1. sports
2. archery

ArrowTrade Cover Story
Aging Structure
Houses a Paradise
for Archers
T
here’s a lopsided shanty a few
ticks over the New Hampshire
border, one that, if you meandered too quickly around the preceding
bend, would be easy to miss. It hunkers
down like an aging grandfather amidst
a family of upstart beauty salons, fast
food eateries and shopping expos, all
part of the commercial vibrancy known
as Seabrook’s Route-1. Its tired, woodpaneled frame sports an entire host
of battle scars, from its chipping red
paint to its splintering oak, treasured
mementos from winters past: some 37
and counting. From the looks of the
sand-speckled parking lot, it appears
that two buildings have actually been
melded into one, like Siamese twins
bound at the shoulders by an oddly
conspicuous barn-styled roof.
Over the past four decades, the
building itself has undergone one identity crisis after the next, from landscaping startup to auto parts retailer and,
more recently, to a firearms dealership.
Today, against the suburban coastal backdrop,
it’s often mistaken as an
everyday local archery shop.
To hundreds of bow-wielding
fanatics throughout the region, however, 146 Lafayette Road represents
much, much more. It is their paradise.
There are no palm trees at Big
Al’s Archer’s Paradise but rather the
green-leafed designs of its camouflage
apparel, draped tidily from one fitting
rack to the next in the store’s main gallery. The latest in first-rate compounds,
recurves and crossbows are stacked
neatly above in perfect arrays, the glass
display cases housing all kinds of treasured goodies from releases to peeps
to the latest and greatest in first-class
stabilizers and state-of-the-art accessories. In the foreground, the chatter of
the store’s regulars, congregated in this
country club ambience, is a constant
presence at Big Al’s, with everything
from industry developments to woodsmen’s tales of
hunting conquests.
In the background, you can hear the
melody of arrows slinging from bowstrings and the “whap” of their impact
upon the Ethafoam targets, sounds
emanating from the outfit’s two multilane shooting ranges, both upstairs and
down.
Throughout its four decade evolution, the building has undergone
a transition from Big Al’s General
Service to Big Al’s Auto Parts to Big
Al’s Gun Shop, followed by the three
titles assigned to its archery superstore. The one constant, of course, has
been the man behind the plan. Danny
Zecker was a longtime Seabrook, New
Hampshire resident who lived on the
property at 146 Lafayette Road many
years ago and is no stranger to the
archery industry in either the competitive or hunting capacity. His milestones
are the kind that few in the racket can
match, his 14 year résumé sporting over
40 state archery championships (in
Local native Danny Zecker is not only the founder and owner of
Big Al’s Archer’s Paradise. He is also one of the country’s premier
competition archers, taking top honors in the 2014 Northeast IBO Big Al’s Archer’s Paradise offers the largest supply of first-class
Triple Crown Championship.
bows and state-of-the-art accessories within a 100 mile radius.
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Big Al’s of New Hampshire
By Ted Bodenrader
with aspirations
that far outweighed
their
funding.
Thankfully,
the
mothers of both
Zecker and Geof
stepped in to provide the financial backing for
the landscaping
startup and gave
birth to the name
on the withering
storefront sign: “Big
Al.” Zecker’s uncle,
Since its construction in 1976, Big Al’s has undergone numerous Hank Walker, a
identities, including a landscaping startup, an automotive parts renowned waterstore and a firearms dealership. Now a highly regarded archery fowl artist and
superstore, Big Al’s is defined by its signature barn-styled roof.
automotive sales
representative,
helped both boys
with the building
project and all the
connections for
launching the auto
parts business.
“The
first
surprise people
find out about
us is that the ‘Big
Al’ name actually comes from a
woman,” Zecker
said, explaining
that Hank wished
to dedicate the
Big Al’s has six part-time employees, each highly skilled in the art store’s name to his
of bow tuning and maintenance. Here, Fred Bodenrader, a longwife, Alice (Big Al).
time employee of the store, fine-tunes a customer purchase.
