Smith's Great Outdoors

A better spot with more room was a strong incentive to change locations, said Ray Smith, owner of Smith's Great Outdoors, which sells most things any dedicated hunter or fisherman might need.

For the past few years, Smith's has been located at Lewiston Road and Veterans Memorial Drive, near Applebees.

The store is now at 8282 Park Road, Batavia. There will be a grand opening from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. 

"We've always enjoyed the outdoors on hunting, and so why not do it (own a store)" Smith said. "The kids work here so it's great. Brayden is in college. He helps out from college, and my two daughters help out here and there with this and that, and my wife helps. Then we've got a good group of employees to make it all happen."

The location also offers more parking, and the lot is easier to get in and out of, Smith said.

"The main thing here is more room, so we can expand some more and put in a range," Smith said.

He said the range is still early in the planning stages, but it will be inside. He's looking at a 40-yard range, but he's not sure how many targets yet.

"We're just kind of in the beginning stages of that," Smith said.

Smith's has a large selection of guns, bows, crossbows, accessories, reloading supplies, and bait and tackle.

There's no gunsmith at the store, but Smith said the staff can clean guns and do minor repairs.

"We got a new full-time archery kid starting in May," Smith said. "He'll be here all week long, and he'll be able to do any bow, fix just about whatever problems people have."

He invited everybody to come out to the grand opening on Saturday.

"We'll have the Elba High School track team here," Smith said. "They will be selling hotdogs and hamburgers, and we'll have a whole bunch of different reps from different product lines here and a whole bunch of specials, and we've got a bunch of good giveaways and stuff going to go on."

Photos by Howard Owens