P&G Exec Buys Cincinnati Range

A retired Procter & Gamble marketing director bought a gun range he'd never heard of to build something he couldn't find anywhere else.

What happened: Maurice Coffey closed on Target World Academy in Sharonville, Ohio in October 2025, retired from P&G after 29 years in January, and opened the range and rental desk in March. The grand opening followed on June 28.

Between the lines: Coffey is deliberate about how he frames this. He didn't buy a gun range—he bought a blank canvas.

"When I think about it, I spent my entire career building brands and businesses at Procter, but when this opportunity became available, I thought it was a chance to build something meaningful for Cincinnati and just thought there was room for a training-first type of business." — Maurice Coffey, owner, Target World Academy

The big picture: The range industry has seen a steady wave of new ownership from outside the traditional firearms world—operators who come in with retail and hospitality experience and reframe the range visit around onboarding new shooters rather than serving only the already-converted. Coffey fits that pattern exactly.

Reality check: "Training-first" is easy to say on a grand opening day. What it means in practice—curriculum depth, instructor quality, how the range handles a nervous first-timer versus a seasoned competition shooter—takes time to evaluate. Cincinnati has a real range community that will sort that out quickly.

What to watch: Whether the operational model holds once the opening buzz fades. A P&G resume is a credential for brand-building; it doesn't automatically translate to range safety culture or firearms instruction. Watch the staff hires and the training program structure over the next 12 months.