Gun shop on Ridge Road in Holley outgrew owner’s garage and home

Scott Pachla, a former airline pilot, enjoys working with gun owners

Photos by Tom Rivers

HOLLEY – Scott Pachla is shown on Saturday at Building Your Dreams Gun Shop, which opened about three weeks ago at the former West Ridge Realty building at 16584 Ridge Rd.

Pachla for more than a decade ran the business out of his home on Kendall Road. It outgrew his garage and then expanded into his house, taking up even more room.

The new location is more visible for the public and in a better location for the public, Pachla said.

He started selling guns 16 years ago as a hobby. Pachla, 55, is connected with many distributors. He used those contacts to maintain access to hand guns, long guns, ammunition and other supplies during the Covid pandemic in 2020, when many gun sellers struggled to get supplies.

That’s when the business really started to take off for Pachla, who worked 20 years as an airline pilot. He stepped away from that career due to the constant time away from home.

“I slept in 80,000 hotel beds,” he said. “I was never home.”

After his career as a pilot, Pachla tried a business where he built custom log cabins. He called his contracting business, Building Your Dreams. He kept that name for the gun shop.

The gun business is more family-friendly for Pachla. His wife Joanna Fraser helps with the books, and is at the store on Saturdays. She also works full-time at Lowe’s.

Pachla’s twin sons, Hunter and Kohle, also help at Building Your Dreams. They both will graduate from Holley on Saturday. Hunter does scope mounts and can make gun repairs. Kohle helped design the store’s look and layout.

Scott Pachla and his wife Joanna Fraser are shown at Building Your Dreams Gun Shop at the former Westridge Realty on Ridge Road.

Pachla said he has been a gun enthusiast since he was hunting as a kid. Some of the animals he’s hunted are mounted high on the store walls, including a wild boar he shot with an arrow.

Pachla enjoys sharing his knowledge with the public. If he doesn’t have what they want in the store, he said he can order and quickly have it on site. He has products from about 30 gun manufacturers, including Traditions, Versacarry, Barnes, Hornady, Kimber, Ruger, Glock, Savage,  Springfield, Henry, Smith & Wesson and others.

“I enjoy the customers and I enjoy the industry,” he said.

Building Your Dreams also sells ammunition, accessories, cleaning supplies, scopes and does minor gun smithing.

The business is open Monday through Saturday – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6:30 on Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Click here for more information.

Pachla works with fire departments and other organizations on gun raffles, trying to help them retain as much of the proceeds as possible.