About This Episode
In today’s episode of Tactical Business, host Wade Skalsky sits down with Tom Denniston of Fort Thompson Sporting Goods. From humble beginnings to a thriving sporting goods empire—Tom Denniston shares the incredible journey of building a store with good people, smart business moves, and a deep passion for hunting. From the rise of camo and deer stands to battling big-box stores and the internet era, Tom reveals the challenges and triumphs of running a successful business. Tune in for an inspiring story of resilience, innovation, and community!
Insights In This Episode
- Timing is everything—getting in at the right moment can make all the difference.
- Hunting videos revolutionized the industry, making it mainstream.
- Success in retail means adapting to industry shifts, like e-commerce.
- Owning your inventory outright gives a business financial stability.
Today’s Guest
Tom Denniston | Fort Thompson Sporting Goods
Fort Thompson Sporting Goods, established in 1931 by Clyde (C.B.) Thompson in North Little Rock, Arkansas, began as a grocery and hardware store. C.B. Thompson Jr. expanded the business by selling guns and ammunition, laying the foundation for a local legacy. Today, as a family-owned and operated store, Fort Thompson offers a wide assortment of hunting and outdoor gear, including Federal shells for duck and deer hunting.
Featured on the Show
About Tactical Business
Tactical Business is the weekly business show for the firearms industry. The podcast features in-depth interviews with the entrepreneurs, professionals and technologists who are enabling the next generation of firearms businesses to innovate and grow.
Episode Transcript
Wade: Welcome to the Tactical Business Show. I’m your host, Virginia Beach based firearms entrepreneur and copywriter Wade Skalsky. Each episode, we’ll be exploring what it takes to thrive as a business owner in the firearms industry. We’ll speak with successful firearms industry entrepreneurs about their experiences building their companies, leaders and legislators who are shaping the industry, and tech executives whose innovations will reshape the future of the firearms industry. Let’s get after it.
Wade: Welcome to the Tactical Business Podcast. I am your host, Wade Skalsky, and today we’re speaking with Tom Denniston of Fort Thompson Sporting Goods. Tom, how are you doing today, sir?
Tom: I’m doing good.
Wade: Good. I’m excited to talk to you. You were kind enough to reschedule from yesterday. I was a little under the weather, but I’m feeling a lot better today. And. Yeah. Let’s talk a little bit about how did you arrive at the business that you’re in now. Like, give me a little bit of a backstory. And how did you get into the sporting goods business?
Tom: I’d be glad to tell you. I’m an older guy. I’m 64. Be 65 here in about two months. I get four months in July. I started one of my best friends when I was a kid, like in grade school and stuff. My friend, my best friend, he had a grocery store and back then it was just most grocery stores sold ammunition. And then finally he kind of moved into this sporting goods stuff a little bit. We sold a few waders, we sold a few back then. We sold buckshot. You buy one buckshot, we sell them by the shell. A lot of people did that. And also too, back then when people went to Deer camp, it was a big deal. So people made clothes, school down and stuff. So basically we’d work there and people come and get the groceries and get shells. And finally he got more moved into the sporting part of it, selling it to you. Guns, clothes back then was not a big deal. We’re not very far from Stuttgart. So basically we were on the way to Stuttgart. Plum a little hot, so it wasn’t that big a deal to pull over there and get stuff from us and go on down and go duck hunting. That was the big deal in Arkansas.
Tom: All. And so basically he we started there all through high school. I worked for him part time. And then I went to college at University of Arkansas. I graduated there his son, I really wasn’t sure what I was going to do. So I got my securities license to sell bonds for a while in little Rock. And then his son decided he was going to be a preacher. So he went to seminary. And then I went to work for him full time. And I was at the point he was like 55. He was at the point he’s I told him I can beat it for a couple of years. If not, I’m going to join the Air Force or do something different. I gotta make some money. So he said, I’ll just sell it to you. I didn’t have a no money, zero money. I lived in a rent house. Rent was $80 a month. I had a two wall unit for air conditioning. I had a kid and my wife was going to school. So basically it started then and we added all one time. We started selling a few pistols, but we kept all the guns, like back in his. This was an old grocery store, so they used to live by it. They had a house connected to it, so we kept our guns in the bedroom back here.
