Timberlake store offers new place to trade

By Bryan Gentry

Published: November 24, 2008

A wiry, white-bearded man walked into Timberlake Trading Post on a cool Friday morning looking for cash.

He unfolded a brown page from an 1864 Richmond Daily Dispatch and laid it before Winston Scott, owner of the pawn shop and outdoors store that opened Nov. 8.

Scott’s eyes skimmed over the tiny print. “It’s some guy in Richmond talking about how everybody’s happy that the (Civil) War’s going on, because everybody’s making money.”

“That right there needs to be framed,” he said. “You going to keep that or you going to sell it?”

The man said he’d sell it for $50.

Being a descendent of several Confederate soldiers, Scott was interested. But since he’s also a businessman, he and his brother Greg checked eBay. They saw that Civil War-era newspapers listed for about $30.

That customer left with his antique newspaper instead of cash.

Scott said that making his new outdoors sports store a pawn shop too could be key to getting it off the ground during the worst financial crisis in decades.

“I thought about (the economy), and that’s why we added the pawn shop,” he said. “People need money. When the economy’s bad, that’s a good time for us to buy stuff to resell.”

Scott and his brother didn’t go to a bank for a business loan. They decided that even before the credit markets tightened earlier this fall. “We really wanted to stay away from having to borrow any money” and pay interest rates, Scott said.

They also take a lot of merchandise on consignment, meaning they need less up-front cash. For the rest, they used savings.

“It still costs a lot to get everything ready,” Scott said. “But we were able to swing it without going to a bank.”

Timberlake Trading Post is in the same building where Timberlake Sporting Goods operated for years.

Earl and Margaret Coppage opened that store near the corner of Waterlick and Timberlake roads more than 20 years ago, Scott said. They later moved it about one mile, to the corner of Woodhaven Drive and near to Timber Lake.

Scott grew up in Campbell County and in Lynchburg, and he was a regular customer at Timberlake Sporting Goods. The first thing he bought there was a Remington 7mm magnum for a deer-hunting trip.

The store also was a good place to pick up hunting clothes, knives and fishing equipment.

“Everything I needed, this was the most local place for me to buy it, with expertise behind it,” Scott said.

Timberlake Sporting Goods closed about three or four years ago when Coppage retired. Even then Scott thought it would be a good place to open up again.

At that time, Scott was trying to get into real estate while working nights at Brooks Food Group in Bedford, he said. “Then the bottom fell out of the real estate market” and Scott chose sporting goods as his next pursuit.

He called Coppage earlier this year and offered to lease the old store’s building.

One reason he wanted to restart the store was to provide a service to other outdoor enthusiasts. “I like those people who are hunters and fishermen,” Scott said.

“Hopefully this can be my last job,” he said. He still works night shift for Brooks Food Group and runs the store by day, he said.

Scott took the name “Trading Post” from several stores he has visited on hunting trips. He liked those stores, and he liked their names.

“It reminds you of the olden days,” Scott said. “People back in the 1800s would bring in buffalo hides or whatever and trade them for ammunition,” he said. “We’re still here. We haven’t changed a whole lot.”

The merchandise in Timberlake Trading Post is varied. An electric guitar hangs on a wall near a knee-high case of used books. In addition to hunting and fishing supplies, there is a case of vinyl records including the album “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys.

Scott said he might add services such as renting the back lot to park boats and RVs.

In the first few weeks the store has been open, people have come in to pawn something. Others have come to see the store where they shopped years ago.

“It’s kind of strange to walk in here and not see Earl sitting there,” said Buddy Newman, a local hunter who used to shop at Coppage’s store.

Newman stopped in recently to look at the new store. He joked about how the phrase “I can get that cheaper at Wal-Mart” was outlawed when Coppage ran the place.

“I think you’ll find most of your customers who come in will say something about Earl and Margaret,” Newman said. “We’ve missed them since they closed.”

Newman said there are enough outdoorsmen in Campbell County to keep the store going. “I think the more hunting and fishing you do, you’ll find that you’ve got a clientele,” he said.

Just a few minutes after he walked out, a couple of college-aged men rushed into the store with a plastic shopping bag full of used DVDs they were anxious to sell.