The Man Cave Outfitters Receive $250,000 Small Business Loan From the Chehalis Tribal Loan Fund for Expansion Work

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You truly never know until you ask. 

In this case, had The Man Cave Outfitters co-owner Shoni Pannkuk not asked for such a substantial loan, the Chehalis Tribal Loan Fund may not have given it. 

On January 17, the CTLF presented The Man Cave Outfitters co-owners Shoni and Hobe Pannkuk with a loan for $250,000, the largest amount the fund has ever lent to a small business. 

“They didn’t have minimums or maximums and I’m a tribal member, so I asked (for the amount),” Shoni Pannkuk said. “We had already been in business and this was really just to expand, so I thought it was enough to show them, you know, we’ve already established financial information and we’ve already shown that we’re successful, we’ve been doing it, here, in a brick and mortar store, for a year now. So, we asked, and they didn’t say ‘no.’ ”

Shoni and Hobe plan on using the money to expand their current building. The retail space is slated to stay where it is, while the storage room is to be repurposed into space for classrooms. The plans also feature an indoor shooting range, which will sit where the building’s four parking spaces are currently. The range will be open to the public. 

The Pannkuks project that the renovations will take six months. 

“There is no public indoor shooting ranges in this area,” Hobe Pannkuk said. “So everything that we’re doing pretty much from the loan phase to the contractor phase, it’s a first for everybody. Everybody’s really excited because nobody’s done this before.” 

The Pannkuks hope the addition of the classrooms can help educate Lewis County citizens on safe gun ownership. 

Shoni added that the class sizes will be small in an effort to maximize time for one-on-one instruction with the trainers. The hope is participants will also be able to sign-up for specialty classes, such as solely one-on-one or women’s only sessions, according to Hobe. 



“My husband shouldn’t be cleaning my gun, I should be cleaning my own gun,” Shoni Pannkuk said. “But, you have to know how to do that, you have to learn how to do that. While I have a great husband who can teach me, not everybody does, not everybody wants to take instruction from their husband and I get that.” 

Shoni cited that classes in the area are “few and far between,” stating that they just aren’t offered on a regular basis. 

“I think it’ll help allow us to continue to educate,” Shoni Pannkuk said. 

The CTLF is looking for the loan given to The Man Cave Outfitters to set a precedent for other borrowers moving forward.

“We are proud to be a part of the business plans for expanding (The Man Cave Outfitters) and wish the Pannkuk’s much success,” Lawrence SpottedBird, CTLF Executive Director said in a press release.“The CTLF Board and staff are working to develop the (Chehalis Tribal Financial Empowerment Center) and its subsidiaries, increase our lending capacity, and add more staff and training this year to better serve the needs of our tribal clients.”

According to a press release, the Chehalis Tribal Financial Empowerment Center is “a multifaceted one-stop service center that will empower tribal members and entrepreneurs to achieve financial success and help build the economy of the Chehalis reservation.”

To be the first recipient of a loan this large from the CTLF, though, is an aspect of the experience the Pannkuks don’t take for granted. 

“It means everything,” Hobe Pannkuk said. “We’ve been working on this range for several years and for us to get the loan to get this done, I mean, it’s just making our dreams come full circle.”