Brothers Joshua, 15, left, and Matthew Lopez, 17, show off their paintball guns as they stand behind the counter of their store, Intimidator Paintball, in Galt on Saturday. (J. Paul Bruton/News-Sentinel)

Teen brothers not too intimidated to run their own store in Galt

It's not every day you walk into a business and find that the two teenagers behind the counter are the guys running the store. However, in Galt, Intimidator Paintball is the place where you can find just that.

Brothers, Matthew Lopez, 17, and 15-year-old Joshua Lopez happily man the counter of their own paintball store on a day-to-day basis. And with the store being up and running for a year-and-a-half already, the two brothers are building up nice looking resumes, all before leaving their teen years behind.

The two started paintball-battling it out with friends and family when they lived in the Galt area countryside at ages 14 and 12. Matthew and Joshua were so taken by the hobby that they designed and set up their own paintball field using palettes and large wooden spools used for industrial strength cable.

The field was big enough for six on six tournaments and also featured bunkers, trees and a pond. Just perfect for splattering mom when she would dare to join them in the frenzied paintball wars.

"They took it easy on me," said Rosalie Lopez, the boy's mom. "They'd just shoot me once and not keep firing away at me," she said with a laugh.

Matthew and Joshua said forming a paintball business was a fairly natural step for the brothers to take. Both said they have a passion for paintball and have simply continued to stay involved with their hobby.

Of course, it helps that their father is also a paintball fan.

Since the family was already buying paintball supplies in bulk, Matthew and his dad began talking over the idea of forming a paintball supply store.

"We began selling supplies out of a little trailer," Matthew said. "Then dad and me began the process of turning one of his offices into a store."

It was decided that one office would be transformed into a paintball supply store. The boys' father also helped take care of the initial start-up costs, with the boys paying him back from store profits.

Matthew said that he and Joshua then worked an entire summer to turn the office area into a store. Then, they began concentrating on the nuts and bolts of operating the enterprise. Everything from setting up a credit card account to ordering inventory -- it was all new to the boys, and all up to them.

Matthew Lopez displays his favorite paintball gun at Intimidator Paintball, the store he and his brother Joshua operate in Galt. (J. Paul Bruton/News-Sentinel)

While both of the teens continue to learn various aspects of operating the business, they are also able to use their individual strengths to compliment each other.

Matthew operates more on the equipment side of the store, able to take apart and fix a wide variety of paintball equipment as well as ordering inventory. And Joshua said he's learned a great deal about running a business, including credit-card transactions, and computer programs such as QuickBooks, and also handling sales.

Joshua and Matthew are currently attending Wilton Christian High School, where they play basketball, study music and still manage to get good grades, all while making sure the store is properly staffed.

"I never have to ask them who's working. They just take care of it," Rosalie said. They're doing a great job of running the store. Since they love paintball, they really enjoy being here."

While the paintball store hasn't turned the teens into rich young men, they said the store is still doing pretty good.

"Since we're not located downtown or in a big store, we don't get tons of people in here," Matthew said, "But people know about us. They come to us for specific items -- when they already know what they want."

Intimidator Paintball store hours are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon. For more information, call 744-9347.

Contact reporter J. Paul Bruton at paulb@lodinews.com.