Tom: It was crazy. So basically we did that for a couple of years. And this is back like in 83 and 84. And then finally I said, he said, if you want to buy it, I’ll finance you. And he said, let’s build a store. So it’s spring 1995. Come up. And we ordered a bunch of logs from Idaho. And you can see all this stuff on the website to see pictures of it. We built a 4000 foot square store, and when I started, there wasn’t no such thing as deer stands. I’m not sure if you remember, but the first climbing deer stand was a baker deer stand. You ever heard of those or not? But that was the first climbing deer stand. That was. There was no gun safes. There was no camouflage. There was no lynch oak. It was just basic people shooting lead shells at ducks. And you sold a few waders, marathon waders and Hodgdon waders. So when I got in, I’m not saying I was lucky, but I timed it perfectly when I got in. I remember the first time the guy walked in my store selling mossy oak camo. First time it ever come out. And back then we could actually go on trips with Toxic Haze, and because it was brand new, everything was brand new.
Tom: And once we started, we were at that place for I think, ten years. And I added on another little section and we’re in the rough part of town. We’re in the bad part of town. So we added on and just business grew. When I first started, it was me and one girl. It was two people. So basically I had to work. Work was open six days a week. I had to work every day and I went hunting a lot, but I went hunting. I had the guy. I bought it from Steve Thompson. He’d come in and fill in for me. We’d always had to hunt and be back by 10:00. So basically it was just a two man show. And finally I hired a man, another one of my best friends. He started working for me, and then we grew that. And then we got to the other stage. And that’s when duck hunting. That’s when the the video started up, and that’s when everybody really got interested in hunting and stuff. Basically, that’s what basically put honey on the map, the videos, because most people didn’t really understand what it was all about.
Wade: Yeah. If you don’t grow up in a hunting culture. So like, I grew up in North Dakota, so it’s a hunting culture. And your dad’s not teaching you. Or an uncle’s not teaching you how to hunt. It’s not very many people naturally gravitate towards it unless they’re exposed to it. So that’s I can see. What year was it that you would say the video started to come out?
Tom: I don’t know. I think it was in the 90s I think, wasn’t it? And you had some in the outdoors. That was a big deal. Every week people watch it on TV and this is all before the internet. So. And then it come to the point we grew. And back then we bought from distributors. You bought a little bit of stuff direct, but the big accounts you bought through distributors, our biggest competitor back then was a box stores, Kmart, Walmart, a bunch of different other ones. There’s a bunch of different ones that were around back then, and the smartest thing I ever did in my life was I joined a biography and a bio group was I’m in Sports, Inc., which was like three major bio groups in the United States, but I’m in Sports Inc, which is one of the major ones. Then. Ms.. And what happens there? We put all our eggs in a bucket and we negotiate programs with the vendors so we can get a better price.
Wade: Let me stop you right there. This is the second time, actually, that I’ve interviewed someone, that I’ve talked about a buying group, and it’s not something that I’m super familiar with. So one of the reasons why Walmart, for example, can get such an advantage on price is because they buy so much, right? So they have so much volume they can negotiate a better price is the way that I understand it. Does a buy group do the same thing where it’s like you have a bunch of people get together, pool their resources, and then they can leverage that resources to get a better deal? Is that how that works?
Tom: That’s how that works. And also to these vendors like Leopold Scopes, who wants to sell their scope, that can actually be you don’t want to buy a Leopold Scope at Walmart. You want to buy it from actually a dealer that actually has people that work for them, that can mount the scope and knowledgeable about it. And that’s the key. As far as fighting the big box stores and stuff was basically we finally got on that boat. Our prices were competitive and we did all that. That was the key of that story. Then the next big hurdle for us was basically the internet. And I still have a hurdle for us. And it first started. It wasn’t that big a deal, but now distributors are basically, I wouldn’t say there are enemies, but they’re basically anybody if you wanted to. Anybody can get an FFL. They’re like 80 bucks. There’s nothing to them to get them one. And then you could sell guns with a website through that and they will drop ship it for you for a fee. So they had to ship it to a dealer, like to receive it to a FFL to receive it, which, you know, it’s called a transfer.
