Family Affair

from SHOT Business May / June 2023

8 SAMSON MANUFACTURING M-LOK K-RAIL

Family-run shooting sports stores often benefit greatly from an internal culture that fosters excellence.

The shooting sports industry has so many special, even magical, aspects to it. Empowerment, fellowship, and mentorship are all vital elements. So, too, are the many happy memories that come as regular parts of this unique world we elected to inhabit.

To that list I would add family. Why? Because the most successful operations I have seen around the country have a family air to them. The guests with whom I have interacted, not only in my home state of Oklahoma but all over the country, openly admire family involvement in the stores and ranges they visit.

“They are a more real and comfortable environment” is a general comment often shared by these folks. I agree. Family makes the business better, stronger, and very relevant to the guest base.

Because my wife Jayne and I were so young when we started the business (18 and 20, respectively), our first family member to join in was Pappy (Jayne’s dad). What an amazing and caring soul he was. He designed and tended to all the exterior plants on the roughly half-acre lot on which our business was located. I found out years later that his work was secretly nominated for a chamber of commerce award. The award went to a much larger and nongun related business in the downtown area of Oklahoma City, but his efforts set a standard of excellence and attention to detail that the guests loved. He also helped us created our “rent gun” program. In those days, manufacturers did not offer “rent gun” programs. So, he went out and bought our first rental unit—a Rossi .38 Special revolver. That gun, along with several more, was an instrumental early part of our eventual success. We finally retired it after close to one million rounds. (By the way, that revolver never broke or needed repair.)

Our family grew to include three children, and we put them to work doing all kinds of tasks. Those tasks showed the importance of attending to details. The chores also helped instill in them a strong work ethic. They not only learned how to do things the right way, but understood why chores needed to be done in a certain way.

The correctness of this approach was confirmed by B.C. Clark, a local family-owned jewelry store. They were on their third generation at this point, and the owner was kind enough to tell me we were on the right track. The successes, challenges, and growth of each of our children as they were introduced to the business were special for us as parents. With this came the incredible benefit of new (and younger) eyes on things.

When old enough, Anne, our first child, went with me everywhere. This included hundreds of civic speeches I would give, chamber of commerce committee meetings, and Rotary functions. Our second child, Nicholas, completely redesigned our main gun display case. It totally transformed the way we sold guns, and it propelled our sales to new heights. By the way, this case was a product of his high school woodworking class. The genius of the design was amply demonstrated when other retailers copied the concept. Nicky was also instrumental in helping us take the first steps into servicing the LE (law enforcement) market.

In those days, personal computers and basic software for retailers were just getting off the ground. We understood the importance of these tools for the continued growth of our operation, but were unable to find software companies interested in serving the range and gun retail business. Here’s where our third child, Stephen, made his mark. Despite his young age he made profound additions and improvements not only to our store, but to many other dealers and ranges as well who were part of a growing peer group. When Facebook began to gain traction, he understood the importance of social media to the store. His efforts here led us to being recognized as the best Facebook site in Oklahoma.

He then helped us lower the cost of our surveillance options and modified our range procedures to better serve our younger and increasingly diverse guest base. In addition, he built the safe department of our store into a multi-million-dollar operation. Together, our children counseled many manufacturers on ways to serve the younger market that had become an increasingly important driver of business in our industry.

I have saved Jayne for last. Despite the fact neither of us were seasoned business folks when we started in 1981, we did have a deep drive and enough passion to take on the untried opportunity before us. Jayne was tireless as she faced challenge after challenge. She took on all the tasks that needed to be done to operate the store. The range/retail combo was a new concept, which meant the development curve was at times very steep. Furthermore, that curve was not constant; it was an ever-changing variable. Over the years Jayne’s workplace solutions caught the attention of others inside the industry. One industry writer shared what many others had told us: “Jayne was an amazing force, a new light in an industry that was incredibly dominated by men. Today’s female leaders inside the outdoor world are standing on her shoulders.”

We were the family that never gave up. We were the family that brought in an attitude and spirit of change that led to a whole new way of growing the shooting sports. The Simple Truth is “Family? You Bet.”

Author bio: Miles Hall was founder and president of a multi-million-dollar firearms retail store and gun range in Oklahoma for 36 years. He is now a senior advisor helping FFLs around the country run more efficient, profitable businesses. (HallnHall.com)

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