4 Day Firearms <--- Would you shop there?

[Solomonson]

The biggest gun shops in Virginia, sales-wise (Trader Jerry's and Quantico Tactical, to name but two) make it a point to set up at all the local gun shows. When I arrive at a show, the first thing I notice is the large Trader Jerry's truck parked outside. Inside the show, they have lines of people waiting to buy from them. (Their secret is competitive prices, and wide selection.) I guess Virginia is quite different from Arkansas in this regard.

There is one gun show about 30 miles from where I live, and one about 110 miles away. I think each is held 3-4 times/year. Both are more about selling jerky than guns but I do think it would be important to have a presence at them.

 

[Solomonson]

Good idea. Very sensible hours. Needs to be welcoming. Once a group of curmudgeon take up residence and scowl at every other fellow that walks in, one is running a low to no dues club rather than a gun shop.

There is a shop that I go to once in a while that was owned by an old curmudgeon that actually had chairs set out for other crusty curmudgeons. He passed away and the chairs disappeared. It was nice to see. If people are pleasant and engaging, they are an asset to a shop. But when they get in the way and are rude, they are a liability.

 

[RPRNY]

There is a shop that I go to once in a while that was owned by an old curmudgeon that actually had chairs set out for other crusty curmudgeons. He passed away and the chairs disappeared. It was nice to see. If people are pleasant and engaging, they are an asset to a shop. But when they get in the way and are rude, they are a liability.

Indeed. Bricks and mortar shops are going to get gun newbies. They will be tentative and need a welcoming atmosphere and a helpful "Quite right, sir! The end with the hole in it is where the bullet comes out. Are you sure you aren't an experienced marksman ? Now, about that 3.5" 12 ga your friend said you needed for quail hunting, let's talk a little about your specific needs..."

 

[hdwhit]

Business Guru Tom Peters speaking of a particular company's business hours, sarcastically said, "G** forbid that we should be open when customers are around."

Thursday - Sunday 11:00 to 7:00 is a good way to harvest a lot of traffic, but it depends on the location. Around here so many people are in church or sleeping in on Sunday that I wouldn't open until 1:00.

The 40 Hour Tire store is selling a product that is generally not an impulse purchase so while nobody is likely to buy tires after about 7:00, there are a lot of times I am raring to go make impulse buys late on the weekends. If you were open, say, Friday & Saturday 11:00 to 10:00 and Sunday 1:00 to 9:00, you might see nearly the same number of customers in only 30 hours a week and so would only require 75% as much labor and utilities.

 

[DeepSouth]

To be perfectly honest, I work the old "southern swing shift" so time, and days of the week mean almost nothing to me.

That said, if I worked a "normal" work week like most people I think I'd do most of my firearm related business after work during the week. Weekends I don't believe I'd leave the house much, I don't now on my 1 weekend a month I have off.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Good idea. Very sensible hours. Needs to be welcoming. Once a group of curmudgeon take up residence and scowl at every other fellow that walks in, one is running a low to no dues club rather than a gun shop.

I recommend some smooth jazz and everyone in the store wear zoot suits.

 

[Solomonson]

Business Guru Tom Peters speaking of a particular company's business hours, sarcastically said, "G** forbid that we should be open when customers are around."

Thursday - Sunday 11:00 to 7:00 is a good way to harvest a lot of traffic, but it depends on the location. Around here so many people are in church or sleeping in on Sunday that I wouldn't open until 1:00.

Conversely though, on the weekends, there are a lot of people who are up early and on their way to hunt, fish, shoot at the range, etc. Even opening at 11:00 would miss many such people. On the other hand being open from 1:00-9:00, Thurs-Sun has some advantages too -- particularly those wishing to spend some of their newly minted paychecks after work on Fridays. Maybe some disadvantages as well, including security.

 

[il.bill]

I think the biggest problem with those hours would definitely involve taking delivery of shipments and completing transfers in a timely manner. Quite a few firearms are delivered Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, especially if they were ordered / purchased Thursday or Friday the week before.

I have operated a garage in a small town since 1974, and have been closed on Thursdays / open on Saturdays for over 18 years. A little over two years ago I got my 01FFL and have enjoyed adding the business of being a 'firearms dealer' quite a bit (lots more guns come and go than I expected, but not as much profit as I had anticipated - with internet competition, making 10% on a new firearm sale takes considerable effort and time). I now end up coming in on my Thursday 'day off' nearly every week to take delivery of guns that I ordered Monday morning or transfers of firearms purchased by individuals over the previous weekend.

Pick any four day stretch of the week and you will be missing out on some kind of business on the nearly 1/2 week (three days) you are not open.

 

[Solomonson]

I think the biggest problem with those hours would definitely involve taking delivery of shipments and completing transfers in a timely manner. Quite a few firearms are delivered Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, especially if they were ordered / purchased Thursday or Friday the week before.

It appears UPS/Fedex/USPS all have 5 day holds for pick-up. With UPS, they'll actually re-route to a neighborhood UPS Store, rather than having to go to one of their terminals. Then again, with some order planning, their deliveries could be time to arrive on Thursday or Friday.

I have operated a garage in a small town since 1974, and have been closed on Thursdays / open on Saturdays for over 18 years. A little over two years ago I got my 01FFL and have enjoyed adding the business of being a 'firearms dealer' quite a bit (lots more guns come and go than I expected, but not as much profit as I had anticipated - with internet competition, making 10% on a new firearm sale takes considerable effort and time). I now end up coming in on my Thursday 'day off' nearly every week to take delivery of guns that I ordered Monday morning or transfers of firearms purchased by individuals over the previous weekend.

Pick any four day stretch of the week and you will be missing out on some kind of business on the nearly 1/2 week (three days) you are not open.

It's a benefit/cost question. Employees aren't cheap. Then again they, along with very minimal utilities, are really the only variable costs. There's also value to having one shift where the owner is almost always there. I would think Mondays and Tuesdays would be pretty much dead. Less so on Wednesdays.

One thing I would definately do is "set-up" on the existing gun shops in town with a camera in a vehicle so I could analyze the number of visitors they get per hour/per day. I think that data would answer a large number of questions.

 

[CapnMac]

Since I work 0800-1800 M-H, and 0800-1530 on Fridays, Fridays are the only time I can get in to my LGS which is open 0730-1800.
There are other shops, but, they all have closed doors by 1755, so it's tought to go give them a look-over.
Several of the pawn shops have later hours--but near half the local ones look like sting operations, or poorly-camouflaged fencing establishments. The big box stores are actually quite a drive from my hous and from work, and the prices are not worth the drive.

So, it's an intriguing business model.

Would take some tweaking. FFLs also get USPS deliveries, and trusting the PO to properly hold firearms might be a bit of a stretch. Along with UPS drivers just leaving a delivery on the doorstep (in my old hometown, UPS was notrorious for doing that, and the driver would loop back later to collect for the CODs, even at clearly closed places). Also, at least in Teas, some staf flexibility would be wanted so as to be able to hit up nearby (200mi) gunshows ("the bargain is in the buy").

 

[Thunderchicken]

The shop would be open on Friday and the weekends...

Somehow I got "Monday through Thursday" in mind as the four days. I know you said "Thursday through Monday." But still, people will stop on a closed day and write the place off in their mind even though they made the mistake ... like me!

 

[acdodd]

If I go to a store and it's usually closed then I just stop going there.
The owners either want to run a business or they don't.
Hours need to be convenient for the customer or they will go elsewhere.

 

[chicharrones]

Some gun ranges around here are closed on Mondays. I have to look up who is open before I go.

This also makes me think of the way motorcycle dealerships and how they were closed on Sundays and Mondays. Not sure if that is still common.

A gun store that is only open Thursday through Monday makes me think the owner has another job or is semi-retired. In both cases, I would want the owner to be welcoming of his customers and give good customer service. I say this as I've know some two-job managers that really don't care about 1 of the jobs or both. The two-job people I knew were just in it for the sales and not the customer service.

As far as employees hours and costs, a 7 day a week operation would know how to schedule the employees so that their hours overlap at the times that the crowds are expected to peak. Overtime is not scheduled unless hunting season or Christmas is coming.

I had to do exactly this for an onsite service tech crew that 3 of us had to cover 6am - 9pm 7 days a week, with the schedules changing every two weeks to accommodate having a "weekend" off for each tech. We were all full time workers and overtime was only granted for emergency repairs.

I'm sure existing gun shops and ranges do or could do the same sort of thing.

 

[Solomonson]

Somehow I got "Monday through Thursday" in mind as the four days. I know you said "Thursday through Monday." But still, people will stop on a closed day and write the place off in their mind even though they made the mistake ... like me!

Actually Thursday through Sunday.

 

[Solomonson]

If I go to a store and it's usually closed then I just stop going there.
The owners either want to run a business or they don't.
Hours need to be convenient for the customer or they will go elsewhere.

Hence the Thursday-Sunday, 11:00-7:00 hours.

 

[dogtown tom]

There's a reason "4 Day Tire" is no longer in business. Any gun store seeking to emulate that success needs to rethink.

 

[Jack B.]

Rest of the world doesn't run at those times, bad idea. Down hear we have a three day work week waiting period on hand guns and weekends and holidays don't count. So if you bought a gun on Friday you would have to wait till next Thursday to pick it up. Won't work.

 

[Solomonson]

There's a reason "4 Day Tire" is no longer in business. Any gun store seeking to emulate that success needs to rethink.

4 Day Tire was bought out and their business model was changed from something that had worked well for many years...

 

[Solomonson]

Rest of the world doesn't run at those times, bad idea. Down hear we have a three day work week waiting period on hand guns and weekends and holidays don't count. So if you bought a gun on Friday you would have to wait till next Thursday to pick it up. Won't work.

Actually I have no doubt that Thursday-Sunday are the busiest shopping days of the week -- particularly for something like firearms.

I'm also fairly sure that more guns are sold after working hours (5:00 PM) than before lunch on average.

Therefore, 11-7 (or possibly 12-8), Th-Sun would be just about the most productive hours a shop could run if they wanted to limit themselves to 40 hours/week.

We don't have a "three day work week waiting period" (whatever that is) for handguns. Two weeks for all firearms here.

 

[Jack B.]

TWO WEEKS! That sucks! Glad I don't live there. Here you can take a long gun home same day.

 

[chicharrones]

4 Day Tire was bought out and their business model was changed from something that had worked well for many years...

Jack B. makes a good point, though. 4 Day Tire was successful in its day. From what I can tell, they got bought out in 1996, which is before the internet shopping boom. Now people are used to more instant shopping gratification whether it's firearms or not.

Around my part of the world, some of the busiest times in the local gun shops are around lunch time Monday through Friday. Weekends are packed as expected, but Monday through Friday at lunch is when some working people seem to be free to make a stop without having the whole family come along.

Of course, we don't have 2 week waiting times for firearms purchases here. Maybe that would make things different favoring a 4 day gun shop?

 

[FROGO207]

Yeah we have instant gratification in this state. As long as the background check passes that is.
I would think that starting and finishing an hour or so later the entire work week with an additional limited time on Sat would work out better.

 

[browningguy]

So what I'm getting from the answers:

The shop needs to be open when I want to go there, regardless of any other customers.
The prices need to be cheap, no more than a couple % over cost, better yet I'll buy it online to get the absolute last nickel off the price and you handle the transfer for $10, because it only takes you a few minutes.
Service needs to be outstanding, if I want to waste a couple of hours of time discussing the myriad options of some small part I'm going to buy on the internet you should be happy to oblige me.

I know I'm being a little tough on some of you, but come on, everything can't be free. If you want excellent customer service you need to be willing to pay for it, and the majority of people just aren't.

Back to the question, I always thought Wednesday-Sunday 11-7 would be excellent times for a gun shop. A little interference with gun shows but that's the cost of doing business, and people that are going shooting/hunting/etc early on the weekend can't stop by. But to be honest that's no great loss, they want to be able to pick up a spare box of ammo, or a cleaning brush, and it better be just as cheap as online or they'll out you on the internet. You can't be all things to all people, so don't waste time and money trying.

 

[Jack B.]

Yeah we have instant gratification in this state. As long as the background check passes that is.
I would think that starting and finishing an hour or so later the entire work week with an additional limited time on Sat would work out better.

One really good thing here is if you have a CCW license there is no waiting period for any gun . Hand gun or rifle. Otherwise it's three days for hand gun.