“That’s probably
Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire not what most people envision when
and Massachusetts), a dozen regional they hear the name, especially when
championships and numerous top it’s associated with an archery store.”
five finishes in the International
Yet it was a vision that Zecker carBowhunting Organization (IBO) World ried from the gallows of his carpentry
Championship.
efforts as the short-lived landscaping
Long before Zecker established endeavor spilled into an automotive
himself as an elite competitor (he was parts retailer. Hank helped pave the
once regarded as one of the coun- way for the 24 year stretch in which the
try’s leading finger shooters), he was store provided shocks, struts and water
a hungry, young straggler with a dif- pumps to local townspeople.
ferent bull’s-eye in his sights, one that
Roughly eight years into the veninvolved a lucrative business endeavor. ture, the business pistoled into new
In 1976, Zecker and cousin Geof Walker territory as the hindquarters of the
embarked upon their early enterprises premises transformed into Big Al’s Gun
Store, offering firearms of all types –
handguns, rifles, shotguns, muzzleloaders – for both hobbyists and hunters, novices and pundits.
Still, Zecker’s newest excursion
hadn’t quite hit the target. His primary
lifetime passion remained unsated.
“In 2000, I finally decided it was
time to do something that I always
loved, which was archery,” he said. “At
that point, I was already an avid bowhunter. I competed just a little bit but
archery was my true love, much more
so than the other things.”
At the turn of the millennium,
Zecker and Hank sold the auto parts
enterprise and gave birth to what is
known today as the premier archery
superstore within a 100 mile radius if
not more. With its location strategically lodged just a short jaunt north of
the Massachusetts hotspots, Big Al’s
Archer’s Paradise is the only shop of
its kind to serve a multitude of bowmen’s communities. Not only is Big Al’s
husked amidst the hunting hysteria of
the Granite State but it’s also a mere 15
minute trek south of coastal Maine, a
deer hunter’s gold mine.
“Believe it or not, I have customers who come all the way up from
Nantucket Island (Massachusetts),”
Zecker said. “And there are others who
come down from as far as Portland,
Maine. A large number come from the
Boston area. Basically, they’re from
all over.”
“No question, New England has
become an extremely popular deer
hunting location,” he added. “For various reasons, people cannot use guns
as much as they could before, so we’re
finding that many more people are
getting into bowhunting instead. And
they’re finding it much more exciting,
largely because of the sporting aspects.”
Even with the renowned Tepee
Archery of Acton, Massachusetts and
Brian’s Archery of Rochester, New
Hampshire looming in the distance,
Zecker has long aspired to transcend
the traditional archery store.
“My passion began with hunting, no doubt,” Zecker, who has tallied
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upwards of two hundred deer, bear,
moose, and caribou over his bowhunting career, explained. “But when I got
into target archery, I became good
friends with some of the best professional archers and coaches in the
industry, guys like Eric Griggs, Mark
Spears and Dave Cousins. They helped
me to transform Big Al’s into an outlet
for competitive archers. And that was
the immediate goal when we opened
the store in 2000. We wanted to expand
from an archery shop to a tournament
archery shop.”
With some of the sport’s most
reputable practitioners at his disposal,
Zecker began hosting regular seminars
at the Big Al’s facility, offering one-onone private lessons from hotshots like
Spears, a Level 5 coach, for a mere $250
per student. As these dozen or so seminars spiked local interest, particularly
among aspiring young bowmen, they
eventually served as a springboard to
yet another flourishing endeavor.
The ever-popular Junior Olympic
Archery Development (JOAD) program, a non-profit organization, has
become one of the primary attractions of Zecker’s Seabrook facility. The
program administers to youngsters of
varying skill levels, both novice and
advanced, shooters of compounds
and recurves.
“The interest that we’ve generated among the youngsters has been
unbelievable,” Zecker said. “Some of
the kids we get in here are as young as
six or seven years old and they go all
the way up to age 18.”
For $120 per program, Zecker fills
his shooting lanes with between seven
and 10 participants for each JOAD
season. For the ensuing eight weeks,
each group of youngsters congregates
once per week (Monday, Wednesday,
Saturday or Sunday) for an all-inclusive
one hour session under the keen mentoring of four Level 2 coaches and one
Level 4 coach. Participants are segregated into two classes: Beginners, who
shoot from a maximum distance of 10
yards and Advanced, who shoot from
20 yards. Each week in the facility’s
shooting ranges, students are tutored
on the fundamentals of archery and
the 10 phases of the shot: proper stance
and posture, how to nock an arrow,
setting, setting up, drawing the bow,
anchoring, transferring/holding, aiming/expanding, releasing and, finally,
following through.
