Mallard’s ready to change perspective of ammo supply shops with new location

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — A new gun store is looking to change the perspective of what an ammo supply shop should look like.

To its owner — it’s a “destination place.”

Mallard’s Shooting Supply and Apparel is expanding into a brand-new, 55,000 square-foot facility, offering a shooting range, retail space, and two bars.

“This will be a big draw,” said owner Chad Damron. “Something good for the county. The scope and scale of this store, you would think, should be in Tampa or Palm Beach, somewhere like that. But I wanted to do something really neat for where I’m from.”

Damron is the fifth generation of his family to live in Crystal River. As grand in scale as the store is, he said he could have put it anywhere. But to open it at home, with his son Colby, made sense.

“When I started, it wasn’t quite this big,” Damron said. “It definitely grew as time progressed and, actually, I needed a big place to store all the animals me and my son hunt. So everything worked out good.”

Just walking into the store, Damron said, will be an experience. All the more intricate with the attention to detail, like an antique bank vault door, dating back to 1907 Chicago.

“I mean, this is 120-plus years of somebody pushing on this door where the paint’s missing,” Damron said while admiring the door. “I didn’t want to lose any of that.”

The new facility, Damron said, will feature a vault carrying high-end gun models, gun safety classes, and two on-site bars, a feature that may surprise some. But there will be a keycard system to keep customers from mixing the two.

“It is also your access key to certain areas,” Damron said. “Different level memberships allow you in certain areas. And if you go to the bar and have a drink, it’ll get scanned. If you try to go shoot after that, it’ll get scanned, and they’ve seen you’ve been at the bar, it’s a no-go.”

It’s offering something the area doesn’t already have, Damron said. Even with its 28 shooting lanes, ranging from 15 to 100 yards.

“You put in how far you want the carrier to go down, and it takes off. It’s pretty neat, too, because you don’t have to bring it back to see where you’re hitting, even on the longer ones where it’s hard to see,” he said. We have a camera that will show you on the screen where your shots are going.”

An experience, Damron said, he hopes visitors will take with them.

“I want people to have a good experience. I want them to learn something, whether it’s about animals that are here or something they learned in a class or something my guys have showed them at the sales counter,” he said. But I want them to have a positive experience — a fun experience.”

One unlike any other in Citrus County.

The facility, which took a year and a half to build, will employ 20 to 25 full-time staff and another 25 to 30 part-time. Damron said he anticipates opening the store the week of Thanksgiving.