At its core, Lancaster Archery Supply is a company of archers providing service, expertise and equipment to archery communities around the globe.
An accomplished target archer and bowhunter, company president Rob Kaufhold founded the business in 1983 in a small 25’ x 40’ portion of a block building surrounded by the picturesque farm fields outside Lancaster, PA. Today, Lancaster Archery Supply occupies two buildings totaling over 32,000 square feet at that original site, with its Pro Shop, Lancaster Archery Academy and Shooting Center. A few miles away, there’s an 80,000-square-foot Distribution center facility housing Lancaster Archery’s shipping warehouse and office headquarters.
This is the main LAS retail space, which houses the Pro Shop and Lancaster Archery Academy.
Since graduating from James Madison University with a degree in Business Management, Kaufhold has worked to build Lancaster Archery Supply into a world leader in the archery business. His focus has always been on providing archers of all types and abilities with the very best equipment and service. Rob’s wife, Carole, joined him in 1994 when Lancaster Archery only had 6 employees, and is now the CEO of the company.
Company CEO, Carole Kaufhold, and president and founder, Rob Kaufhold.
“Opening a Pro Shop and making a living in the archery business is what I’ve wanted to do since I was 16 years old,” Rob said. “I was fortunate to earn a college scholarship by winning the national championship my senior year of high school, giving me the opportunity to get the business education needed to succeed. “I’m thankful for my parents, family and the archery community, who have always been very supportive of my goals and business efforts.”
PRO SHOP
Starting out as a basic archery pro shop, Lancaster Archery quickly began growing, thanks to the surrounding base of bowhunters and target archers. Lancaster is within easy driving distance of Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. It’s a region packed with archers, who flocked to LAS for its first-rate service and wide range of bowhunting and target archery products.
The LAS Pro Shop is arguably the largest archery-only retail store in the country
Over the years, the pro shop expanded to become what is now the largest archery-only shop in the country, attractively displaying the USA’s largest selection of target archery equipment along with bowhunting gear.
The technicians in the shop are among the best in the business at setting up and tuning archery equipment. Quite often, we hear stories about archers experiencing challenging gear set-up or shooting form issues, and through their friends, family or fellow club members, they’re told, “Go to Lancaster Archery. They’ll fix you up.”
In the Pro Shop, LAS customers can have their bows and shooting form worked on by some of the most knowledgeable technicians in the country.
The Pro Shop and Lancaster Archery Academy complex have four separate ranges with plenty of shooting lanes – 55 under roof, to be exact – plus target and bowhunter ranges outside. Additionally, it’s got a state-of-the-art Techno Hunt video range, which allows archers to embark on virtual bowhunts for game animals from around the globe using their own equipment.
DISTRIBUTOR
As the shop expanded through the 1980s and 90’s, Lancaster Archery Supply grew to become a distributor, supplying dealers and pro shops all over the country and around the world with the equipment they sell to their customers.
“That’s an important aspect of the company’s business, since it puts LAS in contact with a broad base of archery businesses, and allows us to stay current in understanding industry trends,” Rob said.
The bulk of the LAS team outside its company headquarters.
ACADEMY
In 2013, the company launched Lancaster Archery Academy – a full-service education and training facility dedicated to the creation and advancement of new bowhunters, youth, target and recreational archers. In the first three years, the archery coaches and instructors in the academy have introduced, taught or coached over 6,000 people on the academy’s ranges. The academy runs a full schedule of tournaments, camps, classes and private lessons, and hosts clinics featuring the some of the best archery coaches in the world in all archery disciplines.
Lancaster Archery Academy has worked with about 6,000 archers in its first three years in operation.
LAS EXPRESS
The LAS Express is a mobile archery shop that travels to more than 25 target and 3-D archery competitions across the country annually, spreading the word about Lancaster Archery Supply and keeping dealers and competitors stocked with the products they need on the shooting line. The colorful, wrapped 40-foot trailer has become a staple at major archery events, and archers have come to rely on it for gear and for timely tech service.
“Our first responsibility at these archery events is to serve as a pit crew and repair center for each of the archers competing for the weekend,” Rob said.
The LAS Express travels to archery tournaments all over the country, to keep archers and dealers stocked on the shooting line.
LAS CLASSIC
Speaking of tournament archery, the Lancaster Archery Classic will celebrate its 14th anniversary in January 2016. This is an indoor tournament that attracts more than 1,000 archers from all over the world, who come to Lancaster County to compete for over $150,000 in cash and prizes. The best of the best compete at the LAS Classic – archers such as Reo Wilde, Jesse Broadwater, Levi Morgan, Brady Ellison, Mackenzie Brown and Sarah Lance.
The LAS Classic is an annual archery tournament that draws the best archers from all over the world.
WAREHOUSE
The hub of the current LAS operation is the distribution center warehouse and headquarters in Leola, PA. There, your fellow archers and bowhunters fill orders every day from the inventory of over 82,000 products from more than 800 manufacturers. Product is shipped from this facility to archers and dealers all over the world.
Inside the LAS warehouse and distribution center, packages of archery products are loaded for shipment every day.
Also on site, there is a team of Archery TechXperts – that’s a term Kaufhold created – who are available to help customers place orders, choose the proper gear, and answer just about any archery question they might have. These are some of the most knowledgeable archery techs in the country, with a combined experience of over 500 years.
Not only does Lancaster have the gear, they also offer the wisdom and guidance from a team with unmatched experience in the archery world.
“We want archers to know that we are here to help,” Rob said. “If they’ve got questions about which products will best suit their setup, or what they need to be successful, our TechXperts are ready to assist them,” Rob said.
SHARED VISION
LAS is a company that started with two employees – including Kaufhold – and now has over 100. Those fellow archers share the company’s vision that if LAS can help the sport of archery grow, LAS will grow along with it, and that if every customer is treated like they are the company’s only customer, then LAS will have customers for life.
“The sport of archery has certainly been a blessing for our family and employees,” Rob said.
See more from our friends at Lancaster Archery Supply at www.lancasterarchery.com.
