and his wife, Julee, opened Hit or Miss Archery Center in 2014, and their store’s range has become a fun hub in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

I also spoke with Tom and Bruce Goldsmith of Plum Creek Archery in Dyersville, Iowa, who are no strangers to Archery Business’ pages. Finally, I got the lowdown on Archery Tag from Aubrey Staller of Global Archery (maker of the original Archery Tag) and Theresa Greer of Music City Archery in Nashville, Tennessee, a dealer who offers Archery Tag in her range.

Many miles separate Plum Creek Archery, Hit or Miss Archery Center, and Music City Archery, but all have the common denominator of offering the public creative ways to shoot archery in their ranges, thus driving more traffic and generating more revenue. Following are some highlights of our discussions.

Archery Parties

Much like bowling, mini golf and hatchet-throwing, archery is a fun-filled group activity. For that reason, archery parties are becoming increasingly popular at archery shops that offer them. Archery parties are not only fun, but they can help you reel in more revenue.

“We offer party reservations during normal business hours or after business hours,” Overbay said. “Parties during business hours must share the range with other customers, but we reserve 10 lanes strictly for the party. Our range is 56 yards long and has 42 shooting lanes — plenty of room for everyone. However, those who book an after-hours party get the entire range to themselves. 

“While the targets for birthday parties are the same ones people shoot during our open-range shooting, we obviously set them closer. Since most shooters rent bows for parties, we tell everyone not to shoot beyond 30 yards, and most of the targets are set much closer than that so people can hit them easier.”

If you’re wondering how much money a party generates, Overbay provided a general idea. “Depending on whether the party is during or after business hours, our rates are $250 or $350 for 10 shooters. Beyond that, we charge a per-shooter fee for any additional shooters.”

The Goldsmiths also run a lot of archery parties at Plum Creek Archery. “A lot of shops don’t offer them,” Tom said, “but they’re highly beneficial. The parties make some money, but follow-up sales are strong, too. A lot of people who come to archery parties haven’t shot archery before. They try it, fall in love with it and come back to buy bows from us.”

Tom explained how archery parties work at Plum Creek Archery. “We base it on the number of participants,” he said. “Our parties last 2 hours, and we offer packages for 1-5 shooters, 6-10 shooters and 11-15 shooters. That way, non-shooters can come and enjoy the party without being charged.

“We generally start out on 80-centimeter targets so it’s easier for everyone to hit bull’s-eyes. We then transition to balloons because everyone loves popping balloons. Our Bowsim4D video range is included, so participants can shoot at animals or play games. We have a main floor and an upstairs level with a lounge. When someone reserves a party, they get the entire upstairs level. They can order pizza or bring in whatever food they want. Our escape room (more on that later), can be added on to the conventional archery parties at an additional fee.”

A lot of people probably think of archery parties as birthday parties for kids. But, who wouldn’t love to work for a company that holds a business meeting, team-building event, casual get-together or Christmas party at an archery range? Overbay said his range has served that purpose, too, even drawing in corporate companies. “We’ve had a number of larger companies hold events at our range,” he said. “Sometimes they shoot for only 15-20 minutes and spend the rest of the time talking. They bring food or order pizza and hang out and have a good time.”

Archery Tag

Archery Tag originated in 2011, and it is best described as a bridge between archery and dodgeball. Teams of four or five players take aim at their opponents with non-lethal, foam-tipped arrows. Teams score points by striking opponents and by catching their arrows. The team with the most points wins.

Not only is Archery Tag fun for the whole family, but it offers archery shops a unique way to introduce people to archery. Theresa Greer of Music City Archery in Nashville, Tennessee, said, “Archery Tag has been an exciting offering to introduce people to archery, and it’s a fun alternative for birthday parties, bachelor parties, and corporate events.”

Aubrey Staller of Global Archery, the creator of genuine Archery Tag brand products, gave the lowdown on getting set up with Archery Tag equipment. “Archery stores interested in offering the Archery Tag experience are encouraged to contact us,” she began. “We ask a few simple questions and will offer recommendations based on your budget, square footage, and whether or not you will offer mobile events. We have spent the past 13 years running thousands of games and have developed an excellent system to help you hit the ground running.

“Once a dealer or venue decides to move forward, they’re not on their own. We’re here to train and support your staff. We are here to take your phone calls and have real people that you can talk to. We stand behind our products and support you every step of the way.”

Staller mentioned that “many knockoffs have popped up since Global Archery created the first Archery Tag arrow in 2011, but they will never match our innovation, quality or our 13-year safety record with no insurance claims,” she explained. “Beware of the knockoffs that try to pass themselves off as selling ‘archery tag’ equipment. There is a difference, and Global Archery is the sole source for original Archery Tag and S.A.F.E. Archery brand archery products.”  

As far as return on investment, Staller said some customers have recouped their equipment investment costs very quickly. Of course, this will vary by location and event type. 

“We have seen companies pay between $1,000 and $2,000 per hour for a team-building event,” she said. “With locations in more than 70 countries and 2,500 locations that have our products, Archery Tag is very popular. A Google search for ‘archery tag’ will return over 19 million results compared to 7 million for ‘archery dealers.’”

If that doesn’t sound like a fun way to keep people coming to your range and generating revenues, I don’t know what does.

Escape Room

Mainstream escape rooms are very popular right now, but the Goldsmiths believe they have the country’s only archery escape room. Tom explained how the concept came alive.

