At his parents’ former tofu factory, he runs the city’s only indoor archery range

Meet Yuan Jie Wen, a former mechanical engineer and the owner of Callowhill Archery, Philly’s only indoor archery range and training center.

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Growing up in the apartment above his parents’ Callowhill tofu factory, Yuan Jie Wen was a self-described “stay-at-home” kid who loved watching superhero cartoons.

Now, Wen is helping people from across the region channel their own inner superhero at Callowhill Archery, his indoor archery range and training center that’s housed in the former factory where his parents built their business.

“It’s very humbling,” Wen, 32, said. “I feel like I picked up where my parents left off.”

When Wen’s parents opened the Sun Kee Tofu factory in 1990, he said they were among the first businesses to bring tofu into the Philly region and market it as a meat substitute.

“Now, everybody has heard of tofu, but back in the day it was not really well known,” Wen said. “And now I’m trying to promote a sport in a city’s where no one has done archery before.”

Growing up in Callowhill, and then in Lower Merion, where his family moved when he was 13, Wen dreamed of building machines.

After graduating from Harriton High School in 2009, he went on to get his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University. For six years thereafter, Wen worked designing industrial machines for companies that made everything from conveyor belts to furnaces.

But he found the industry he’d worked so hard to get into didn’t offer him the creativity he desired.

“I realized that every company I jumped to, it was the same thing over again,” he said. “I had a very specific job and instructions to do, and it was cool that we were building machines, but to do actual problem-solving, there wasn’t a whole lot of that.”

In the summer of 2019, Wen visited a friend in New York City who surprised him with a trip to Queens Archery, a range in the city’s Flushing neighborhood.

“I’d never seen archery in real life before,” Wen said. “The first thing I remember seeing was a lady drawing back an Olympic-style bow, and I immediately noticed the sport was for everyone — it doesn’t care who you are, your age, or your gender.”

Wen fell in love immediately, and when he got back to Philly, he took lessons at B & A Archery in Tacony. He liked how the sport cleared his head; how it required him to focus on the shot and nothing else.

“Ninety percent of archery is in your mind,” he said. “It takes a lot concentration and you can’t get emotional, so it’s very meditative.”

In 2020, when Gopuff moved out of the building which used to house Wen’s family’s tofu business (the factory moved to North Philly in the early 2000s and was sold in 2014), Wen saw an opportunity to turn his new passion into a career.

“I wanted to teach people the sport, and I wanted to start a business that is good for society and where I can be creative,” he said.

Wen spent months renovating the building, and got friends to help him paint the interior with black-and-white murals of notable Philly landmarks like Independence Hall and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

He designed his 90-minute beginner class — which he calls “The Urban Archer” — for people ages 8 to 108, and on Oct. 26, 2021, he opened the doors to Callowhill Archery. With the closure of B & A Archery last year, Wen said his indoor archery range is now the only one within city limits.

Shortly after opening, master archer Ray Caba, 77, of Holmes, who has two gold medals from the Delaware State Senior Olympics (along with a host of other titles), walked through the door and offered to help teach classes.

“He’s like a archery angel,” Wen said. “You don’t just find somebody at his level; we’re very blessed to have him.”

Caba — who, while teaching a class last week said things like, “There are two ways to hold the bow. One is right and the other is wrong” — said he’s been impressed by Wen’s passion and commitment.

“He’s the best person I’ve ever worked with in my life, and I’m teaching him to get better,” Caba said.

Eventually, Wen and Caba would like to get a Philly archery team together to compete in tournaments, but for now, they’re happy introducing the sport to others through the “Urban Archer” beginner class, a “Love and War” package for couples who like a little competition, and a “Survival Sunday” program, where archers take aim at foam zombies, raccoons, rats, and groundhogs.

“I get a lot of genuine thank yous, ‘thank you for opening the business,’ and’ thank you for showing us this,’ ” Wen said. “That’s the reason I did it.”

Know someone in the Philadelphia area whose story deserves to be told — or someone whose story you’d like to know? Send suggestions for We the People profiles to Stephanie Farr at sfarr@inquirer.com or call her at 215-854-4225. Send tips via Twitter to @FarFarrAway.

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