FRANKLIN
Area sportsmen will be happy to know that Franklin now has an outdoors store. Exodus Outdoors opened in early October and is located at 1346 Armory Drive.

Best friends Josh Widener of Holland and Larry Dunn of Newsoms were tired of riding all the way to Hampton for hunting gear and to have their bows tuned. They were sure that others felt the same way they did, so they decided to open their own place.

“We’re looking to bring something to the area that hasn’t been here before, like bow services,” Widener said.

He is originally from the Bristol area and Dunn has lived in the Western Tidewater area all his life.

The store carries a variety of brands of bows and crossbows such as Elite and Parker and provides different bow services for the customers. They also carry hunting clothes for men, women and children in brands such as Scentlock, Drake Waterfowl, Predator and Browning. There are tree stands, ammo and a lot of other different types of hunting supplies carried in the store. They also carry Drake Waterfowl accessories. More hunting gear brands will be carried in the store once more of the inventory comes in and a casual line of clothes is also on its way.

Widener and Dunn are members of the Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce. They are waiting on more of their merchandise to come in before having their grand opening, but they are hoping that it will be within the next four weeks.

Exodus Outdoors is open Monday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and as of right now the owners are the only employees.

Widener and Dunn are hoping everyone will come in, meet them, check out everything they have in the store and learn about what merchandise is still on its way.

“We hope we can earn a good reputation and provide a service for the sportsmen of the area so they don’t have to travel so far for what they need,” Dunn added.

For more information, call 304-9633 or visit them on Facebook.