The store opened in May after the construction of a 14,000-square-foot showplace with service bays, offices and a warehouse inside. Chad Moore, co-owner of the business, said, “We built it where, if we have growth, we have some room in there.”
The choice of location, in the northern part of town on a highway bypass often used as residents in the southern section of Hope make their trips to grocery stores is already paying off, Store Manager Chad Horn said. “I don’t know what the traffic count is out here, but it looks pretty healthy. We didn't realize that when we started, but it's busy out there.”
Horn referred to seeing pent-up demand from the time the store first opened: “They were just waiting for somebody to come in, to bring a place like this in so they could have it here locally.” Customers, as one would expect at a business selling ATVs and side-by-sides, do skew male, but Horn said “several females . . . have come in and bought,” attesting to the growing women’s market for outdoor-related equipment.
The decision to build a new store in Hope came after Moore and his fellow C2 Powersports co-owner Chip DeBoard, who still run DeBoard Electronics, a designer and installer of audio and video systems as well as Smarthome technology saw the potential of stores selling recreational and farm vehicles when they bought Parish Equipment Supply up in Nashville, Arkansas and then opened their first C2 Powersports location in Conway.
Why build the new store in Hope? “We thought we'd have, I-30 access, coming up from Texas, down from the Arkadelphia area. So that's where we chose this location.”
So if you buy that side-by-side or cart from C2 Powersports, you can be sure you’re helping an Arkansas-owned company. Moore is from Conway, Arkansas and Born is from Nashville. There’s also the fact that in being an exclusive dealer of Polaris equipment, the store allows you to buy from an American company, too.
The love of these kinds of vehicles goes way back for both Moore and Born, both confessing to having a good time on ATVs from early ages. Although both were quick to remind this reporter that the adult-sized equipment is only for drivers aged sixteen and up and that helmets are essential, their inventory also includes smaller vehicles with 70-cc engines for children and 200- cc engines for when they reach about age ten.
But the four-wheelers, carts and side-by-sides are not only used for fun, but for work, since they make tasks like hauling feed, seed, harvests or lumber much easier. “They're used for a lot of work these days. It's not just recreational. A lot of people are using them on farms and in construction, lots of different areas,” Born said.
The size of the market wanting equipment for farm and labor-related purposes is larger here in southern Arkansas than in the central part, Moore said. “In Conway we have more recreation customers than we do farming. Hunting is huge. There’s farming to the north and east of us up there. Of course you come further south and there’s more poultry.” This latter often means a distance between the farmer’s home and where the chickens live. Using a truck to go back and forth so many times isn’t good for them.
That’s when buying a Polaris side-by-side becomes more economical. At C2 Powersports, you can also get your machine serviced and buy replacement parts as well as accessories. As Born said, too, the company enjoys good relationships with many banks in the area where he reports those seeking financing have had no trouble finding it. Moore added, “Polaris is partner with several national accounts, where they have national financing. There should be options for everybody.”
There’s are also reasons Polaris now has 60 percent of the market for off-road vehicles. “They’re innovative,” Moore said. And while Donald Trump’s tariffs may have effects on the costs of certain parts, Polaris, based in Medina, Minnesota, will be less likely to pass on big costs than companies based in Japan or China because of its efforts to diversity where its parts come from.
If you attend the 49th Annual Hope Watermelon Festival next week, expect to see police officers using Polaris vehicles borrowed from C2 to help keep attendees safe and watermelons uncracked.
So come into the store at 200 West Commerce Boulevard to take a look around, not only at the vehicles but at the Gator Wader hunting, fishing and off-road apparel available along the walls. C2 Powersports is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Fridays and 8:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
Above photo: Store Manager Chad Horn.
