Changes to gun section at local Walmart

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Zen21Tao

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Recently there have been many stories about some Walmarts doing away with their firearms and ammo secitions. I haven't needed to go to Walmart lately for ammo so I didn't know if our local Walmart had any such changes. Last night while at Walmart I decided to go back to the sporting goods section to see for myself. When I got back there I was shock at what I saw. Our Walmart rifle section HAD consisted of two glass sections with rifles and ammo but this is no longer the case. Now we have four glass sections stocked with twice as many rifles and twice as much ammo as before. While other Walmarts are doing away with their firearms sections, ours is expanding its firearms section.
 
lucky, mine are slowly disapearing, and whats worse. they dont even give clearance prices to sell them off. they just take them away
 
Walmart announced several months ago that it was discontinuing gun/ammo sales in approximately 1,000 of it's stores that were not doing well in sales and instead concentrating on those stores that are doing well. Apparently, your store is doing well.
 
Yeah, around me they are not only not discontinuing sales, they improve the firearm section in remodeling. One store went from an island with a couple rotary cases to a large wall-sized display case.
 
The 2 stores near me have 2 rotating display cases each. Used to be they were only half full. Now every time I check the cases are full!
 
I just called the two local Wal Marts.

Both said that their stores won't be discontinuing gun sales, that's for the stores in metro areas (we're pretty rural here).

The second store did say that none of the new stores will be carrying guns! :mad:

I also called two localed in TX near where we'll soon be moving to. Both of them will still be carrying guns & ammo. So, I'm covered. :)
 
The second store did say that none of the new stores will be carrying guns!
Click to expand...

That must be their guess (incorrect) or just referring to their own district.

They just opened a Wal-Mart Supercenter in a very affluent area out here a few months ago, and they have a rather nice gun case- fully stocked, too.
 
Most that i have been in around metro atlanta no longer carry anything other than pellet rifles. Almost no hunting gear, and little or no ammo......I really don't shop at Walmart anymore:barf:
 
I talked to the guys at the walmart I do business with and they told
me they sell between 40 to 60 guns a month and they have no plans
to discontinue selling them.
 
I live in a rural area of Mass and the local Walmart here stopped selling guns. I know people that go to other area Walmart including ones in VT, and all stopped selling firearms. Its seems to be a regional discission.
 
I talked with a gent at WalMart last night; that particular store was selling many guns every day, but they were pulled anyway. The reason he was given wasn't poor sales, but rather that the store is in a area where it needs to "stay competitive in a changing market" :barf:
 
These are simple business decisions. It costs money to keep floor space allocated and knowledgable employees on hand to handle the required paperwork. I've noticed similar issues with the types and amounts of fishing stuff different Wal-Marts carry. If fishing stuff doesn't sell well, they trim it back.

Michael
 
Walmart says it is only pulling guns from stores where they are not profitable. All of a sudden firearms are not profitable in a thousand stores? They've been losing money on them all this time? Yeah right. They're caving to the pressure from the anti-gun crowd in the wake of their California settlement.

The didn't offer any story about lack of profits when the stopped selling firearms in Gulf Coast stores after Katrina, http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/11/halted_gun_sales_infuriate_customers/

Excerpt:
A Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Karen Burk, attributed the company's decision to pull guns from the shelves to ''some very fluid circumstances and changing situations" in the region. She did not elaborate far beyond that. ''We're trying to take care of our customers and community and be a responsible retailer at the same time," Burk said.

In addition to its decision to stop gun sales at 40 stores, Wal-Mart also has placed severe restrictions on gun sales at some other stores in the area. Executives ordered the guns removed from their glass display cases and put into a vault instead. At those stores, customers who want to purchase a gun must select it through a catalog.

Burk said the retailer has no date set to return guns to the stores.

Wal-Mart's decision to stop gun sales also earned it praise from several customers, who said police would protect them from any trouble.

Seems that firearms have become unprofitable only since 2000 when they first considered no longer carrying them. At that time their response was http://www.jpfo.org/alert20000925.htm:

WALMART'S FORMAL RESPONSE

"Wal-Mart's position on the sale of firearms in our stores

"Wal-Mart has sold firearms in our stores for the past 38 years, and we have no plans to discontinue this. We appreciate the fact that we have become goal local destination of choice for American sportspeople and we will continue to meet the needs of these customers throughout the nation.

The profitability story is just a way to remove guns from some stores and make the anti's happy and not upset the pro's enough to cause a boycott. I also have to ask why, in those stores where they claim firearms profitable they aren't looking to expand their sales into handguns to increase their profits?

You can give Walmart your money if you want but that company, and their managment, leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I think a complete boycott of Walmart by gun owners from Nov 1 to Jan 30, the Christmas and after Christmas sale shopping season would send a clear message to Walmart about just how unprofitable NOT carrying firearms can be.
 
They just opened a Wal-Mart Supercenter in a very affluent area out here a few months ago, and they have a rather nice gun case- fully stocked, too.
Click to expand...

That's (hopefully) a good thing. Although they may have decided to change thier gun policy after the plans for that store were finalized. I hope that's not the case and that the one I talked with was mistaken.

Looks as if we're just going to have to wait & see what our local Wal-Marts do, and see how far it spreads.

Another new Wal-Mart policy that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, possibly 'cause it's slightly OT, is that they're planning to stop all layaway sales.

http://couponing.about.com/b/a/256757.htm
 
Walmart says it is only pulling guns from stores where they are not profitable. All of a sudden firearms are not profitable in a thousand stores? They've been losing money on them all this time? Yeah right.
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You would be surprised. People are complaining about us jacking up our prices on clay pigeons at the store. Then I point out that we had been selling them at a loss and simply could not continue selling them at that price. When the local shotguns club orderd 2 pallets of clays and you are loosing money on the sale. You will eventualy have enough.
 
That's (hopefully) a good thing. Although they may have decided to change thier gun policy after the plans for that store were finalized. I hope that's not the case and that the one I talked with was mistaken.
Click to expand...

Possibly, but I doubt it. The remodeling I referenced in an earlier post was done just a few weeks ago (it was a different store), and even when asking a sporting goods rep if they were discontinuing sales here I was told that they would keep selling them.

I hear that my wife's store is due to be replaced by a Supercenter, and when that happens I would expect to see them keep firearms. We'll have to see; I think that is a couple years away.
 
w00t, Just got a pallet of rifle ammo in tonight for deer season. Got it all put up on an endcap before my shift was over. I really hope they learned from last year and ordered enough 30-30 ammo.:cool:
 
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