Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/554642
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 0 1 Erik and Bob treat customers with respect and courtesy, whether they have $300 to spend or $30,000. For example, while I visited the store, I saw one fellow who probably has not worried about price tags in years and a couple other patrons who appeared to be shopping for a reasonably modest deer rifle. Watching Bob demonstrate and explain his wares to each party, I fully understood what he meant by "small-town customer service." In the commodious lower level of the store you also can find shooting supplies in addition to firearms. Optic lines include Leupold, Schmidt & Bender, Swarovski, Zeiss, Trijicon, Nightforce, Redfield, and more. Tucked away in one end of the basement you can shop for fishing gear, including Orvis rods and reels, and several other brands of high- quality fly-casting and conventional reels. Waders, hats, fishing vests, and a superb selection of both flies and fly- tying materials are also on display. Erik says Cove Creek Outfitters has D escend the broad wooden stairway toward the rear of the store into what can only be described as a sportsman's fantasyland. One wall is arranged with well over 50 feet of gleaming top-tier rifles and shotguns packed bolt to barrel in brands and chamberings not likely to be found in all but the most exclusive venues. There are a few black rifles and the glass cases are chockablock with handguns, but the emphasis is solidly on finely-figured wood and gleaming blued steel. And what you see is only the tip of the iceberg. "In all," says Erik, "Cove Creek Outfitters has, at any one time, up to 3,500 firearms in stock." When a customer comes in and asks for a particular caliber or gauge, Erik wants to offer it in several brands and at a selection of price points, or if the customer asks for a certain brand, he likes to be able to show that brand in a wide variety of chamberings. The brothers feel they offer big-city selection and knowledge combined with small-town customer service. There are also shoes for the entire family, and Cove Creek carries names such as Frye, Sperry, and Red Wing. But there's something for everybody and every wallet including tops and colorful bandanas by Life is Good. The brothers Turkovich have spared no expense in stocking their establishment with the best merchandise to be had, and likewise, elbow grease has hardly gone lacking in the building's restoration. As with many of Bedford's historic buildings, the care and attention to detail is obvious from the street, but once inside, be prepared to admire ceilings still tiled with the original tin, 18-inch-thick walls of solid hand-formed brick, and a floor of hefty quarter-sawn hard maple and oak that, could the boards but talk, might tell of a time when wolves, buffalo, grizzlies, and Shawnee still prowled the wilderness. Antiques and old calendars line the walls—a comfortable place where a checkerboard and a few old geezers wouldn't seem at all out of place.