Each session concludes with the
archers participating in the Shoot for
Score segment, which allows each
youngster to track his or her progress
from one week to the next. Big Al’s
strictly emphasizes that each individual is competing solely against one’s
self, not against other archers, allowing for greater personal development.
Structured in the FITA indoor competition format,
each archer fires
10 rounds of three
arrows for a total
of 30 arrows. After
each round, in
which a full two
minutes are allotted, scores are tabulated. Archers in the Advanced program congregate at the Country Pond
Fish & Game Club in Newton, New
Hampshire to perform the session’s
Shoot for Score segment.
As an incentive, various badges
and achievement pins are awarded
to archers who demonstrate progression from previous performances, a
guideline for reaching personal goals.
Ultimately, these scores determine the
ranking of each participant in the program. When the eight week JOAD program concludes, it repeats itself with
another fresh stable of young archers.
“The program serves as a pathway
for young archers who may be heading to the Junior Olympics or even the
International Olympics, where recurve
shooting has long been an event,” JOAD
instructor Steve Jordan explained. “But
in reality, it is much more than that. It
is really the starting point of archery
for these kids: a chance for them to
learn about technique, the equipment,
archery etiquette and so much more.”
As the lone Level 4 coach at the
Big Al’s location, Jordan heads a competent staff of instructors that also
includes John Rosato, Paul Nakis,
Cyrus Nyuger and Donna Ricci, each
coach undergoing a rigorous testing
process before obtaining proper certification. Of course, Zecker himself
has mentored eight young archers who
have each notched a top 10 standing on
the national scope, competing in the
Indoor Nationals tournament amongst
a field of several hundred participants.
With the booming success of Big
Al’s JOAD program, Zecker has continually introduced new features and
C
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The Junior Olympics Archery Development (JOAD) program
attracts boys and girls, aged 6 to 18 years, from throughout the
Seacoast region of New Hampshire and beyond. Participants meet
once per week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday) for a
one hour session under the guidance of four Level 2 coaches and The Big Al’s facility features two shooting ranges with a total of 16
one Level 4 coach.
lanes, one range on each of the two floors.
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events to his prized facility, keeping the
profits flowing and the local interest
percolating. For instance, Wednesday
night at Big Al’s has become a full
house in more ways than one. Poker
night soaks in the archery fanatics in
large droves as the locals flock to the
shooting lanes for what has become
one of Big Al’s marquee attractions.
“We typically get somewhere
around 15 or 16 competitors for poker
night,” Zecker, who charges a mere $10
to participate in the event, explained.
“Each time a shooter hits the bull’seye, he or she gets to pick a card from a
deck. At the end of the night, we tally up
whoever has the best hand. Half of the
pot goes to the shop to cover the lane
time. The other half is split between the
shooter with the best score and the one
with the best poker hand.”
Aside from the stirring of competitive juices, poker night transcends
the notion of archery competition and
even moneymaking ventures.
“It’s really just about having a good
time and developing a rapport with
your customers,” Zecker said. “Some of
them want to win, sure but it’s more or
less for the social aspects. We blast the
rock music from the stereos and have a
ball with it.”
Fun is never in short supply at
Big Al’s, where Zecker has consistently
injected fresh ideas into his efforts
of pumping up sales. However, not
all attempts have hit their intended
targets. One case was the dimly-lit,
theater-styled shooting room, where
participants slung arrows at a variety
of game (deer, turkeys, elk, etc.) on a
wall-sized movie screen. With special
blunt tips screwed on arrows, the video
would tabulate scores based upon
the arrows’ point of impact upon the
game, each shooter given a designated
amount of time (10 seconds or so) to
fire a kill shot. The idea first struck
like wildfire, as the buzz transformed
into organized leagues and competitive
tournaments. But while the video shoot
was certainly an innovation from conventional target shooting, its appeal at
Big Al’s was short-lived. Not long after
its introduction to Big Al’s second floor,
the video shoot soon faded to black
and has since been curtained into permanent dormancy.
“It was a big hit at first; then it just
sort of waned out,” Zecker recalled. “I
discovered that the customers actually
preferred shooting at the foam targets
in the gallery. The video shoot cost us
$20,000 to purchase but it had a few
bugs, a few glitches and it was costing
us a fortune to maintain it. In the end,
we realized that the investment just
couldn’t pay for itself.”
Knowing when to cut your losses,
to admit you made a mistake and
need to take a new direction, can be
important and this was not the first
time Big Al’s has
made a substantial change.