“We used to have a TechnoHUNT system,” he said. “It went down, and we looked around for a different solution. We did lots of research and ran across Bowsim 4D. It’s mostly marketed as a training tool, but it has a ton of games that we knew would pair well with our archery parties. We purchased the system. Once we’d been using it for a while, we discovered that you can play your own movies on it. Our thought was folks who filmed their hunts could relive them. Eventually, we started conceiving of the escape room concept.

“My son helped me to write some scripts with ‘Dr. Bullseye and his assistant, Fletch.’ We made movies that go with it. Then, we use specific games on Bowsim 4D as the challenges. We did some beta testing to figure out how long it should take, as well as point values to use. It took several months to develop it. We want participants to reach at least challenge 9 or 10, even if they don’t escape. It’s been working out that way.”

Plum Creek Archery gets many donation requests, and escape room certificates are no-brainer donations. “It’s a great marketing tool for our store. We’re giving out something free that gets people in the door to experience archery. Virtually anyone can do it because we use low-poundage Genesis bows,” Tom said. “It costs us a little bit of labor because we have an employee or two to run it and keep scores. It’s been a big hit. We get a lot of families around Christmas time. We’ve also made some bow sales — mostly entry-level bows — as a result of people trying archery for the first time in our escape room and loving it.” 

Annual Shoots

Have you ever wondered if your range could become a destination for out-of-towners? Although launching an annual tournament is a steep task, it can be successful with enough effort and promotion.

“We have three annual shoots,” Overbay explained. “The most popular is our Hit or Miss Classic, which involves the Hit or Miss Target. We teamed up with Maple Leaf Press to create a special four-spot target. This year, we had about 200 shooters attend, and we paid out $14,000. We also have an annual Vegas Warmup shoot. And the last one is a 3-D tournament.”

Obviously, hosting annual shoots is a huge commitment. You can’t expect it to grow wings and fly on its own. Being that Hit or Miss Archery Center is still a fairly young store — celebrating its 10th anniversary this year — I queried Overbay on how the Hit or Miss Classic has become so well attended.

“It has entailed a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “This shoot is important to me because this corner of the United States doesn’t have a good indoor paper shoot. Anyway, I reach out to all of my reps and request products — maybe a bag target or a dozen arrows. Donations are turned into retail sales that are added to the pot of money that is paid out to the tournament winners. The buzz of the money has reached well beyond New Mexico. We’ve even had professional archers such as Tim Gillingham come and shoot. The other thing is there are several different classes so every archer can compete against archers of similar talent.”      

The Goldsmiths also offer an annual shoot at Plum Creek Archery. “We have our PCA Fallout tournament,” Tom detailed. “It has an open class and a hunter class, and begins with a qualification round. Your score gets you seeded in a double-elimination bracket. Shooters compete head-to-head down to the top three. We used to run three of these a year, but now we hold one annually. Rather than three smaller shoots, we want it to be one large shoot. It’s been a lot of fun and very successful.”

Final Thoughts

There you have it. Getting creative and offering more beyond leagues and open-range shooting can make your range the place to be. You’re offering fun things to your community (and beyond), and you get the side benefit of reeling in more revenue. Oh, and don’t forget the byproduct, which is more future sales. I don’t know about you, but to me, that sounds like it’s well worth the effort.

Sidebar: Archery Gear for Parties

When a party of people arrives for a birthday party or corporate event at Hit or Miss Archery, Overbay said that each person must sign a liability release before the party or event begins. Everyone is escorted out to the range. If the group consists of five or fewer people, one employee supervises and assists with getting everyone an appropriate archery gear and instructing them how to use it. Safety and range rules are also discussed. If the group is larger, say, eight to 15 people, then two employees accompany the group.

Overbay shared his approach to equipment for partygoers. “When we have private events or archery parties and people don’t bring their own equipment, we provide Genesis bows and inexpensive traditional bows in the package price,” Overbay said. “We don’t set up any full-on compound setups.” 

Things are similar at Plum Creek Archery. “We give a little lesson so everyone knows how the bows work,” Goldsmith said, “and we help them get sighted in. Our rental-bow fleet, which is included in the party package, consists of Genesis bows with HHA single-pin sights and Whisker Biscuit rests. The bows have D-loops, and each shooter is outfitted with a release. For our escape room, we use Genesis bows without sights.” 

Sidebar: Bonus Moneymakers

Neil Overbay and Tom Goldsmith each shared one more way that their ranges make them more money and generate future sales.

“We’re blessed to have four Level 2 Certified instructors and one Level 1 Certified instructor,” Overbay said. “On average, we run about four to eight lessons weekly. Lessons themselves aren’t huge money makers because I pay my instructors very well, but we’re always trying to push lessons because of the future revenue they create. Someone who tries a lesson and gets hooked often returns to purchase equipment. I always tell my instructors to make sure each client has the time of their life. They have 45 minutes to make it as fun as possible. If they have a blast during the lesson, they usually come back to buy their own equipment.”   

Goldsmith shared similar input. “Our JOAD program has been very financially productive,” he said. “This year, we have 47 kids enrolled. Parents bring their kids just to see how they like archery. Of course, we haven’t seen a kid who doesn’t. They’ll rent bows from us for a while, but many eventually purchase their own equipment, which is a nice addition to our coaching fees.”