40 | WINCHESTERCOLLECTOR.ORG • SUMMER 2016 David Kruse at his Winchester Store As Winchester collectors, we all dream of stepping back in time and going into a gun shop or a Winchester Store to peruse the variety of products offered by Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Not a bad dream, right? Well…it’s not just a dream! There is a “real” Winchester Store alive and well in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Its owner, David Kruse, set out to recreate his hometown Winchester Store and has done an excellent job of taking us back in time. Years ago, when David first started collecting Winchester rifles, he did not necessarily see down the road to where he is today. His first purchase was a Winchester Model 1892 rifle in 25-20 WCF that he bought from a neighbor over 30 years ago. Little did he know he had just planted the seed for his future grand project. As his collection expanded so did his tastes—not onlyWinchester rifles caught his eye—but all thingsWinchester. He started collecting all of the various items that Winchester made for their Winchester Store franchises. One day he found out that there had been a Winchester Store in Spirit Lake, Iowa, where he currently lives. This captured his curiosity and the rest is history. Along with his wife, Jane, who supports her husband’s passion for Winchester collecting, they began by visiting the local museum and looking through hundreds of issues of the local paper The Spirit Lake Beacon. The paper had been in business since 1870 and since it was the advertising media of choice in the 1920s, what better place to look for local ads from the Hill & Sperbeck Winchester Store? Although a daunting task, the perseverance paid off, as they found a number of advertisements. These helped in dating the store’s operation as a Winchester Store fromApril 1925 through December 1929. Just by chance, he was perusing the donated postcards at the museumwhen he found the photo postcard (seen A Passion for All Things Winchester: The David Kruse Story by Jennifer & Gary Gole
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