Entrepreneurs who close their doors usually dont have feel-good stories to tell, but Mark Jones does. He went from a disappointment to creating a busy center here for archery enthusiasts.


Jones, co-owner of Spokane Valley Archery, a business that sells archery equipment to hunters and a growing number of recreational target shooters and also services the equipment, says he had always wanted to own an archery pro shop and range. So, when he and his wife, Kathy, closed his longtime sporting goods store here, they opened just such an archery business.


Weve been told at least 20 times that there isnt a facility anywhere in the United States like this, says Jones. Its always been a dream of ours to have a shop like this.


Jones and his wife owned and operated the Outdoor Sportsman Inc., a sporting goods store at the northeast corner of Division and Mission that catered heavily to hunters and fishermen for 25 years. That business closed its doors about seven years ago.


When Division changed into two one-way streets, we lost 60 percent of our customer traffic, says Mark Jones. We tried sticking it out, but that traffic, now going north on their way up on Ruby, didnt know we existed on Division. It turned out to be a blessing because we closed that store, and were able to build our archery facility.


Spokane Valley Archery is located at 3809 S. Linke, in Greenacres. The 3,000-square-foot archery center sits on a 10-acre site. It includes two indoor and four outdoor archery ranges, including an outdoor range with 18 animal targets. The outdoor ranges have a picturesque backdrop of farmland and wooded hills.


Although, Spokane Valley Archery LLC is owned by Mark and Kathy Jones, the business is operated by their son, Josh Jones, and two part-time workers. Mark Jones says the archery business is profitable, but declines to disclose its annual revenue.


Jones believes archery pro shops are tough to sustain over time.


People think archery pro shops like ours are all over, but theyre not, he says. Eighty percent of archery pro shops dont make it. For every shop opening, there are two or three closing their doors. The reason we can do this is because we dont have any overhead. The building is paid for. So we dont have to borrow money or pay rent.


No shortage of customers


Spokane Valley Archery might be slightly off the beaten path, but archery fans know exactly where it is, says Josh Jones. Its busiest time is during July and August, right before the start of deer hunting season, he says. Customers buy new equipment there or bring their gear in for maintenance and repairsand also come to the shops archery ranges to hone their shooting skills, Josh Jones says. The shop charges $10 a day for adults and $5 a day for children under 12 to use the range.


Once hunting season is over, however, the store still does a brisk business. Between 20 and 100 people use the centers indoor archery ranges daily during the winter and spring. Individuals, families, and groups come to shoot. The business offers membership packages.


Spokane Valley Archery plans to double the shops floor space by adding a second floor to the building, giving the shop more indoor range space. Mark Jones says that project could start later this year or early next year.


When the shop opened in 1998, about 95 percent of its customers were hunters. Today, hunters account for about 65 percent of the centers customers. The rest of its clientele mostly is made up of recreational target shooters and archery enthusiasts.


The business has focused on attracting children and teenagers to the sport with its Junior Olympic Archery Development program. The program teaches archery basics and shooting guidelines for boys and girls up to age 18. It follows sportsmanship, safety, and equipment guidelines set by the National Archery Association, a nonprofit archery educational organization. For example, individuals arent allowed to use scopes or binoculars to shoot. Spokane Valley Archery also conducts youth tournaments.


Weve developed a real good kids and family target league, says Mark Jones. We had over 200 kids shoot in our indoor leagues.


Josh Jones says, Our classes are so full that people are shoulder to shoulder. Theyve grown in popularity every year.


He plans to ask Spokane-area school districts to adopt archery programs for physical education classes and is studying such programs around the country.


Between 15 and 20 schools across the country have adopted pilot archery programs, and the attendance has been excellent, Jones says. I havent approached the Spokane districts, but I hope to within the next year.


The gear


Spokane Valley Archery sells archery equipment and accessories, including bows, strings, sights, arrows, quivers, arrow rests, and arm guards. The operation sells about 500 bows and thousands of arrows annually. It also repairs and maintains about 1,000 bows every year.


The brightly lit center has hundreds of bows lined up on its walls, and scores of arrows and other equipment in cases.


It offers two main types of bows, the compound bow for hunting, and the traditional recurve bow for target shooting. Compound bows use a system of cams, pulleys, and cables to increase the force of a bowstring and add to an arrows speed.


Compound bows are priced at between about $200 and $1,000. Extras features, such as sights and arrow rests, can raise the price of a bow significantly, and adding another $1,000 to the price of a bow isnt hard to do, says Josh Jones. Recurve bows are priced at between about $125 and about $1,000.


We assemble and tune every piece of equipment, unless the customer asks us not to, Jones says. Its very time-consuming. One arrow can take about 12 minutes to put together.


During down times, employees work on bows and assemble arrows, putting the tips and feathers, or fletching, into place.


Arrows can be customized to meet a customers specifications, including by using different types of shafts, tips, and feathers. Spokane Valley Archery sells wood, aluminum, fiberglass, and aluminum carbon composite arrows. Arrow prices start at $3 and go up to about $17. A dozen specialty hunting arrows can run about $200, Jones says.


In the case of hunting arrows, the arrowheads are called broadheads. Broadheads are razor sharp metal arrowheads that come in different shapes and sizes, depending on the type of animal one is hunting. They must be screwed onto the arrow shaft perfectly straight to ensure shooting accuracy.


The feathers typically are plastic. They can be adjusted for pitch to improve the arrows aerodynamics. An arrows shaft also can be painted bright colors, making the arrow easier to find after an errant shot, Jones says.


During the assembly process, each arrow is visually inspected and tested on a machine to make sure the pieces fit together properly and the arrow will fly correctly.


That extra care is what makes the shop unique to the Spokane market, Jones asserts. He says the Outdoor Sportsman had a small archery department with a loyal customer base and followed the same practices Spokane Valley Archery uses today.


We kept growing and growing every year, he says. So it made sense to open an archery store once the store closed.