Business beat: Mountain Man Mercantile brings outdoor supplies downtown
WILLIAMS, Ariz. — For anyone wanting to purchase hunting, fishing or hiking supplies or need gear, bait or beer for their outdoor endeavor, Mountain Man Mercantile is a your one stop shop.
“I’m trying to make it a one stop convenience store for the outdoors person who is coming up here. I’m not trying to sell them the big stuff they already have but I’m trying to provide them everything in one stop,” said Mark Roggenbuck, who purchased the store in 2015.
The store, previously The Outdoor Store, recently underwent renovations and a name change.
“We wanted to really kind of let the dust settle from when the other tenants moved out,” Roggenbuck said.
Over the winter, Roggenbuck painted and fixed the interior and added some key features, including an ATM machine that is easily accessible from the outside of the building. Roggenbuck said his goal with the store is to make it a convenient and personable location.
“I’m really trying to make it a warm, friendly place for people to come in to,” he said.
He wants it to be a place locals and tourists feel at home.
“In Williams that’s really a hard balance to achieve. You have to rely on the tourists to run a business in Williams," he said. "But I think there’s going to be a lot of things in this store the locals, once they come in and see it will say, ‘wow, I don’t have to drive to Flagstaff anymore."
Those things include ammunition and both hiking and hunting gear.
“I think they’ll see that I can price it just as good as other folks and they won’t have to drive to the bigger cities to get those kind of things,” Roggenbuck said.
Hours: Seven days a week. Hours of operation will be based on the season but will be open early during huting season and late during peak tourist visitation.
Location: 400 W. Route 66 in Williams
The store offers all Arizona Game and Fish hunting and fishing licenses and has a federal firearm license, which allows him to sell any type of gun. Roggenbuck said he plans to specialize in hunting guns.
The store opened March 1 and Roggenbuck said it has been an ideal start.
Historic past
One of the reasons Roggenbuck was interested in purchasing the building was because of its historic structure and its location on the Mother Road.
“(We) bought the building because of its historic past in Williams and for the design of the building,” he said.
Mountain Man Mercantile has worn many hats in the past, including being used as a sporting goods store and an off-premise liquor store and a butcher shop.
“You could bring your deer in and get it weighed. I mean it was really kind of a center of the community for people meeting and hanging out here,” he said.
At one point, more than 60 years ago, according to Roggenbuck, it also was used as a service station, selling gas.
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