When Rountree Electric ventured into the outdoors business six years ago, store owner Chet Chappelle had no idea his store would one day be recognized as a retailer of the year.

Chappelle got an email Monday from the Alabama Retail Association notifying him the store was selected as one of the state’s top stores in the Sales Less Than $1 Million category for the 2015 Retailer of the Year Awards.

“To win an award like this for doing our job and doing something we like to do, it is just overwhelming,” Chappelle said. “We’ve never been nominated for any kind of award or anything like that, so for us to be nominated for retailer of the year was a huge honor for all of us.”

Rountree Outdoors opened in 2009 after the economy was in a downward spiral. Chappelle said he got the idea to open the store after Walter Craig, a gun store, went out of business.

“We came up with the idea and said why don’t we try it because our huge showroom up front wasn’t really doing a whole lot,” Chappelle said. “We sold lighting fixtures and ceiling fans and that kind of stuff, and when the economy took a turn back in 2008, we needed to fill that void because everybody was going to the big box stores.”

Chappelle said the business started out small, but it quickly expanded thanks to loyal customers.

“It was spring of 2009, so I contacted Primos Game Calls, which is out of Mississippi, and set them up,” Chappelle said. “We started getting their calls in and stuff, and from there it has just gotten a lot bigger. We sell guns, we sell ammo, archery equipment and a lot of casual wear.”

Chappelle said the relationships with their customers is what sets Rountree apart from other stores.

“When people come in our store, it doesn’t matter if they are going to spend a dollar or $10,000. They’re going to get treated with the same amount of respect, and we’re going to go out of our way to help them,” Chappelle said.

Chappelle said one of the store’s greatest benefits is the Alabama River and hunting in the Black Belt.

“People travel from all over the United States to come right here to Dallas County to shoot a deer, or turkey hunt or to fish because we’re in the heart of the Black Belt, and it is just rich in hunting activities,” Chappelle said.

Sheryl Smedley, executive director of the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce, nominated Rountree Outdoors for the award.

Smedley said it benefits the entire business community when any business gets recognized for success.

“This is recognition for the entire business community because it puts an awareness out there to anybody that’s interested in investing in our community that we have a viable business community,” Smedley said. “That attracts them to come in and even take a second look.”

While Chappelle knows Roundtree Outdoor is one of the retailers of the year, he won’t know which award the store won until the ARA’s luncheon in October.

“I’m very excited, and I can’t wait. This whole thing is an honor for us, and I mean for everybody here,” Chappelle said. “In order for this place to be successful in doing what it’s doing, it is everybody as a group working together making it happen. It is a team deal. It’s not one person that makes all of this happen.”