STUTTGART, Ark. — (KTHV) – The owners of Rich-N-Tone Calls Shop in Stuttgart opened the doors to a brand new facility after a fire three years ago.
Two-thirds of the shop burned in Feb. 2016 when the facility’s dust collection caught fire. Since then the owners have been working hard to put new touches to the store.
"There are a lot of shops! But this is a destination store is what I'd call it,” Doug Baugh said.
Owner John Stephens said this grand opening is a relief. Since the fire, Stephens said his business was operating in tight headquarters.
"We lost all of our equipment, most of our inventory,” he said. "With this new Rich-N-Tone, we wanted to build something that had a lot better customer experience."
The space is about a thousand square feet bigger than the old one, allowing Stephens to sell more product.
"We added a craft beer bar upfront and we partnered with Flyaway Brewery out of NLR,” he said. "They've branded a beer called the Flying Duck."
The new space also holds dozens of antique calls Stephens collected over the years. Stephens said he wanted the new RNT to be more than a store.
"We have calls up there now that is from the Illinois River area and there's calls over a hundred years old up there,” he said.
And now that its doors are back open, RNT is ready to take a -quack- at this year's hunting season.
"We're pretty proud of it and I think the Stuttgart community is proud of it. It's something we can showcase our tradition and history to the people that come down here in the fall to duck hunt,” Stephens said.
The celebration of the new RNT continues through the weekend with Call-A-Palooza. Tickets are still available for Saturdays crawfish broil.