Tom: So that’s the biggest hurdle. And the same thing with scopes. If the scopes had map and they really monitor their retail prices, you can still make money on them. But basically what we do, we pretty well stay away from the people that do not monitor that. So we probably will stay the top brands that actually wanted to get their merchandise in a place like ours, or other big stores that are actually in business, they’re not some garage guy that’s got something going on or something like that. So that’s been the key for us is having good people that work for you, knowledgeable people and honest people and that are hunters and honest. Be honest with you. If a guy wants to start a sporting goods store now, I would not advise it unless you’re actually it’s by like getting into the website business. It’s about like if you didn’t organically grow it, probably it’s hard to make any money on it. That’s what I’ve come up with.
Wade: Yeah, it’s like the barriers to entry are easy, but there’s a lot of entrenched players right now that have been doing it like you guys since like 1984. So they have all that institutional knowledge. I’m wondering one reason why I’m always like really big on brick and mortar though is and you touched on it is that, yes, you can probably get a little bit better price sometimes on something on the internet from another vendor or whatever. But in something especially like for firearms, it takes a little bit of time to figure out which is the best firearm for you. When I first started really getting into handguns, for example, what I thought I was going to be purchasing and what I ended up being purchasing was completely different because I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and it so helped so much to go to a local store or meet to somebody and shoot a few different guns and the internet. That is an advantage that box stores can always have over the internet. Is that something in terms of like customer service and the sort of the knowledge of what you have? Do you find that’s an edge that you guys have right now?
Tom: Oh, yeah, we have people, women, people come in, they’ll have no clue. And they also want to be actually take a little demo of what’s going on and advise them to go get take lessons and get a concealed carry. Yes, that is a big deal. But the big deal about guns and stuff, there’s not big markup in guns people think that you’re making. We basically mark all our stuff up on the rack 15%, and the time you pay your credit card fee, let’s say 2%. 2.5% on that. Then pay your people. You’re not making a lot of money. It’s mostly done by volume. A lot of people say, oh, I’m gonna get in the gun business. I’m gonna make a bunch of money. Well, yeah, I’m not going to do that. So you can’t make 15 points. I mean, that’s like making zero on something pretty well.
Wade: Yeah.
Tom: Basically a volume deal. The guy selling accessories and stuff, there’s more markup and sculpts and stuff.
Wade: Yeah. The one thing that I’ve talked to, which is consistent, that everyone says about starting a gun store, is that the markup on guns is not very big, but the guns are the core business. And then they’ll have the accessories, they’ll have the suppressor, they’ll have the range on sight or something like that, that the gun is the draw. And the other thing about guns too, and I’ve always thought about this, is that there’s not a lot of recurring purchases on a gun. Most people don’t buy a new like hunters, for example. You get your rifle, you get your handgun, whatever. Like you’re not buying a new gun every single year. Some people are. But like, I’m a casual gun owner, but I do spend money on clothes every year. I do spend money on ammunition. I do spend money on all those collateral things that you’re talking about. And so that is one thing I think that people really need to think about. If they want to start just like a straight gun store.
Tom: Well, you got to have other stuff beside gun posters. We sell gun sight, you sell lighters, we sell everything that you can imagine. You also gotta have good brands to sell stuff. You can’t just have the back in the old days, remember, it was like walls, coveralls. Yeah. I mean, oh, you remember them or not, but that’s not cool no more. So basically you got to have the cool stuff, and you’re seeing our market change to a younger crowd versus the older people my age and stuff that used to they keep stuff for 20 years. Now these guys, young guys and you know, they they buy new stuff every year because a new camel will come out or Gore-Tex different on it. So it’s one of them deals.
Wade: Yeah, I’m 52. I’ll be 53 this year. So we’re close in age. And from that perspective, in terms of how we approach it, like I don’t buy anything new, I just use the same thing a hundred years if I could. Right. But I think that’s I think you’re right. I think it’s generational.
Tom: It is. Yeah. Like I said, I got a son that actually runs my store now. I’m here all the time, but but oh, he’s they gotta have the best looking stuff there is. And I drag out my old stuff. He says, dad, why don’t you get you something new? I said, this is fine. I’m good if it works, right?
