A business that describes itself as North Central West Virginia’s “Premier Hunting and Fishing Headquarters” will soon be opening a location in Bridgeport. Kate Garton, the owner of McFly Outdoors, said they hope to open their third location at White Oaks within the next several months.

 

“My family bought the store in Oct. 2012, which was formerly Jerry’s Sporting Goods (started in 1975). Since that time, it’s been our goal to open a third location,” said Garton, who already has locations in Flatwoods and Hornor. “We weren’t sure where, but we wanted to move north.”

 

The search for a location took them to places in Clarksburg such as Emily Drive and other sites in Bridgeport before settling on White Oaks. They will be the first of what will likely be several tenants in the 14,000 retail strip building Woody Thrasher and Jack Keeley are currently constructing under their development group at White Oaks. The strip center is where the construction activity is taking place that fronts Jerry Dove Drive.

 

“With what Woody is doing there, we felt that it was the best fit. On top of that, when we first met with them during a two-hour meeting most of the time we were talking about fishing and hunting,” said Garton. “It was a rather interesting meeting and it got us where we needed to be. We plan on having a store that will be a unique experience for our customers.”

 

Garton said the experience will begin sometime in April. Thrasher said the 14,000 square foot strip center will be completed by that time and that McFly will occupy about a third of the space in the center. Garton said they will have 3,500 square feet, but are seriously looking into adding an additional 1,400 feet.

 

“They have, in a very short period of time, established a solid reputation for being a high quality retail provider,” said Thrasher. “We have a lot of hunting and fishing enthusiasts in our area and even at White Oaks and they have such a great collection of firearms and fishing equipment and a whole lot more. We’re thrilled to have them and I’ve already told them that I’ll probably be their biggest customer.”

 

As one might expect, the store features hunting and fishing goods. Garton, however, said since the acquisition of the property the goal was to take it from the “mom and pop” genre more  toward the main stream with all forms of hunting, focusing on fly  fishing and all the outdoor activities.

 

“It will encompass all areas of the outdoors and we will have a big selection of firearms,” said Garton. “ … We’ll even have a fly tying booth where you can tie your own and we plan on having in some big fly fishing names as well.”

 

One of those names is a very familiar one to Bridgeport, the state and fly fishing enthusiasts in general. Garton said that Bridgeport’s Curtis Fleming, the host of the popular television show “The Fly Rod Chronicles,” will have a setup in the store as well.

 

“Curtis Fleming is a good friend and we’ve sponsored him for two years. We’re going to have a setup in the store where Curtis can engage with his crew, the public and even film some of his shows here,” said Garton.

 

According to their Web site, McFly offers “an extensive inventory of sporting goods supplies, and friendly, expert advice about our products and insight about hunting and fishing in our area. If you need gear for your next outdoor adventure, we’ve got it- we stock all of the latest Hoyt and Mathews archery products, we carry Columbia, Under Armour, Browning and dozens more clothing brands, and have a massive selection of firearms.”

 

Garton said McFly is working on bringing in additional brands such as North Face and high tech outdoor shoes. Another area where she expects to see expansion will be on items that appeal to female customers.

 

“Whatever we do, this store will be modified toward the outdoor lifestyle,” she said. “We’re really looking forward to coming to Bridgeport.”

 

The store will be open seven days a week once it opens in Bridgeport. For information on their store and their two existing locations, visit their Web site by clicking HERE.

 

As for the rest of the retail strip, Thrasher said there will be room for three or four more locations. He said, currently, there are no negotiations taking place with any potential businesses.