For 30 years, Shooters Supply has been the daily gathering spot for a many a good man. Like a neighborhood tavern, it draws a congenial bunch of faithfuls who help themselves to the coffee and conversation while purveying the day's newest merchandise in the candy case. Shooters Supply has sold about 30,000 guns in its three decades in Yakima. Don and his gunsmiths have worked on at least twice that many. His customers now include second and third generation descendants of his original customers. For some of these folks, Shooters Supply is the only gunshop they've ever frequented. It's the one where they could always get friendly, helpful and absolute honest answers (whether they liked them or not) to their questions about firearms, reloading, repairs and...oh yes...politics, especially Second Amendment issues.
My husband started Shooters Supply in 1977. His original intent was to have a small firearms repair business, without much retail. But the retail side naturally grew, and by 1984 he'd outgrown the small shop on 11th and Tieton, and moved just two blocks west to the corner of Queen and Tieton.
I never spent much time there until this past fall, when I've been standing in for bookkeeper Christina, who's on vacation in Scotland for three weeks. Now that I'm there every day for a few hours in this winding-down time (he'll close the shop for good in about two months), I'm reminded of how important Shooters Supply is to so many people. Not only is it the only place in Central Washington providing full-service gunsmithing by truly knowledgeable and skilled craftsmen. It's also a place that has played a tremendous role in the lives of many regular customers over the years.
Phil Lamb, one of the regulars, has coined the term "Post Shooters Supply Stress Disorder" (PSSD) for what a lot of people will go through when Don closes the doors in November. Every day there are folks who wander in and say they "just heard." Their reaction is almost panic. "Where will we go? You can't leave! What will we do? Who'll fix my guns?" We don't have any answers for them. And who knows where the daily patrons will find a new gathering spot with a coffee pot?
They are a good bunch of people, these regulars. Retired teachers. Dentists. Attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, medical technicians, farmers, entrepreneurs, Scout leaders and World War II vets. They enjoy each other's company and they appreciate and admire guns as mechanical works of art.
Leaving them will be difficult. We hope a lot of them will visit us at Shorthorse.
Leaving Shooters Supply itself will be difficult too. This is, after all, Don's legacy. This, and Sun Valley Shooting Park, which he also started and developed into what it is today. He, of course, would deny that and share the credit with a few other hard-working members of the Central Washington Range Conservancy. But if it hadn't been for Don Manning's time, sweat and leadership, the range certainly wouldn't be the showpiece it is today.
And then there's Manning Dog Training, my own unanticipated success. I didn't go to college to become a dog behaviorist. It just sort of happened. It, too, evolved and grew, taking on a life of its own. Last January, after 15 years of teaching people how to live more harmoniously with their dogs, I sold the business to my long-time manager, Jane Bumgardner. Unlike Shooters Supply, Manning Dog Training will continue on it path without as much as a speed bump. With Jane's guidance, it will be around a long time. Manning Dog Training is a gathering spot too, like Shooters Supply. Some are there nearly every day with their dogs, attending a variety of classes and activities. Manning Dog Training has changed a lot of people's lives. We've helped some marriages, saved family relationships (of dogs AND people) and launched many an unsuspecting dog owner into new hobbies that have totally redirected their lives. Example: first-time dog owners who just want to teach the new puppy to stop play-biting. They become lifelong students, get their dogs into obedience or agility competition, and end up buying motorhomes to travel to weekend dog trials for the next 15 years!
My students (four-legged) number 6-8,000 over the past 15 years. Between Don's business and mine, we seem to know at least half the people in Yakima. He's the "gun guy." He IS Shooters Supply. I'm the "dog lady," or Don Manning's wife, or Manning Dog Training.
Now we're moving to a small town where basically no one knows us. We're just new faces in town. They don't know he fixes guns. They don't know I work with dogs. Yet. We kind of want to keep it that way for a while, so we can actually enjoy retirement. As soon as word of his talent gets out, Don will be as busy as he wants to be. I plan to just volunteer my services with the local community.