In 2004, Bob
Walton, co-owner
of Big Al’s Gun Shop, passed away and
the firearms store soon followed him.
Subsequently, the gun shop walls came
down, paving the way for the nine
lane shooting gallery on the ground
level and the additional seven on the
upstairs level. Around the same time,
Zecker himself underwent a personal
transformation, as his sights shifted
toward new aspirations.
“My goals became twofold,” Zecker
said. “I wanted to become the best
competition archer I could possibly be
and, at the same time, reach new levels
as a bow mechanic.”
As initially planned, the two goals
complemented each other perfectly. As
Zecker’s stock as a competitive archer
took flight, his notability as a proficient
bow mechanic soon matched it, his
success sprouting business opportunities in ways that no marketing campaign could rival. Before long, he found
himself having an average of six to
10 bows in for tune-ups at a time or
taking on more tedious maintenance,
like replacing strings and cables or
completely disassembling bows, then
reconfiguring them to meet the factory specifications.
“Sometimes, I’ll even enhance the
performance of a bow to shoot even
better than it did at the factory of the
manufacturer,” Zecker said.
Establishing himself as one of the
premier bowmen on the East Coast,
Zecker is now backed regularly by multiple sponsors (primarily bow companies) whenever he competes on
a regional or national level, as was
the case when he took top honors in
Paul Nakis, a part-time employee and Level 2 coach, performs
routine maintenance on a customer’s compound purchase. Such The fixtures within the main floor are stocked with accessories like
maintenance often entails replacing strings and cables and recon- Easton and Victory arrows, stabilizers, releases, game cameras,
figuring bows to meet factory specifications.
game calls, peep sites, pins, scent control products and clothing.
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the 2014 Northeast IBO Triple Crown
championship and top five finishes
in both the 2013 and 2014 World
Championships. But Zecker is more
concerned about the firm’s reputation
than his personal notoriety.
“People come to Big Al’s based
primarily on reputation,” Zecker
explained. “The way we run the shop,
it’s all about listening to the customer
and their needs, then doing whatever
we can to make them happy.”
This is a practice that Zecker has
instilled upon his staff of six part-time
employees who overlook the store’s
daily operations.
“I make sure that my guys are getting the customer whatever he or she
wants, not necessarily what we feel
like doing,” Zecker said. “It’s all about
the customer. If somebody comes in
and buys a bow, we’ll take the time to
make sure that it is customized specifically for them. We’ll set up the bow for
them, make sure it’s tuned properly;
then we’ll spend an hour or so to try it
out in the shooting range, make sure
it’s just right.
“If somebody else comes in here
to buy size 12 shoes, we’ll let them run
down the street in them to make sure
they don’t really need a size nine. And
that’s my goal here. It’s to make sure
everything is exactly how it is supposed
to be. Everything has to be perfect for
our customers.”
Big Al’s prides itself as one of the
leading Hoyt dealers on the map but
its bow inventory extends well beyond
that of the Salt Lake City syndicate.
Its rafters are stocked full of the latest compounds, recurves and crossbows from Elite, BowTech, Reflex and
TenPoint, to name a few, with half of
its inventory engineered toward bowhunting fanatics and the other half
toward competitive archers. “We try to
cater 50/50 to each crowd,” Zecker said,
reflecting a much higher investment
in competitive archery than most pro
shops would admit to.
Although Big Al’s is essentially
considered a high-end bow shop, the
unpredictable state of the economy
has dictated the market in seasons
past. “There have been certain years
when the economy was a mess,” Zecker
recalled, “and we weren’t selling any
of the new stuff, just the mid-range
bows or used ones.” Typically, however,
he estimated 60 percent of bow sales
involve premium, high-end bows while
some 30 percent comes from low-end
package products and the remaining 10
percent from entry-level, novice bows.
But bows hardly account for the
sole source of revenue, as the fixtures
are draped with the most popular
accessories, from Easton and Victory
arrows to countless arrays of stabilizers, releases, game cameras, game calls,
peep sights, pins, scent control products and apparel: anything and everything related to the science of archery
and bowhunting. While Big Al’s precision arrow making service, quarterbacked by longtime expert Ron Grant,
customizes arrows for appropriate sizing, patrons can also request inserts,
field points, broadheads, vinyl wraps
and feathers to match their liking.
