MISSOULA - Casey Smith always had a dream of owning his own archery shop. Now, he owns the longest-standing store in Western Montana.
Straight 6 Archery in Missoula recently earned the Archery Trade Association’s 2022 Archery Impact Award for their involvement with the community and commitment to introducing archery to as many people as possible.
In 2014, Casey opened Straight 6 on Reserve Street, seeing a need for an archery shop in Missoula.
He quit his job to pursue this dream, despite having little experience with owning a business.
“It was kind of flying by the seat of our pants honestly, it was shooting from the hip because I never started a business, owned a business, I’d never even been a manager before. I’d never done any of that,” he says.
At first, his wife, Jessica, panicked at the idea of Casey committing so heavily to this goal, but she quickly decided that they would make it happen.
“When you have no other choice than to make it work, you make it work,” she says.
In the beginning, they spent long hours figuring out the logistics of their new business. Now, as they are close to their nine-year anniversary, Casey says they are still learning.
“Every single day we learn something new,” Casey says. “Closing in on nine years you would think that we’ve figured it out, that we’ve been through it all, but it seems like something happens every single quarter, every single year that we weren’t prepared for.”
Despite the difficulties, the couple has enjoyed the journey.
“It’s been a challenge, but it’s been really fun,” Jessica says.
They opened a second location in Bozeman in 2021 and have 14 employees across the two locations. During peak season, they have a line of customers going out the door, something they haven't always had.
“I remember when we first opened and we were trying to be, like, how do we get people in our store? We’d sit here for hours, and no one would come in, and I was like, ‘oh I wonder if we could just get one guy to maybe buy a bow.’ There was none of this, there was maybe one-tenth of the inventory,” Jessica says.
Their most recent accomplishment was being recognized nationally with the Archery Trade Association's Archery Impact Award, which is awarded to companies and individuals “who use their voice or platform to inspire others to participate in archery and bowhunting,” according to the ATA.
The Smiths and their employees are honored to have been selected out of the entire country for this award.
“To have archery impact, it means more than just, you sold a lot of archery stuff,” Casey says. “It means we’re involved in the community, we give back… It validates the work that our team is putting in every day.”
The company strives to give back to the community and involve as many people as possible in the sport. For example, they partner with Warriors in Quiet Waters of Bozeman to teach veterans how to use a bow, giving them a new, peaceful activity.
“Archery and hunting, you find solitude in going out and doing these things, and so teaching these vets how to shoot a bow, the ins and outs, the intricacies of it, it makes them relearn something, something that they’re bad at right now, and we’re there to help them grow and get them to be archers,” Casey says.
Another way they encourage new folks into the sport is by donating bows to Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Policeman Ball.
They are also involved heavily with the Florence community, and recently bought the high school football team new jerseys. The team won the state championship and thanked the couple with a signed helmet.
“Anyway, that we can help the community, we feel lucky that we can even, it’s just cool,” Jessica says.
Straight 6 Archery is committed to the community because they feel the community is committed to them.
“We feel it’s revolving,” Casey says. “We’re not here without customers, because we’re not independently wealthy at all, and so without customers, we’re not here either, and so we feel some obligation, you know, we’ve had some success, so we’re trying to give it back and really show that by donating bows to the police ball, and donating bows to Rocky Mountain Elk, and buying jerseys for Florence football, and just, getting out there and involving ourselves.”
While creating a community around their store, they strive to create a community within their store as well. Jessica says the group of employees feels like a family, and they all care a lot about what they do.
“I feel like we all love each other, and we all care and are passionate about the same thing. And we’re not your average archery store. I think they all care a ton and every single bow that leaves is perfect,” she says.
The employees agree, and say working at Straight 6 doesn’t feel much like ‘work.’
“We don’t feel like we come to work when we come to work here,” employee Tanner Swanby says. “We just come to have fun and help people out and work on bows.”
“Yeah, if I get more than two days off in a row, I feel out of place,” added fellow employee Connor Hogan.
The team posts regularly on social media, including YouTube, Instagram and podcasting, making their bond even stronger.
“Yeah, and we do a lot of stuff outside the shop, sporting events, our podcast, we do a lot of different stuff that we’re all together quite a bit, so it’s a tight-knit group,” Daniel Schwab, another employee at Straight 6 Archery says.
Part of the reason Straight 6 Archery has been successful is due to the Smith's own love for archery.
For Casey, the sport is more than just hitting a target.
“We could go for a long ways and talk about archery and it’s applications to life like it’s you and you when you’re shooting a bow. When you make a mistake, there’s nothing else to look at but yourself. I think there’s a lot of life lessons when you shoot archery. It’s great exercise, you’re outside, you’re doing something recreational,” he says.
Jessica shares his love for bow hunting, in fact, the couple spent their honeymoon doing just that.
“There’s like no feeling like it, bow hunting is just so [easy] to get obsessed with,” she says.
And the two say bow hunting is a part of the state’s culture.
“I think hunting is a part of Montana, that’s what you do here. You get outside and you give back to conservation,” Casey says.
More information on Straight 6 Archery can be found on their Facebook page, Twitter @ S6archery, Youtube @ straight6archery53, podcastor their website.
