By Carly Rose

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TIPP CITY — Olde English Outfitters in Tipp City has announced the opening of its Archery Super Center.

The new facility is located next to the current store at 480 Ginghamsburg Road and officially opened its doors to the public on Friday, Sept. 20.

The new store features an extensive selection of compound bows from Mathews, Bowtech, Hoyt, Elite, Bear, and Genesis as well as Crossbows from Ravin, TenPoint, CenterPoint, and Killer Instinct.

A family operation that was founded by Ron and Paula English in the basement of their family home in 1974, the business specializes in collectible firearms and the sports of shooting and hunting. The store began with Ron putting his personal collection of firearms up for sale.

Evan English, Ron and Paula’s son, began working in the store at the age of 10, developing a love for hunting and shooting and learning the business from his parents.

“My father was in the building business at the time and got out of that business and started the store which was his hobby, firearm collecting, and started the store based off that and decided to go that direction with his career,” said Evan English. “The name was decided sitting around the dinner table while bouncing names off and trying what to name it, and it was originally Old English Gun Shop because it was just a firearms store.”

In 1985, they started expanding the family business, and Mitch English, Evan’s cousin became the first official employee of Olde English Outfitters. He was really an avid collector of military firearms and relics, and his knowledge and passion for guns and shooting made him an integral part of the business.

In 1986, due to the store’s rapid growth, a 5,000-square-foot building was constructed to accommodate the expanding business and new merchandise lines. This move marked a significant step forward for Olde English Outfitters, allowing for further growth and development.

“Fast forward several years to the ‘90s when I began to take over the business and started to run away with it from Dad,” said Evan.

“In 1993, we started construction on the new warehouse,” said Layne English, Evan’s wife .

They began expanding the facility and team in 1994 by adding another 5,000-square-feet to the store, bringing the facility to its current size of 10,000-square-feet.

Together, in 2012, Evan and Layne English joined forces and pursued the next level of growth for Olde English Outfitters, maintaining the family-run nature of the business while focusing on their priorities of God, family, and business.

”When COVID hit, all the outdoor sports got very popular so there were a lot of more people shooting archery because they were taking road trips and going outside,” said Layne. “It’s one of the things that is great to do then, so we continued to see the need for growth in archery.”

“After we started construction, there were several other archery places in the rough proximity that closed and people found themselves without a place to go,” said Layne. “We knew there was nothing in the area like what we’re doing.”

“There are outdoor ranges and small indoor ranges, but what we wanted to provide was more of a center that could accommodate a lot of people and a lot of different facets of archery,” said Layne.”

“This provides year-round shooting with either target shooters or hunters because we have 3D targets as well,” said Layne. “So we felt that was really where the need was in archery as a whole.”

The store continues to thrive with the opening of an entirely new 37,000-square-foot facility in the fall of 2024. While continuing to offer a comprehensive selection of shooting and hunting merchandise, a large indoor archery range and larger retail areas are being added.

Olde English Outfitters is a three-generation business that is now moving on to the next chapter with the expansion.

“It’s exciting and it’s scary. It’s fairly common for generational businesses to have the first generation builds it or starts it, the second generation grows it, and the third generation loses it or ruins it because they’ve not had to struggle or put in all the work and time,” said Layne.

“For us, that is not the case; our son (Dean English) has been here his whole life. Firearms are his passion. He shoots a bow, and was a Beavercreek policeman right out of college, so for us, we know that’s not going to be the case. We are fully confident in his abilities and take what we built and continue to build it and make it his own down the line.”

“For us, our entire business model has always been, and will be God, family, and business,” said Layne. “We want to build into the community and to families, we want to continue to have people love the outdoors, love to hunt, and love to target shoot.”

“This is going to be a safe place for families,” said Layne. “We’re going to have lots of events, where it’s not a competitive tournament, but we will have those but we also want to get as many kids involved as we can with lessons.”

To celebrate the grand opening, Olde English held a special event on Sept. 20, that featured an open house of the new facility for touring, as well as giveaways and a door prize raffle. The pro shop opened for business during the event and the range opened on the next day.

Hours of operation are Monday and Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and closed on Sunday.

For more information, Old English Outfitters can be contacted at 937-667-3315 or visit https://oeoutfitters.com/