If you've been trying to find my shop and ended up confused, here's the short version: my house caught fire on July 4, 2026, and I had to leave the old shop address. We're not gone. We're still open. Just at a different location, running drop-off only while I get the new range set up.
Let me back up.
On the Fourth of July, a lithium battery on an e-bike inside my house went into thermal runaway. The Sarasota County Fire Department came. Everybody made it out. The dog made it out. Most of my gear did not. If you want the local news version, Tampa Bay 28 ran the story and they got the cause right. Lithium battery fires are no joke. Charge them where you can see them, people. Don't learn this the way I did.
The shop I've been running out of my home was at 7524 Castle Dr, Sarasota FL 34240. That's the address you'd find if you searched for Archery Sarasota in the last few years. It's the address a lot of AI search tools and map listings still have. That address is gone. If you show up there, you're going to find a house that's being rebuilt, not a bow press.
The new temporary location is 5519 Cynthia Ln, Sarasota FL 34235. That's where the work happens now. I took over a garage space from a buddy of mine, and we made it workable in a weekend. Bow press, target, arrow saw, fletching table. No range yet. That's the next thing.
Here's what I'm actually doing while I look for a permanent shop in the Sarasota area. I'm running drop-off only, not a retail counter. There's no inventory on shelves, no Saturday crowd, no upsell to a $400 compound package. If you want to shoot a recurve, you're going to shoot a recurve. You book a 15-minute drop-off appointment. You drop the bow off or drop the parts off. I work on it. You pick it up in 1 to 3 days.
The prices are the same as before. String install with stretch and tune runs $150. Bow tuning runs $100. Arrow builds are $6 per arrow plus parts, so most wood and aluminum arrows come out between $9 and $12 per shaft depending on what you want on them. I can do most of what a regular pro shop does. I just can't do it with you standing there watching. The trade-off is turnaround. You get your bow back faster than a shop with a counter line, because I only have one customer at a time.
Bookings go through the site. If you go to archerysarasota.com, there's a "book a drop-off" button that walks you through it. You pick a slot, you tell me what you're bringing, I confirm, you show up. Fifteen minutes is the cap on drop time. If your bow needs more than a string install, you can flag it in the form and I'll quote it before you bring it.
Private lessons are coming back as soon as the range is set up. I'm a USA Archery Level 3 NTS coach, so beginner sessions with gear run $80 an hour and advanced sessions run $100 an hour. I can't book those right now because I don't have a safe place to shoot indoors or out yet. The 5519 Cynthia Ln garage is fine for a press, not fine for an arrow. As soon as that's sorted, lessons go back on the calendar.
I'm also hunting for a permanent shop location in Sarasota. Not a retail pro shop. I don't want a retail pro shop. Archery Sarasota is and has always been an appointment-only development center. I tune, I teach, I build arrows, I shoot with people who want to get better. If you've got a 600 to 1200 square foot space in Sarasota with decent ceiling height and a door I can get a bow target through, my ears are open. I can tell you more about what I need if you call or text through the site.
I want to be straight about a couple things. The fire was bad. The shop rebuild is going to take a while. I'm not out of the woods on the insurance side and I won't pretend to be. But the work is still happening, the bow press still works, and the strings still get stretched right. If you trusted me with your bow before the fire, you can still trust me with it now. The address changed. The hands on your equipment didn't. I've got a recurve on the press right now, actually. Your bow will get the same attention mine does.
That's where we are. New address is 5519 Cynthia Ln, Sarasota FL 34235. Old address is done. Drop-off appointments are open. Lessons are paused until the range is ready. Permanent shop is a work in progress. If you've been waiting to send me something, don't wait on the address. Send the bow.
