Author Topic: Local gun shops keep disappearing  (Read 5867 times)

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Offline v35

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Re: Local gun shops keep disappearing
« Reply #30 on: November 20, 2019, 10:34:26 PM »
Don't like the fact local gun shops keep disappearing? Solution: open your own.

I'm being only partially facetious. A retail gun shop is a high cost, very low margin business, and if I thought I could run it any better I'd gladly do it. There's no way I could run it any better.

Break-ins? Yes, they've had them. Insurance? Forget about it; the high cost of insurance makes it completely out of the question. They self-insure and took a $50,000+ hit last time they were broken into. If it happens again they're gone.

I give my LGS 100% of my business, but I'm just one guy. I recommend them to others but I can't carry them all by myself. I have no idea how they stay in business, but I'm grateful they do. I don't expect them to be around forever. One day they'll have enough and that's that.

Support your LGS!

Offline Redeker

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Re: Local gun shops keep disappearing
« Reply #31 on: November 22, 2019, 10:14:13 AM »
We have it pretty good around here. Cabela's, a Camping World/Gander, 3 LGS, and I'm about an hour drive to Whitaker's or one of Bud's satellite stores. All have a good business as I can see, but there is this one cat, has opened and closed a LGS/pawn shop 4 times in the last 8 years. Snarky customer service, offers gun and gold smithing services,(run away from both, you may not get you original parts back), SHADY!!! Banks keep loaning him money so he keeps opening them up. I don't get it.

Offline crosstimbers

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Re: Local gun shops keep disappearing
« Reply #32 on: November 22, 2019, 05:33:48 PM »
Maybe it's just me, but most of the local gun stores I have been familiar with had two bad things in common. 1. Overly opinionated counter people who within a couple of minutes clearly demonstrated their knowledge was minimal and 2. Attitude on the part of the owner (s). I mean unnecessary attitude by the way. They seemed to view customers in an almost adversarial light, and it reflected in how they treated everyone. I had my FFL for a time and I understand some of it, but it went way beyond the understandable. I've had better luck at Pawn shops, where generally nobody is trying to pretend they are firearms experts. But that's just my experience.

I do believe that online sales is having a negative impact on gun shows as well, or so it seems to me. The ones near me seem to be getting smaller, and I'm concerned at the moment that one appears to be discontinuing in the coming year.
It's not saving any water if you have to flush it over and over....

Offline RoverSig

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Re: Local gun shops keep disappearing
« Reply #33 on: November 28, 2019, 12:57:02 PM »
The LGS is not the best way to market guns to a widely dispersed customer base. 

A lot of other specialty businesses - independent bookstores, electronics stores, haberdashers, shoe stores, sporting goods, pharmacies, quilt shops, hardware stores, yarn stores, model shops,  etc. -- have suffered, or just closed up and went away, from competition by large internet businesses or big box stores with lower overhead and greater scale.

It seems like the remaining small businesses are very much driven by the personal engagement of their owners -- and they tend to disappear when the owner gets old or loses interest -- or when the rent goes up.   A gun business must be one of the most frustrating businesses to be in, too -- with all the rules, regulations, and attendant risks of selling guns.

I wonder how much the gun business suffers from the "pass through" taken by the major gun distributors, who act as middlemen between the gun manufacturers and the sales outlets.  What percentage do they take?   Wouldn't it be cool if you could order a gun directly from the manufacturer, cutting out all the middlemen, and have it shipped directly to a local FFL?


Offline CrusherDestroyer

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Re: Local gun shops keep disappearing
« Reply #34 on: January 06, 2020, 07:39:59 PM »
Local shop says most of his business is internet transfers. He’ll probably be closed by the end did the year.
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