We're finishing a 30-year chapter of our lives when we leave Shooters Supply, Sun Valley Shooting Park, Manning Dog Training, and all the people associated with them. It's time to start writing the new book, titled Shorthorse.
My husband started Shooters Supply in 1977. His original intent was to have a small firearms repair business, without much retail. But the retail side naturally grew, and by 1984 he'd outgrown the small shop on 11th and Tieton, and moved just two blocks west to the corner of Queen and Tieton.
I never spent much time there until this past fall, when I've been standing in for bookkeeper Christina, who's on vacation in Scotland for three weeks. Now that I'm there every day for a few hours in this winding-down time (he'll close the shop for good in about two months), I'm reminded of how important Shooters Supply is to so many people. Not only is it the only place in Central Washington providing full-service gunsmithing by truly knowledgeable and skilled craftsmen. It's also a place that has played a tremendous role in the lives of many regular customers over the years.
Phil Lamb, one of the regulars, has coined the term "Post Shooters Supply Stress Disorder" (PSSD) for what a lot of people will go through when Don closes the doors in November. Every day there are folks who wander in and say they "just heard." Their reaction is almost panic. "Where will we go? You can't leave! What will we do? Who'll fix my guns?" We don't have any answers for them. And who knows where the daily patrons will find a new gathering spot with a coffee pot?
They are a good bunch of people, these regulars. Retired teachers. Dentists. Attorneys, CPAs, financial advisors, medical technicians, farmers, entrepreneurs, Scout leaders and World War II vets. They enjoy each other's company and they appreciate and admire guns as mechanical works of art.
Leaving them will be difficult. We hope a lot of them will visit us at Shorthorse.
Leaving Shooters Supply itself will be difficult too. This is, after all, Don's legacy. This, and Sun Valley Shooting Park, which he also started and developed into what it is today. He, of course, would deny that and share the credit with a few other hard-working members of the Central Washington Range Conservancy. But if it hadn't been for Don Manning's time, sweat and leadership, the range certainly wouldn't be the showpiece it is today.
And then there's Manning Dog Training, my own unanticipated success. I didn't go to college to become a dog behaviorist. It just sort of happened. It, too, evolved and grew, taking on a life of its own. Last January, after 15 years of teaching people how to live more harmoniously with their dogs, I sold the business to my long-time manager, Jane Bumgardner. Unlike Shooters Supply, Manning Dog Training will continue on it path without as much as a speed bump. With Jane's guidance, it will be around a long time. Manning Dog Training is a gathering spot too, like Shooters Supply. Some are there nearly every day with their dogs, attending a variety of classes and activities. Manning Dog Training has changed a lot of people's lives. We've helped some marriages, saved family relationships (of dogs AND people) and launched many an unsuspecting dog owner into new hobbies that have totally redirected their lives. Example: first-time dog owners who just want to teach the new puppy to stop play-biting. They become lifelong students, get their dogs into obedience or agility competition, and end up buying motorhomes to travel to weekend dog trials for the next 15 years!
My students (four-legged) number 6-8,000 over the past 15 years. Between Don's business and mine, we seem to know at least half the people in Yakima. He's the "gun guy." He IS Shooters Supply. I'm the "dog lady," or Don Manning's wife, or Manning Dog Training.
Now we're moving to a small town where basically no one knows us. We're just new faces in town. They don't know he fixes guns. They don't know I work with dogs. Yet. We kind of want to keep it that way for a while, so we can actually enjoy retirement. As soon as word of his talent gets out, Don will be as busy as he wants to be. I plan to just volunteer my services with the local community.
We're finishing a 30-year chapter of our lives when we leave Shooters Supply, Sun Valley Shooting Park, Manning Dog Training, and all the people associated with them. It's time to start writing the new book, titled Shorthorse.
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