With industry shows opening in earnest this week, there’s plenty of movement in the industry. Most involves new products, but some involves corporate changes and other people-centric news worth noting.
That’s the gist of today’s conversations around the proverbial watercooler.
In 1981, Randy Boyd began a company called Boyds Gunstocks. Like all entrepreneurs, Randy worked to build the business. Today, Boyds Gunstocks has a considerably larger presence in Mitchell, South Dakota. It pretty much dominates the aftermarket wooden gunstock industry, and has a large facility with more than 100 employees.
Today, Boyds is announcing the passing of the ownership to “two trusted, longtime employees.” For several years, Dustin Knutson has been operating Boyds Gunstocks as general manager, with Rob Carstensen serving as Boyds Sales Manager.
Effective January 2, they’re more than the managers, they’re the new owners. So what does that mean? “Nothing will change,” says Knutson, “we will continue onward and upward, committed to providing the best gunstocks to our customers that money can buy.”
Don’t know these guys, but I know Boyd’s gunstocks are on a lot of friends and competitors’ rifles. That’s a recommendation for the product. A namesake passing his business on to his employees speaks well of them, too.
Hey, remember geocaching? Me either. But here’s a reason you might want to bone up a bit on that GPS navigation thing…our friends at Leupold & Stevens is launching a new line of performance eyewear.
So what’s that have to do with GPS? They’ve hidden “dozens of sets” of their new glasses, er, eyewear, in “publicly-accessible areas throughout the continental United States.” And they want you to find them.
If/when you do, you’ll also score a Pelican Personal Utility Ruck Case -each hidden pair is housed in one. So it’s a two-fer if you can score them.
Since this is the Cliff Notes version of their promotion (you can read the full release in the News Section above), I’ll simply add that you can find the GPS coordinates for each pair at www.Leupold.com/The-Hunt. If you find a pair, they’re asking that you post a photo with your new eyewear, geotag it, and comment using the included “Found Me” code so Leupold can cross them off the “unfound” list.
The contest runs until…you guessed it..they’re all located.
Cool idea, actually.
Finally, in our “Proud Papa” section (OK, I made that up, we don’t normally have a “Proud Papa” section, but a proud dad brought this to my attention), word from Oklahoma that Hall-N-Hall Consulting’s Stephen Hall has been selected to the “Top 20 Under 40 Leaders” by The Business Times.
According to Mark Codner, editor of The Business Times, the recognition is for “unique and special leaders under the age of 40 who by their actions have shown they have the quality, character and drive that will be leading for years to come and making the world a better place.”
Hall is CEO of his family’s eponymous business, and travels the country helping shooting sports retailers, distributors and manufacturers with business development.
Good on you, Stephen.
We’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd