This Hixson gun store wants to be an all-in-one gun shop, range and classroom

Larry Hopper wants his gun shop to be more than just a firearms trading post. He wants to be different from the big box retailers that sell guns and ammo.

Hopper wants Shooter’s Supply – formerly Sportman’s Supply and Services – to be an all-in-one gun shop, range and classroom. A place where parents and kids share a shooting gallery, and where the interested, but uneducated, gun shopper can get some guidance on what he or she actually wants to own.

Hopper is now running the gun shop in the wooden A-frame building on Hixson Pike near the Highway 153 interchange after purchasing it from its previous owner, Carl Poston, who retired from the business.

Hopper spent time in the military when he was younger, and had a career in commercial construction prior to buying the Hixson gun shop.

And like many Americans, he had the rug yanked out from under him when the Great Recession hit.