New Acrhery indoor lanes
 

Hey guys and girls.

We are looking to expand our indoor range to another part of edmonton or sherwood Park. What we would like is feed back as to what people would like to see. We are looking to cater to families and kids to help promote the value of using a bow for hunting and target practice. Its a great way to exercise,be competitive and be social. It is hard to set the same prices on equipment with the big chain stores however we are open to suggestions. Not looking to make millions but to keep the doors open more than a year or 2 for sure. Thank you all in advance and we look forward to hearing from you.

Pretty tough go to make an archery lane work. Will need a full proshop and likely have to carry some different brands or products than the other shops carry. Rent on floor space is high compared to the returns. There are currently 3x 20 yard max ranges operating that do not require membership and 2 others that do. IMHO, it's kind of a saturated market up here in Edmonton. I wish you the best!

LC

I really like the long 40 yard option at the Calgary archery centre. Get a long building :)

40 or more yards indoor would be nice up here. I think the $$$ return on the floor space would be pretty tough!

LC

X2 - Unless you're paying peanuts for the floor space this may be a tough endeavor. I would still like to wish you the best of luck however because it would be nice if it took off. Good luck!

I think the ticket would be a rural location, very close to the city, that would have indoor 20 yards lanes and outdoor lanes out to 60. The outdoor could be something like the setup at the SPFGA range. There is plenty of winter days that a person could shoot indoors then head outside for 20-30 minutes for some long range practice. I think that the place west of Millet use to offer this type of facility and stayed fairly busy. I imagine a location closer to the city would be even busier. Have a small pro shop with press, paper tuner and chrony. A couple of good selling brands like Hoyt, BowTech, PSE or Mathews and you might have a winner. I would look at the Leduc area as there is nothing on the south side of town.

South Edmonton or Beaumont or Leduc. The issue is today there is nowhere we can go on the south side as the two good ones are Jim Bows in the North, and Sherwood Park. Accurate archery is awesome but no shooting lanes. The other is in Spruce Grove...far west out of Edmonton.

Also there are numerous cost effective options in the Beaumont and Leduc areas as well for space.

Crac
 

I checked out the Capital Region Archery Club once, looks good but $700.00 bucks for a family membership is a bit steep for this guy. I'll stick with the fresh air at SPFGA for now and the weather has been quite mild lately.

Lots of warehouse space in Nisku right now..... just saying!

$700? Wow thats a lot of drop in range visits.

LC

Thanks for the great replies everyone, this is why I chose to post here. I know it may not make a lot of money but to get people the exposure to the sport and a place to practice while being social is the main objective.

Sherwood Park

There was a pretty loyal following at TnT but just too expensive rent. I think you could get a good following again if you could make the finances work

I think an archery range in South Edmonton or close like nisku would be great. If you could manage a space with 40 yard lanes that would be amazing. Ad a little pro shop with quality products and your golden.

I love the atmosphere at Jimbows and the knowledgeable staff. I wish I had something like that on the south side somewhere.

I agree with all the posts here, a south side location in Edmonton (I view north of Whitemud as north side). Leduc or Beaumont would suit me perfectly, I would rather go to pipestone when it was around or SPFGA than venture to north Edmonton.

I would support a Leduc/Nisku lane. Driving up from Camrose area.

X2 .
I work in nisku and here is no shortage of archery capable buildings for sale/lease.

I think that catering to kids/families is a great idea, if done right. I took my son to Jim Bows in Edmonton but they would not let him shoot a compound bow because he is under 10 and their insurance doesn't cover it. Wyld Archery welcomed him, and now I spend all of my archery allowance there. Their lanes are always packed on the weekends. Great service there, too! That helps a lot. With all that said, I live in Sherwood Park, and would love to see another archery shop open up close to home (T&T was just a few blocks from us).

When insurance won't allow...hands are tied. Sucks for them and for you.

LC

Thanks guys. We are looking into space on the south side or Sherwood Park area. Fingers crossed we will get the right fit and you guys will have another place to shoot. Please remember to support local businesses! Big box stores start with low prices but once all the local shops are done, they can then do what they want with prices.

Wyld
 

Is Wyld still open? Tried to phone there the other day and phone number is no longer in service?

There's some pretty cheap space out there, particularly if you're willing to take some sub-lease space on a shorter term. Give me a shout and I'll connect you with some of our folks who do that sort of leasing.
Chris
780-905-7562

I haven't been there since the start of hunting season but, in the last few weeks they have been putting up pictures on Facebook of brand new stock in the show room and brand new butts in the lanes.

Sounds like some great ideas posted here. I know I would like a indoor range out to 40 yards as well. That would separate you from most others and i think its something that would draw a lot of clients. I could see you getting a discount on floorspace in nisku as there must be lots sitting vacant due to the down turn in the oil industry.

X2

Infact, I'd say 40 would be almost mandatory, along with some kind of 3D setup, and an elevated platform. Most guys, myself included, get bored standing around shooting dots at 20.

elevated platform would be huge! nice way to practice shooting without having to use your own stand to do it.

I think you would need 40 yards to make it viable....maybe an elevated platform to shoot from, that would be sweet!

update?
 

anyone have an update on this?
would love to get some lanes back in the park

getting a sub lease on a shorter term might be a good idea. That way if the project doesnt fly you arent stuck witha long term lease commitment

I'd say you are in it for the wrong reasons. Making money should be the driving force behind every business venture. Unless you want to run a charity.

New archer here who has just started going to the range. Keep in mind that for beginners your number one assets are staff that are fun and supportive. Decades of experience mean little if you are aloof and not open to new ideas.

Had a couple young guys (kids) help me this past weekend who were so excited it was infectious! They were keen to talk instinctive aiming and string walking, said I should try and figure out what works best for me. Told me all about the trad nights... Great salesmen and ambassadors without without even trying.