Bell County and surrounding areas are rife with opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and the unique nature the region provides. From hiking, fishing, hunting and even canoeing — this area of Appalachia has no shortage of outdoor-related fun to engage in.

There is an avid outdoor and nature enthusiast culture in Bell County, and the owners saw a need to open a local business to cater to the market. Located in Middlesboro at 1475 U.S. Hwy. 25E, Dominion Outdoors is a new store that provides outdoor goods and tools for the hunting and nature loving set.

Dominion Outdoors held its official ribbon cutting on Nov. 16 to make their presence in the community official.

Rick Fuson and his son Eric run their store with their families. They are from the Frakes community and got the idea to open up an outdoor store because, as Rick puts it, “We love the outdoors. We love hunting and just being outside. We wanted to offer people a place to come and get some higher end stuff.”

Many of the products Dominion Outdoors sells is not product that the community could normally find locally, and that is that kind of convenience the Fusons want to bring to their store.

Dominion Outdoors carries hunting gear such as rifles, camouflage garments and crossbows at the moment, but the stock will rotate seasonally and new items will be brought in. Rick expressed the possibility of carrying hiking and canoeing gear in the future if the opportunity allows it.

Another feature of Dominion Outdoors that Rick highlighted was the communal aspect. He and his family want the customers to feel welcome and at home.

“When people come in, we spend a lot of time standing, visiting and sharing with people…we like people. We want to be good to people and be treated how I like to be treated.” said Rick.

Rick is humbled by the positive response the community has given the business and his family so far.

“We just want to reach out to people and build a lot of good relations with people. We’ve not been here a couple weeks and we’ve already met a lot of really, really good people,” he said.

Dominion Outdoors is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The store may stay open later on Saturday until after the Christmas season.