Support your local bow shop
A letter from Coach Rob.
If you shoot, or you have a kid who wants to, I'm going to ask you to spend some of your archery money at your local bow shop instead of here. I coach archery, and I count it a blessing to teach a sport that works this way: you can't rush a good shot, and you can't blame anyone else for a bad one.
What a good shop does for you
A lot of archery starts at a local bow shop. The shop is where a hunter gets a bow tuned before the season opens. Beginners take an intro-to-archery class there. When your bow won't group and you've run out of ideas, that's where you take it. Parents, it's also the place to ask what bow makes sense for a kid who's still growing.
A good shop person will measure your draw length, watch you shoot, and tell you the truth about what you need. Sometimes the answer is nothing, and you should go practice. You can't order that kind of help online.
Where the sale goes
Online retail is hurting the local bow shop. That's my view, and I hold it even though I own an online store. If a shop spends its time getting your bow to group and you order your arrows somewhere else, the shop still carries the cost of that work while someone else makes the sale.
Why we built an online store anyway
Point Blank's goal is to support local bow shops. Local bow shops support hunting, youth archery, and intro-to-archery in their communities, and I want them to stay open.
Point Blank is an online store only. I also own Archery Sarasota, a separate shop in Sarasota that works by appointment only. Archery Sarasota recommends and works with many bow shops in our area, and I'm glad to send people their way.
Some people live where a bow shop isn't readily available. The nearest one might be a long drive away, or there might not be one at all. We built this online store for them, and it also helps support youth archery programs.
The team I coach
Sarasota Archery Academy is a 501(c)(3) competitive youth archery team founded in 2024. I'm a co-founder and serve as head coach. Every coach on the team is a USA Archery certified volunteer, and no one is paid to coach.
In June the team lost its range to a fire. Group practice stopped, and programs are paused until the team has a practice facility again. Nobody is being charged program fees in the meantime. Some athletes are still training on their own. Right now the team is looking for land or an indoor space in Sarasota or Manatee county, and if you know of a place that could work, I'd like to hear about it.
What I'd ask of you
If you need gear and there's no shop near you, this store is here for you. If you'd like to help young archers, take a look at sarasotaarcheryacademy.com to see where the search for a new range stands and how you can help.
And if you do have a local bow shop, go see them. Let them tune your bow and buy your arrows there. Be patient when they have to order a part in. If your son or daughter is curious about archery, ask about the shop's intro class.
Coach Rob
Robert Gilbert