ATF Flyshop is Moving to SPORTSMAN'S ELITE..........

It is with mixed emotions I make this announcment about the ATF Flyshop--"Addicted To Flyfishing"---Happy about what is happening to the shop but a little sad to no longer be the owner.

Effective January 1st, 2010, the shop will be open as part of the Sportsman's Elite Gun Shop in El Paso. Don Pendergras opened this wonderful gun shop in 2009. After a number of discussions Don and I made the decision to incorporate the ATF Flyshop into Don's shop and have it become part of the SPORTSMAN'S ELITE store.

Since our inception in 2004, ATF was dedicated to serving the needs of flyfishermen (and women) and tyers in El Paso and Las Cruces. As with any new business, we started small and scratched and clawed our way to become a pretty darn good flyshop--IN EL PASO! My thanks to all the loyal customers and friends who have supported the shop over the past 5 years. My dream was to provide a shop that would support fly tyers originally and that grew into a full service fly shop over time. We had a lot of great, repeat customers but as most of you know, the flyshop was my dream and hobby, not my livelhood and as the economy has turned on us in the past couple of years, I was forced to put more time into my architectural practice, my "day job" if you will. The slumpping economy also put a strain on cash flow of course and it got to the point where I was not sure I could keep the shop going. I was afraid the flyshop dream might come to an end!

Then Don and I got together and discussed the possibilities of joining forces to help both businesses. It made perfect sense; flyfisherpeople love being outdoors and many hunt as well as fish and the same holds true that many hunters love flyfishing. After several discussions on how to proceed with the merger, we both realized the only way to really make this work was for Don to own and operate the shop as part of the gun shop. Tim Mack will be moving with the shop and working for Don, managing the flyfishing part of the store so the service you have come to expect from ATF will be continued at the Sportsman's Elite. For me, I am truly happy that the little tyer's shop has grown into a real fly shop and that it will continue to grow and prosper with Don at the Sportsman's Elite; and in many, many ways, it will improve. Don is adding space to his current facility to house the flyfishing aspect and as is his custom, DOING IT RIGHT! They are adding better displays for all the products and will have much more space than we had at the current store; they are also in a GREAT location, at 7500 N. Mesa in the Promenade Shopping Center; right across the street from Walmart and much easier to find than our shop at Northwest Corporate Center!

In closing, a heart-felt THANK YOU to everyone that supported the ATF Shop and please continue shopping with Don and Tim at the Sportsman's Elite Gun and Fly shop---This is going to be first class store when they get it officially re-opened in February! Go by and see them and enjoy the new owners and surroundings.

.......and remember, let's ALL remain ATF----"Addicted To Flyfishing"!
Tom Prestidge