Wade: If it works, keep using it.
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Wade: Inventory selection. You guys have been in business for a long time, right? So you’ve seen a lot of different trends. And I think inventory can really trip people up in terms of if you’re going to have a retail store or a brick and mortar store. So walk me through a little bit the process that you guys used to. So like, how do you pick your vendors, how do you pick what to keep in stock, what not to keep in stock? How do you keep an eye on the trends? Is it a feel thing? Is it more art than science? How have you guys approached that problem?
Tom: Well, like I said, I’m in the buyer group, which helps. But the key to anything. As far as being successful in our business, you gotta have inventory. I buy inventory now and I’m lucky I don’t have to borrow money. I pretty well been in business long enough. I can just finance myself. But if you had a couple bank and borrowed money, you borrowed a couple million dollars in inventory, $3 million for the inventory. You couldn’t make it. I hate to tell them that, but they can’t. The only exception to that, I’ll tell you, is during the Covid years, if using the Covid year, you can sell anything. I can have my dog sell guns. I should sell all she could sell, right? But that’s changing the way the trend is now. It’s going back. It’s going back to normal and stuff. So politics is really it’s played a big part in some of it, sometimes with Ars and stuff, but with Trump. And I think the future of that is it’s not going to be that way.
Wade: Yeah. Everyone talking about the Trump slump the first time. Are you guys seeing that now. I mean it’s early. It’s only March. It’s only been a couple of months. But do you think that’s going to happen again. Do you think that the because it is funny how people buy based on fear. And if you have an administration in there that’s not gun friendly gun sales coincidentally go up. And if you have someone in there that is gun friendly, they don’t sell as much. Are you seeing that this now with Trump now or is it?
Tom: We talked before about when people get scared or something with the political environment and stuff, but when that went on and stuff, people basically bought the basement. Buckshot five, five, six, 21 rifle. But all that has changed now, basically since all that stuff, it was going on for about three years there, when I think Hillary was elected, I think, and something like that, it was. But anyways, the political environment does affect that. They’re still having problems.
Wade: Even I was buying more ammunition before the election for Trump. I just thought that I didn’t know what was going to happen. And I was like, I thought that there was a high chance for political violence. Then there was the assassination attempt, and then I didn’t know what was going to happen. So I bought more ammunition. And I’m a pretty chill person from that perspective. So. All right. So you’re self-financing your own inventory. Obviously you’re buying group helps with regards to that. Do you listen to your customers in terms of what to buy, or is it something where you just know the trends and they buy what you put out there? Like, how does that work?
Tom: We’re pretty well stuck on name brand stuff. Some of the off brand stuff. Yes, you can make some money. But take for example, we don’t sell the. What’s it called? Drago. I think the we don’t sell those because most of them get something like that. You get a tray, something. I’m just not going to mess with stuff. So I don’t want to have any problem. My problem is I don’t want to sell nothing. That would be that. I want to go shoot myself. There’s nothing wrong with having one. I’m do what you want to. But people that were buying them and stuff I thought were not using for the right reason and stuff, so we pretty well try to stay with name brand stuff on the top end we can. We sell tires, which sells great, but you know, we don’t sell High Point.
Wade: How big is your store? How many square feet is it?
Tom: We’re about 30,000.
Wade: That’s pretty big, man. Isn’t that stressful? I’d be so stressed out all the time. It’s like so much floor space. But I guess you built up to that. How big was your original store?
Tom: 4000.
Wade: That’s awesome. Man. Do you only have the one location?
Tom: One location.
Wade: Wow, that’s really unusual that you have, like the one location you built it up. It’s a big store. 30,000 is pretty big. Do you have any plans to expand it?
Tom: The problem with that is, is getting people to run to that you can trust. And we’re in Arkansas and people drive 200 miles to come to us. They say if you come to us, we’re a one stop shop. We can whatever you want, we can do it. We don’t do gunsmithing. We don’t have a gun range. That’s a that’s another story. But anyway, we don’t have a gun range in Arkansas. You can go shoot your gun. Just drive ten miles and go shoot it somewhere.
