DELAWARE — Shooting sports can be an acquired taste, but Black Wing Shooting Center is pushing back against that narrative.
For 24 years, the gun store and indoor/outdoor range facility has been at 3722 Marysville Road, serving as a staple business in the area. It is the only National Shooting Sports Foundation five-star, family-owned shooting center in the country.
On June 4, the business took a step towards the next 24 years, unveiling a fully renovated shop interior and mini coffee bar, designed to be open to all shooter levels.
“Our goal throughout the process was to make this a little bit more welcoming, a place where people could come who wanted to shoot and hang out for a little bit, too,” Black Wing President Mark Gore said before cutting the ribbon.
“Our goal is to grow the shooting sports. And to do that, we try to be more approachable — be a place that, if you’ve never done anything with guns and you walk in the front door, it feels more entertainment mindset than it does old, intimidating hunting store.”
Gore told Delaware Source crews worked on every “customer-facing area” for five months.
The retail areas’ racks and counters — featuring hats, shirts, ammunition, firearms, accessories, etc. — all received a more modern look. But one of the business’s biggest focuses was the indoor and outdoor range counters.
Gore explained that a small cafe used to semi-divide the outdoor range from the rest of the store.
“We took the cafe out, moved our outdoor range counter against the wall, opened up the back windows so people can sit in front, and added some seating,” he said.
“We really tried to make this outdoor range space part of the rest of the business, and create an area where people can sit, hang out and chat.”
A coffee bar and other changes
Next to the outdoor range, customers can now enjoy cold brew coffee before testing their aim, or while they shop.
Gore said Black Wing sources its coffee from a Columbus-based startup company called BrootLegg, which he is very excited about.
“We’ve also done a lot of things that aren’t particularly sexy, like blacking out the ceiling, putting some cloud lights up to bring the vision down,” he said.
“[We were] pretty intentional on the colors and the materials we used throughout the store, too. We used a designer from the COhatch companies, and they helped us achieve this vision.”
All of the gun cases in the center of the store also got revamped with better lighting so customers can see the products more easily.
“This was just a clean slate, ripped everything out, and put brand new stuff back in. Its the first time we’ve ever done that,” Gore said.
“When we do things like this, it wasn’t just, ‘Hey, we’re going to update the space.’
“We’re trying to help further achieve our vision, make it so that more people come here and want to hang out longer,” he said. “Make it so that more people walk through that door and are like, ‘Hey, I feel more comfortable here than I anticipated.’
“That makes a lot of what we do feel more rewarding.”
