Airsoft shooting venue opens inside Rigby’s iconic sugar factory

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BIZ BUZZ

RIGBY

New Rigby airsoft venue to have seasonal haunted attraction

RIGBY – Ammon Howard’s favorite childhood activity is now a full-time business venture.

The 32-year-old man from Lewisville (a small community northwest of Rigby) is part-owner of a new airsoft gun store and shooting venue in Rigby. It’s called Advantage Airsoft, and it’s inside a 4,500-square-foot space at the old sugar factory at 418 North 4014 East, Ste. 6.

It’s an indoor venue with enclosed spaces so customers can have airsoft shootouts with friends and family. A variety of guns are available for rent or purchase. See what it’s like in the video above.

Howard is also part-owner of an outdoor shooting venue in Lewisville, which opened about four years ago on six-acres across from Idahoan Foods at 529 North 3500 East. He owns the business with Joseph Sevy, a deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The indoor space opened last December and it’s become a popular place for the sheriff’s office to hold active-shooter trainings.

The haunted attraction, The Factory: Escape the Infection, will open Sept. 13 and will run through the first weekend of November.

“Our open play where we have 30 or 40 people in here will be curtailed while we have the haunted attraction,” Howard tells EastIdahoNews.com.

Howard grew up playing with paintball guns before discovering airsoft in high school. He says airsoft guns have evolved over the years to look more realistic, and are more affordable than paintball guns.

“As the airsoft guns have become more advanced and cooler, airsoft has grown (in popularity). I transitioned over to that because it’s cleaner and a little less expensive,” he says.

Since merging the two locations into one business last November, Howard says the clientele has dramatically increased.

“Any given week, we have between 60 and 80 people who will come out and play airsoft at our venues,” he says.

The Sugar Factory lends itself to an airsoft venue, Howard says, because it can withstand the constant firing of BBs. It was most recently owned by Jorgensen Cabinets next door. Howard isn’t sure what was there before that.

The Beet Growers Sugar Association bought the building in 1924. It was one of several sugar factories in Idaho at the time, according to a written history. It functioned in this capacity until 1939, before it was converted into a sugar storage facility.

Its history as an old sugar factory prompted Howard to include that in the name of the business.

“We call this location ‘The Factory.’ Colloquially, no one says they’re going to Advantage Airsoft, they say they’re going to play at the factory,” Howard explains. “It has great bones. It has everything you could ever want for this kind of venue.”

Howard is grateful to the community’s response over the last year. He’s hoping to eventually build it out to include additional rooms and move the store to this building to consolidate the operation and serve more patrons.

“Rather than two days a week, the field can be open five days a week,” he says. “If I had a vision, it would be for this to become a great hobby sport … for the youth of Rigby, as well as Idaho Falls, Rexburg and the two colleges around as well.”

For more information or to book a reservation, visit the website or Facebook page.

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