Have You Heard?

WICHITA — And then there were two.

Chisholm Trail Center-Outlet & Retail Shops in Newton has leased another retail space and now has only two spaces left to rent.

Darren Wheeler is opening Homerun Taxidermy in 1,200 square feet over the Labor Day weekend.

The Leon resident has been working out of his home but decided there were advantages to opening at Chisholm Trail.

“One of the best reasons was just the cost of the space and then the amount of foot traffic that they have there,” Wheeler says.

“They seem to be real aggressive about helping businesses get going,” he says. “And they do a lot of advertising for the businesses that are there.”

Wheeler also will operate Homerun Outfitters, which offers guided hunts “for basically everything we have to hunt in Kansas,” out of the Chisholm Trail store.

The store will have full-service taxidermy and sell handmade crafts. It will specialize in water fowl and bow-hunting supplies.

Wheeler named his businesses with a baseball theme because he spent nine years as a trainer for several different minor league baseball franchises.

“Financially,” he says, “it’s allowed me the opportunity to do some things that otherwise I would not have been able to do.”