Wade: Yeah. It’s easy to just walk out your back. A lot of people walk out their back yard and shoot in Arkansas. That’s what’s nice about down there.
Tom: Well, they do, but it’s been good. I can’t complain. It’s just. Yeah, we could open another store up. And Fayetteville, Arkansas is a growing place. That’s where Walmart is. And all the big places Tyson and all them people are at. But I look at it one time, but the businesses as far as the hunting business is not there. Now you can sell some pistols and stuff, but the honey, the more honey is more toward south Arkansas in eastern Arkansas for duck hunting and deer hunting.
Wade: And then again, is it seems to me where you’re at geographically is perfectly suited to do hunting because it’s so much of a hunting culture. There’s so many opportunities to hunt around where you are, and that the geography has really assisted you in being successful. Would you say that’s true?
Tom: That is definitely true. And but also too, we sell a ton of handguns. So more handguns, primarily rifles and shotguns. And we keep a we got a wall. We keep about 500 on there. It’s crazy. But people it just impressed us to come in and we pretty well got the inventory you want. And you can show people different items and stuff.
Wade: Sorry I didn’t sneeze there and then. So for the handgun perspective, since you are more, it seems you’re more hunting centered. Do you do training classes for the handguns or how does that work? Is that something that you offload to somebody else, or is it you just strict we’re just going to sell you this gun.
Tom: We basically we all sell it. Somebody I’m actually an instructor, been an instructor for a long time, but I did it just to say I was. But there’s a gun range right down the road. It’s expensive and stuff, but I try to send people down there, or there’s some other guys that I know are more just laid back guys that can really spend time with someone to learn how to shoot a pistol. But I try to send people to people like that that are really just laid back. There’s not people firing guns around you. You can actually go out and spend time with somebody.
Wade: That is the biggest thing for me is for handguns especially. I grew up with shotguns and rifles, but handguns take a lot of practice to get proficient and safe at them. So I think it’s really good that you encourage people to take that training. And it is interesting that you sell a lot of handguns because you’re not a straight gun store. Like you said, you’re more of a hunting store and a sporting goods.
Tom: Well, we’re I say that, but like you said, guns, firearms bring people to us and make shopping after that. But you know, we’re different. Arkansas is a big waterfowl state. So we sell a lot of steel shot shotguns, Benelli, Beretta and stuff like that. And it all goes together. And you got the guys that come in and buy stuff. It’s just we try to do everybody right. The guys. I have to run the pistol count. They’re all good with that stuff. They know a lot more about the tactical stuff than I do.
Wade: How many people does it take to run a store like that? Like during the day? Like, how about about.
Tom: I think I got like, 24.
Wade: 24 people on the floor.
Tom: No, we’re not on the floor to count everybody in the back and everything. Probably on the floor. Got eight, probably 12. 80. 15.
Wade: That’s a big team. Like how do you. And the human element is extremely important to the success because you say people are driving 200 miles to meet you. You guys are customer service. Paramount. Right. So how do you find people for the team now? When it was just you and it was smaller, you could hire your best friend. Right. Well, you run out of best friends to hire, right? Pretty quick as you grow. So how do you handle those labor challenges? Like, how do you pick who’s going to be on the team? Do you have a sort of like guiding principles for that?
Tom: The labor thing is hard. You just got to find the right person that fits in and be honest with you. Most of the people that work for me now, they were customers. Some are retired from the Air Force, and we got a big Air Force base up the road here at Jacksonville Air Force Base and third base. And most of the guys just some don’t work full time, but I also pay them well. You work full time, you get a 401 K, you make good money, get insurance. I pay for their insurance. And so pretty well. You got to pay a little extra money to get the good guys. And my biggest struggle is to find the other people to work in the other part. That’s the hardest part, the money, people working clothes and stuff like that.
Wade: Oh I see like the more like straight retail side of things.
Tom: Also another, another problem is most guys, they like to sell guns. Yes, they like to hunt too. Well, in retail that’ll work on Saturday, right? I don’t know what to tell you with all some Saturdays, but I did it all my life about the last five years. I don’t work on Saturday, but I did it for 40 years like I hadn’t done it before, so. And we could open at night. We don’t. We run from 9 to 6, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 on Saturday, and I get people all the time. What do you do? Why don’t you open on Sunday? Why don’t you open that night? I said, I’ve always said that you were trying your customers to come to you when you’re open.
