LINN  — Lee Outdoors opened on Tuesday at its new location in the lower level of the Linn Printing building, which housed the Osage County Library for several years.

Owner Emma Lee, who earned her degree in business administration with a technical specialty in nursing in 2021 from State Tech, worked for Hale’s Hook & Hunt, then owned by Ernie Hale.

“I offered to buy the business from Ernie in 2021, but he wasn’t ready to retire,” said Emma, a 2019 graduate of Linn High School.

Sadly, Hale passed away last spring, but it opened a possibility. Lee and Hale’s widow, Mariel, began discussing a sale in October.

That deal closed on Dec. 19, but Hale’s Hook & Hunt only had the lease until the end of last year.

“Luckily, the new location became available a couple of days after we closed the deal,” Emma said, “DJ’s  Repair Service wanted frontage space to expand and were taking over the lease on Jan. 1, so we knew we had to be out by the first of the year.”

The Lees finished the year operating as Hale’s Hook & Hunt at the Main Street location.

Emma’s father, Jim, also worked at Hale’s Hook & Hunt as a technician for a while and plans to help his daughter with day-to-day operations. Both are thankful the timing worked out.

“Elmer Senevey, who owns that building, and DJ Keilholz worked with us because we couldn’t get out before the end of the year,” Jim said. “We were under the gun.”

The pair put out the word, asking for help from family and friends, and the response was immediate and effective. “Several people helped us move into the new location last weekend,” Jim said. “We wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we have so far, just getting started, without the support of the community and friends. That’s a fact. They’ve been key. We can’t thank everyone enough for that support.”

He added that small businesses need support. “Without local patronage, small businesses don’t thrive, and without them, we don’t have a community,” Jim said, adding that his son has loaned the use of a JLL Construction trailer, and the entire family has been busy organizing the new store.

One of the more challenging aspects of the move was how to transport the 850-pound gun safe. “We had to have it to make the move because we had to secure the firearms,” Jim said. “The guys were working Saturday on a project, and I called my son. I said, ‘Hey, I need some strong guys.’ It wasn’t five minutes, and they were here with a pallet jack. We got it moved, but there’s no way we could do things like that without family support.”

Emma and Jim have a lot of knowledge about the outdoors and hunting. “I grew up in a hunting environment,” Emma noted. “I’ve dabbled in a little bit of everything. My whole family is very passionate about the outdoors.”

She has been bagging deer for a long time; Emma shot her biggest whitetail buck at her parents’ farm two years ago, and she was expecting the mount this week.

Emma and Jim are highly qualified to help customers find what they need, including bows, archery supplies, fishing supplies, firearms, ammo, gun-cleaning supplies, and other gun accessories.

“We’re hoping to bring in reloading supplies and waterfowl equipment,” Emma said. “We can’t carry a huge supply of waterfowl stuff just because the bigger chains will always beat us on price since they buy it by the truckload. So, it’ll be like blind bags, shotgun shells (steel shot), calls, and stuff like that.”

Emma encouraged everyone to stop by the new store, which is open Tuesday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“Lee Outdoors is special because it’s a family business,” she said. “We’re all local and want to give something back to the community. We have a lot of local hunters and anglers in the county, and we hope to expand on what Ernie built over more than 25 years. He was a great man, and we want to continue his legacy.”

Jim noted that Lee Outdoors will continue offering an archery pro shop, while offering scope-mounting, bore-sighting, and gun cleaning.

While the store is open, there are plenty of things to finish. “We plan to keep the doors open throughout this transition and are excited for more space and better parking,” Emma said.

Follow Lee Outdoors on Facebook for updates, or call 573-897-0777 for additional information.