Range USA opens its Smyrna, Tennessee, store Friday, and it will look nothing like the shop that inspired the company. CEO Tom Willingham founded the chain in 2012 after walking into a dark, cluttered indoor range in Cincinnati and deciding he could do better, and 14 years later that reaction has produced 52 stores, the newest of them 20 miles southeast of Nashville.
Inside the 15,000-square-foot building sits a retail floor and 20 public shooting lanes running 25 yards, which is the practical ceiling for indoor handgun work. Behind them are two classrooms, each sized for 20 students. Range USA offers private lessons, basic handgun courses and concealed carry certification.
Thirty employees, full and part time, will staff the store.
“Opening our Smyrna store is a huge milestone for Range USA,” Willingham said. “We can’t wait to become a part of the Smyrna community and celebrate this grand opening with our new neighbors.”
Doors open at 10:00 a.m. each day of the Sept. 18-20 celebration. If you’re in the area, arrive early. First 150 customers daily get a Range USA hat and the store is running drawings on a prize pool it values at more than $4,000, with five premium memberships, five 250-round cases of 9 mm from Midwest Ammunition, two $50 eGift cards and a Glock G19 Gen6. Additionally, a USCCA representative will be at the Smyrna location all three days.
The store is at 8225 Tridon Drive. Memberships covering unlimited range access are available and rangeusa.com lists more than 50,000 products, along with online training courses.
