West Town Archery thriving after move to Brookfield

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Peter Zuzga

Paul, Fred, and Rob Schaffhauser, owners of West Town Archery, are seen in the business Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, in Brookfield, Wis.

Peter Zuzga

Paul, Fred, and Rob Schaffhauser, owners of West Town Archery, are seen in the business Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2011, in Brookfield, Wis.

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On May 2, brothers Fred, Tom, Paul, Rob and Peter Schaffhauser signed a lease to move their archery business into a building on the corner of 126th Street and Lisbon Road in Brookfield. Later that day, the future of their 47-year-old business lay at the crossroads when Peter died unexpectedly.

"Peter handled most of the archery repairs and would have been heavily involved in the renovation of the new building," Fred said. "When he died, the rest of us wondered if maybe that's a sign that we should dissolve the business and go our separate ways."

The brothers chose to stay together, though, undertook the restoration project and recently completed their most successful two months in the store's history.

"It's been the only bright spot in a difficult time," Fred said of the business that his father and uncle started. "Moving here from our old location on 68th and Burleigh in Milwaukee has made a tremendous difference. Our customers love it here."

West Town Archery is a top 100 dealer of Mathews and Mission bows in the country and stocks a variety of name-brand bows, arrows, tree stands and accessories for hunters and hobbyists. The store also holds a target-shooting range, sponsors adult and youth shooting leagues and provides archery lessons for age groups stretching from children (Fred reports that West Town has taught many thousands of Cub Scouts over the years) to senior citizens.

West Town Archery has created such a following, in fact, that Fred says it draws customers from as far away as Fond du Lac, Madison and Chicago.

"We're the only archery store in Milwaukee County, but people who live 50 to 100 miles from us still have to drive by other archery places in order to get here," Fred said. "Between the four of us, we have over 100 years of combined archery experience, and customers appreciate that they can walk in and receive common-sense expert advice and be treated fairly and friendly. Many of our customers had their first archery experience with us, and now they bring their kids here."

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JUST THE FACTS

BUSINESS: West Town Archery

ADDRESS: 4135 N. 126th St., Brookfield,

PHONE: (414) 444-7944

WEBSITE: WestTownArchery.com

OWNERS: Fred, Tom, Paul and Rob Schaffhauser

INCORPORATED: 1964

TYPE OF BUSINESS: archery

PEARLS OF WISDOM: "Anyone can sell archery products; we are successful because archery and bow-hunting is our obsession and we work hard to achieve success for our customers."