“It’s very important to keep up with
what’s going on in the industry,” Zecker
said. “You almost have to do it on a
daily basis. So I read all of the trade and
consumer magazines to find out what
everyone is talking about. Also, I’m
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fortunate to have many friends who are archery and bowhunting commu- built. We will stay local.”
manufacturers, dealers or successful nities. For one, he is a regular presOne such motive, aside from the
archers, so I always get an inside scoop ence every January at the Rockingham obvious deterioration of the shop’s curof what is happening within the indus- Fishing & Hunting Expo in Salem, New rent architecture, is to construct a new
try. In that sense, I suppose I’m on the Hampshire, where he showcases his state-of-the art shooting gallery, one in
cutting edge of things.”
shooting prowess with two seminars which the minimum 18 meter range is
Big Al’s also takes on what Zecker each year.
installed for participants. The shooting
terms as “special orders,” namely, furAnd although the names and ranges at the current facility fall slightly
nishing many of the region’s hunting faces have come and gone, Zecker shy of regulatory distances, thereby
and sportsmen’s organizations from its has remained a static constant among nullifying Big Al’s from any tournament
stockpile of targets. Big Al’s special- the Big Al’s enterprise. While cousin hosting aspirations. Zecker knows that
izes in distributing 3-D targets (deer, Geof moved on to non-archery staging both regional and national
moose, turkeys, etc.) to such local endeavors, Zecker has continued to tournaments equates to added revenue
clubs as Danvers (Massachusetts) Fish copilot operations with various part- for his enterprise.
& Game, the Lone Pine Hunters Club ners. Tom Bibeau, the current gen“And that is definitely some(Nashua, New Hampshire) and the eral manager, is also an avid shooter. thing we’re looking to do with the
Stateline Field and Stream Club (South Prior to Bibeau, the store had a brief new location,” Zecker said. “That’s
Hampton, New Hampshire), as well stint as “Archer’s Paradise,” its official been one of my goals: to start hosting
as distributing bag targets to every- title for roughly one year. Five years national tournaments.”
day consumers.
ago, Zecker opted to combine the two
As for the timetables for such an
With its multitude of services and names into one, bringing to life Big Al’s undertaking? “I expect all of this to happroducts coupled with its country club- Archer’s Paradise.
pen within the next year,” Zecker said.
styled superstore, it is no surprise that
Now, as the sole proprietor of the
Until then, that ramshackle old
most of Big Al’s stellar reputation and Big Al’s franchise, Zecker’s ambitious dwelling on Lafayette Road will serve
swelling popularity comes from simple juices have been recharged, as he finds as various identities to archery enthuword of mouth. The business does not himself not unlike a 20-something siasts throughout Rockingham Country
rely on heavy marketing campaigns or youngster again, looking to strike busi- and beyond. Some folks know it as the
a strong social media presence to help ness bonanzas.
region’s leading service for high-qualdrive interest. Zecker explained that
“Yes, I have a very specific plan ity bows, arrows and accessories. Some
his effort in this capacity has remained for the future,” Zecker revealed. “The regard it as the premier archery univerminimal, consisting of merely placing plan is to sell the property on Lafayette sity and practice facility of its kind.
regular advertisements in Hawkeye Road,” he said of the 37-year-old dwellOthers simply know it as paradise.
Hunting & Fishing News, a free, region- ing. “And we’re looking to
ally-circulated publication printed in relocate somewhere within a
nearby Milford, New Hampshire. It 5 mile radius. We don’t want
wasn’t until February of 2013 when Big to migrate too far out of the
Al’s surfaced on the Facebook and even area, since we know that it
then, its activity level remains next to is important to maintain the
customer base that we have
dormant.
The outfit does boast a
simplistic website (www.bigalsarchery.com) with basic
store information, including its six day schedule of
operation (Tuesday through
Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
and Friday through Sunday,
12 p.m. to 5 p.m.). The site
also links to the JOAD website (www.nhjoadarchery.
com), an all-inclusive source
for information on its events
schedule, fee information, registration forms and
much more.
Of course, Zecker hasn’t
balked at opportunities to Big Al’s stocks its main gallery with the latest compounds, recurves and crossbows from Elite,
increase his business’s visibil- BowTech, Reflex and TenPoint, to name a few. Sixty percent of these sales are generated by premium,
ity among the New England high-end bows.
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