After more 20 years in business, one of Calgary’s main hubs for the archery community is closing up shop.
Alan and Lorna Southwood have been running the Calgary Archery Centre since 1995 but this week, they informed their customers that their lease had not been renewed.
The couple said they’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of support from the close-knit community.
“We’ve gotten a whole bunch of feedback from our posts, with people saying they shoot here so many times a week, ‘I learned to shoot here,’ or, ‘I got my first bow here,’” Alan said.
The long-time owners have explored other options but say the current leasing market and Alan’s health concerns make moving impossible.
“One place I thought looked OK but it was maybe about three-quarters of the size,” Alan said. “But it was going to be costing us at least 50 per cent more a month than what we’re paying.”
The loss of Calgary’s largest indoor archery range will also have an impact on the sport’s development.
Lindsay Struthers first picked up a bow when she was three and now runs the Calgary Archers Junior Program.
She said the closure of the Calgary Archery Centre will be a major setback.
“I’m getting emails every day. We have a waiting list of over 200 people for our junior program,” Struthers said. “We really want them to come and try archery, but right now we don’t have a place to run our programs.”
Struthers adds that the other facilities in Calgary won’t likely be able to handle the demand for range time.
“There is one other range in the city, but it’s not nearly as big as the Calgary Archery Centre,” Struthers said. “They have their own clients so I don’t know how they would begin to fit all of Alan and Lorna’s clients as well as all of their own.”
The centre is set to close its doors by Nov. 15.