Wade: Why do you think people drive 200 miles to get to you? I’m sure they have other options than driving to see you for 200 miles. Why do you think people come so far to see you?
Tom: We’ve been around for a long time and we have noted for being good prices, good customer service and have product. It’s not like you come in the door. I got to order the Marines for this gun, come back in two days and basically we have the product. I’ve been very fortunate with that, with our volume that we can buy and we keep stuff in inventory that we have a good we have a good rep on that.
Wade: Yeah. I think what’s really great for your business is it’s a mature business. Right. So you’re the your business is like the end point that a new business would strive to like you’re entrenched in the community, you’ve got a long track record, you’ve got capital to do what you need to do. You have things on autopilot in terms of how things work, and I think that’s great. Like, if there’s not a lot of businesses still around out there like your business, right? So what’s the plan for you guys for the next, let’s say two, three, 4 or 5 years? Or is there like a succession line in place in terms of like, if you retire.
Tom: I’m a top guy that I can’t sit still. I might not work at Florida. You hear me? I might not work the floor.
Wade: I can hear.
Tom: You. You hear me now?
Wade: Yeah, I can hear you. So you may not work this floor. No more. Like in terms of your. You’re talking about like, retirement or.
Tom: No, I’m always going to do something eventually. I’ll probably right now, if I want to go do something, I just go do it. I got a great manager named Raymond and I got some good. I just got good people to work for me. I trust them all and they don’t steal. It’s just I’ve been very fortunate and keeping good people and stuff. And my son, he went when he was growing up, I always told him, go do his own deal. You go, don’t worry about the store. You go do your frat party in and do all that stuff and get that out of your system. And then he got his MBA and he’s I didn’t think I thought he was going to be a lawyer, actually. And then he said, I think I’m interested in the store. I said, well, the first thing you’re going to do is go get a job being a rep. So he was a SIG Sauer rep For like three years. He traveled seven states, so he got his he earned his marks by doing that. And that has helped him so much as far as seeing how other businesses run and learning the industry.
Wade: Yeah, my dad had a construction business and he told me the exact same thing. He said, you just go do whatever you want. Don’t worry about the business. And I actually went and became a lawyer. Right. Which is funny that you said that your son was going to become a lawyer, but I often wonder if I would have done the family business. I think I would have been happier doing the family business than going to be a lawyer, to be honest with you. So I think it’s really cool that your son’s doing the business with you.
Tom: He’s got two girls and a son and I hope they do carry it on. I’m good. I just want to hunt and fish and buy a new truck about every three years. And I’m good.
Wade: But just like my dad.
Tom: I’m not a big fancy guy that goes crazy. I’m just down home and I enjoy life, so that’s great. It’s based around the outdoors, basically fishing, hunting, going to the lake with my grandkids and doing stuff like that.
Wade: Keeps you young.
Tom: Mhm.
Wade: Well great to talk to you today. The website is Thompson. Com Fort Thompson Sporting Goods. Are you guys on social media at all. Can people find you or is it just go to the website.
Tom: We do Facebook Instagram, TikTok.
Wade: And just search for Fort Thompson sporting Goods in there and you’ll find them.
Tom: Yes.
Wade: Alright, perfect. All right. Tom, I really enjoyed talking to you today. I’d love to get back in touch with you and have you on the show again, and just see where you guys are in six months or a year from now. It’d be great.
Tom: Yeah. And you talk to my son sometime and see his perspective on it.
Wade: I would love to do that.
Tom: We come a long way and I’ve been real fortunate and blessed on that. So I promise you, I’ve been blessed.
Wade: So that’s.
Tom: Great. That works.
Wade: That’s great. Well, we’d love to have your son on the next time. And thanks again for coming on the show.
Tom: Okay. You bet. You take care.
Wade: You’ve been listening to the Tactical Business Show by TacticalPay.com. Join us again next episode as we explore what it takes to be a business success in the firearms industry.