Shooters Supply Open While Rebuilding from Fire

Wednesday marks five weeks since fire destroyed the front half of Shooter's Supply in Paducah, and the owners have been counting their blessings while making arrangements to take care of their customers.

Lynn McCutcheon said investigators told him they believe the fire on September 27 started with a computer speaker on the secretary's desk. The office and front part of the building were destroyed, and the rest of the building received smoke and heat damage. 

McCutcheon said it took two weeks for the official investigation, inventory and to get everything out of the building. Since then, they have worked to separate the rear part of the building and restore it, replacing walls, ceilings and lighting.

"We've already moved part of the archery department back in, we're moving safes back in, and by week six we hope to be moving guns back into that," McCutcheon said.

He said about 20 percent of the inventory was destroyed, and the value of the rest is being calculated by the insurance company. McCutcheon said after they get the insurance settlement they may be able to buy the inventory back and have a "fire sale," but that hasn't yet been confirmed.

McCutcheon said the insurance adjustor who counted their inventory told them he has been all over the country for 30 years, after disasters of all kinds, and he has never seen a community support a business like they have Shooter's Supply.

"So that really, really made me proud of... maybe what we have been to the community and how they're giving back." he said. "For four weeks, somebody showed up and provided lunch every day. Hundreds of volunteers have showed up and gotten their hands black to help out."

For now, everything in the store at the Cairo Road location is brand new and wasn't involved in the fire. A building next door to the store is currently where the gun shop is located, but those items will be moved back in when the remodel is complete. 

McCutcheon said, "The gun shop, ironically, is about the same size as [what] I started with 35 years ago." 

For now, their repair shop is in another building on the other side of the store.

Meanwhile Lynn's wife Trudy is running another location they opened in the old Guy Gray Supply building at Alben Barkley Drive and Friendship Road. That store is selling clothing, boots, and supplies for waterfowl and deer hunting. 

As for employees, nobody has lost any work during this time. In fact, they have probably worked harder since the fire.

McCutcheon said, "We've done most of this work ourselves and relied on our employees to do it. Fortunately, we've had lots of friends and a lot of customers that's just come and volunteered their time. Nobody's lost any work over this, it's created a lot of extra work!"

He said their current inventory is obviously smaller than before, but they just wanted to stay open to serve their customers during hunting season. Modern gun season starts in eleven days, and bow hunters have been busy since September 2.

"We needed our archery department to fix these bows if something has gone wrong with them. Our repair department is taking care of people's guns. So, we are selling new merchandise, but the main thing was to take care of those customers," McCutcheon said.
 
Their annual "Hunter's Night Out" event was originally set for last Thursday, but he said they hope to have a customer appreciation day some time in the future.

McCutcheon said the family's faith has sustained them through this ordeal. 

He said, "If it wasn't for that, it would be all but impossible. We've had good times, we've laughed, we've cried, we've had lots of arguments over things, but all in all we've had faith that the Lord's gonna take care of all of this, so we're all OK, we're gonna make it."