After all, it is archery season in many states, including Missouri, and customers are out in the woods with their bows. While sales have held steady, the Black Widow owners say business starts to slow down in September. “They’re a very important customer to us, and they’ve helped us build our business,” he says. Pyeatt says over the past several years, Black Widow has purchased $125,000-$200,000 annually in product from him, equating to about 25% of The Rosewood Shop’s annual sales. “The weight in the handle really stabilizes the bow,” he says. However, it does make a difference in weight, he says, noting they typically are heavier than American woods. The incorporation of exotic woods is mostly for aesthetic effect, Pyeatt says. “We helped them transition into exotics,” Pyeatt says, adding he supplied Black Widow with enough wood for more than 100 bows it created in 2007 for its 50th anniversary. His shop began supplying exotic woods – such as Brazilian rosewood, pau ferro and curly bubinga – for Black Widow in 2003. Wood material for many of the bows also has an international connection, says Mike Pyeatt, owner of Ash Grove-based The Rosewood Shop LLC. The company started shipping to China five years ago, bumping the exporting percentage up from 25%. “We export about 30% of our bows,” he says of the roughly 300 bows of the 1,000 shipped annually to Germany, Sweden, Canada, Australia and other countries. All sales are direct to the consumer.īlack Widow also has an international presence. Approximately 75% of sales are now online, he says, with the remainder comprising phone orders and a small portion of walk-in sales. He says e-commerce has played a larger role in Black Widow’s reach since it launched its website in 1999. The company also sells arrows, quivers, arrow-making supplies and arrowheads. The accessories account for about a third of company sales, Fulton says.
Black widow archery skin#
Customizable options that can add to the price include arrowhead shape or snake skin overlays. Prices range from $1,025-$1,325, depending on the model and wood.
We don’t build a bow unless we’ve got an order for it,” Fulton says, adding it generally takes between three to four weeks to build a bow. Recurves allow users to shoot faster arrows, while arrows fly straighter with longbows. The Black Widow staff builds around 1,000 bows a year, and Essick says the majority of them are called recurve bows. Over the past 20 years, Fulton says Black Widow has sold more than $1 million a year.
It’s a leadership combination that has helped the company generate sales of $1.6 million in 2018. Essick is in charge of production, and Clayman handles accessories, inventory and shipping. In the 8,000-square-foot Nixa facility, which Beck built in 1995 at 1201 Eaglecrest St., Fulton serves as president and runs the business office, while Essick and Clayman are both vice presidents. “We didn’t have to come up with a penny,” Essick says. The three co-workers were approached by then-owner Ken Beck in 2004 about his desire to exit.
Black widow archery full#
“We’ve all worked here a long time,” Fulton says, noting Essick and Clayman both started full time in 1990. Today, Black Widow’s ownership trio has logged nearly a combined 100 years of work at the Nixa-based company, first founded in 1957 by brothers Bob, Howard, Jack and Norman Wilson. Then we went to working seven days a week,” Fulton says of the three taking over in 2005. “We were just country boys and worked 40 hours, played on the weekends. Now, he owns the business, along with longtime employees Toby Essick and John Clayman. He expected to stay on for about six months while looking for something else. Nearing 35 years at Black Widow Custom Bows, Roger Fulton says he didn’t envision ownership as part of his future when he took a job at the hunting bow manufacturer in 1985.įulton was simply looking for a short-term job.
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