North Star Ammo & Defense celebrates grand opening in Albion

Business offers wide selection of firearms, ammunition, apparel and accessories

Photos by Tom Rivers: Shawn Malark, owner of North Star Ammo & Defense, is shown inside the business with two of the employees, Corey Black and Eric Harling, who are both recently retired after careers as investigators with the Orleans County Major Crime Felony Task Force.

ALBION – A new business celebrated its opening today, and many of the customers and local officials marveled at the transformation of an old sandstone warehouse into the new North Star Ammo & Defense.

Shawn Malark worked for three years to create North Star, which offers firearms, ammunition, apparel and other accessories at 227 West Ave.

Malark is a Kendall graduate who has been running Orleans Pallet at the Medina sandstone warehouse in Albion since 2006. Part of the 1901 warehouse burned in a  dramatic fire on Oct. 17, 2013. Malark was able to keep the pallet business going despite the devastating fire.

Malark has been wanting to branch out in a business to help people with self protection, to help them feel safer.

“We are committed to upholding the highest standards of safety, compliance and customer service,” he said. “Our team is dedicated to promoting safety, education and responsible gun ownership. We believe our business will be a positive addition to the area by serving the needs of local hunters, sporting club members, outdoorsmen and responsible citizens.”

Shawn Malark, his wife Kelly and their daughter Montana cut the ribbon outside North Star Ammo & Defense this morning during a ribbon-cutting celebration.

Several local officials attended the ribbon-cutting. Malark received commendations from the Orleans County Legislature, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, and the offices of State Sen. Rob Ortt and Congresswoman Claudia Tenney.

The grand opening celebration continues on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with giveaways and raffles, and a meet-and-greet with the team of experts.

The transformation of the warehouse for North Star shocked many of the local officials who attended the ribbon-cutting today. The warehouse was being used for storage but Malark has turned it into a retail store that also has computers for people to shop online at other vendors and distributors, giving them access to more than 144,000 items. Click here to see the North Star website.

North Star has three employees who are well known in the community for their long careers in law enforcement. Corey Black and Eric Harling are both recently retired from the Orleans County Major Felony Crime Task Force. Black also worked for the Sheriff’s Office as a deputy and investigator. Harling worked 20 years with the Medina Police Department before joining the Task Force the past 11 years.

Dave Meyer also joined North Star after 31 years as a state parole officer.

David Meyer works with a customer today at North Star.

Black, Harling and Meyer worked together for many years, and they are happy to be together again on the job. North Star is far less stressful with only positive interactions, they said.

“This is a breath of fresh air coming from the career I was in,” Harling said. “Every engagement here is a positive one.”

Harling has been hunting since he was a kid. He and Black both bring extensive knowledge of firearms. Black for many years was the firearms instructor for the local law enforcement and taught the pistol permit class.

Black said he is eager to share his knowledge about firearms. He said there are many different types of guns that have different purposes.

He is grateful for the opportunity to work at North Star.

“This is a team environment,” he said. “The people that come in here are happy and they’re excited.”

He is impressed by Malark and his attention to detail and vision for the new business.

“Shawn is an amazing guy,” Black said. “He is go, go, go.”

Kelly Malark aims this 12-gauge Weatherby rifle that she won at a raffle at the St. Paul Boulevard Exempts Association in Rochester. The rifle had just been delivered to North Star, which has a Federal Firearms License. Eric Harling, left, and Shawn Malark are at the counter.

North Star would like to work with many fire departments and non-profits on gun raffles. If someone wins a gun and can’t pick it up at North Star in Albion, the gun can be shipped to another FFL closer to that person’s residence.

A group gathers at North Star today for a ribbon-cutting celebration. They stayed under a covered area by the loading dock due to the heavy rain.

Shawn Malark said he and his family were considering other names for the business until his daughter spoke her first words. Kendall was 5 ½ and watching a Peppa Pig video with a nursery rhyme called “North Star.”

She repeated “North Star” and her family burst into tears. Kendall is autistic and those first words were very powerful for her father and gave him even more drive to see the new business become a reality.

Malark said he is very confident in the North Star team of six employees. He wants the site to be of service to the community. He believes there is strong potential to build the North Star brand and have it become a bigger business beyond Orleans County.

“We want to do something special here and bring people together who want to feel safe,” Malark said at today’s ceremony. “That’s our commitment to the community.”

North Star has developed several of its own apparel items and other merchandise. The shirt of the left recognizes many first responders and those in law enforcement and the military. Shawn and Kelly Malark wanted to highlight the role of nurses, too, as first responders and people providing critical services to the public.

A North Star shirt is at right. The business has other shirts, hats, gun mats, frisbees and other products with its brand. Some of that merchandise will be given away on Friday during the grand opening celebration.