Barker Outdoors leaving Youngstown for Town of Lockport

The former Boy Scouts of America building at 7121 Rochester Road in the Town of Lockport will become a retail store offering the things that outdoor people need to always be prepared.

The Details

Local inventor Jeff Barker is moving his business, Barker Outdoors, to the location, offering night vision technology, daytime optics, trail cameras, spotting scopes and his patented ball-head mounting system to adapt tripods.

“We do not sell guns or ammo, but we sell everything else for the hunting industry,” Barker said. “We may get into fishing. That’s a huge space.”

“I started predator hunting and fell in love with the technology of predator hunting. Our optics are used primarily for night hunting nuisance animals,” he said of coyotes and foxes. “You can not use thermal optics for deer unless you have nuisance permits.”

Barker said when he was hunting, he wanted to shoot from a tripod, but felt his movement was restricted.

“It was a very heavy tripod and didn’t have the movement everybody would want. I just needed more flexibility with our gun rest. I decided to basically start developing a product.”

Collaborating with friends who work in machining, Barker said their research for the ball-head mounting system included many designs. The final product is made out of aircraft aluminum, Barker said, is super light-weight, laser-engraved, and anodized in black.

“That is what really propelled our business and what we need the expansion for,” he said. “We sell that line of items that’s manufactured in Niagara Falls. We sell on eBay as well as on our website. We went through 30 different ball heads to do our design. I have a museum in my store of all the various parts and 3D prints we used, with silver and hand-chiseled bolts.”

Barker said with the ball-head mounting system, a tripod can be used like a gun rest by people with disabilities who can’t carry a gun, camera, spotting scope, or crossbow.

“Movement in ours is a very fluid 360 design,” he said. “It can pan quickly or slowly and can hold up to 66 pounds. You can put a very large weapon on there. It’s a very unique, super-niche product. It’s really taken off for us. We’re the largest accessory dealer for the number one selling tripod. We are the dealer that adapts that tripod to accept multiple weapons, cameras and optics.”

All Barker Outdoors accessories combine with the ARCA rail system, he said.

Barker had worked for Cornerstone Credit Union in Lockport for over 7 years before he went into business for himself.

“When Covid hit, I decided to leave the credit union and I opened the company in July of 2020. That winter I created a store in my basement, adding drywall, flooring and shelving. We got too busy, and too many people were coming into my personal house.”

In September 2021, Barker Outdoors opened at 105 Lockport St. in Youngstown, in the heart of the village.

“The brick-and-mortar location opened my doors to not only more traffic and a better reputation, but it also allowed me to bring in hundreds of dealers that require brick and mortar.”

The business evolved to have 20,000 different items in inventory, Barker said.

“It allowed us to open up new wholesale accounts for distributors.”

He now carries Rix, Pulsar, Nocpix, and AGM thermal optic brands, Trijicon scopes, Tactacam trail cameras and 360 home defense camera systems, Dryshod boots, and ScentKok camouflage. In day optics, he stocks Vortex, Sigsauer, Nightforce, and Leupold scopes and binoculars.

“What separates us is that we have a showroom and you can look at the items,” Barker said. “We also travel around the Northeast and we do sportsmen’s shows and gun shows. We’ve sold our ball head system to over 30 countries.”

Barker said the Lockport building has been vacant for 8 years, and needs some work. He ripped out old carpets, ceilings and insulation, along with the front bushes.

“It’s going to get all new windows, flooring, ceiling tiles, and paint,” he said. “The roof is going to be replaced.”

There is space for the retail shop and a shipping and receiving area. Barker is also a real estate agent and plans to use one section of the building for offices.