Do you like your local gun shop?

[dirtyjim]

i don't really care for any of the local gunshops in my area and i'm sure they don't care much for me either.
i don't buy new guns, they rarely have anything used i'm interested in and when they do they are not even in the ballpark pricewise. i think the main problem i have with gunshops is that they don't have a clue about the market of high end or vintage sporting rifles and price them accordingly.
i now use a pawnshop for my transfers and anything else in need thats gun related ups or usps delivers to my door.

 

[llwsgn]

Dryft, I've the same trouble you've described and I'm 56 yrs old. I mostly buy online now or at a gun shop in a larger town 90 miles away. Great prices + service that way. LGS operates with a bad attitude, and I kick myself when I give them my hard earned after being treated in such a way. Must be something in the water.

 

[Dr_B]

I like mine. There are several in the area, but the closest one is here in Moscow, ID and the owner is a great guy. Always willing to work with a customer. If it isn't in the store, he knows exactly where to get it and how long it'll take. Won't BS a customer into buying something.

 

[DC Plumber]

Buck460.......

That is one heck of a Hardware Hank! I used to live between Galesville and Holmen. Awesome part of the state. The drive on 54 on the way to BRF is a nice drive. I miss that part of the state.

Yes, I like my LGS. It's actually only a hardware store that has a FFL. He does all of our transfers for our gun club and if you buy a new gun, he give us one heck of a deal. He greets everyone as you come through the door. Great guy.

 

[USAF_Vet]

In the course of the last three years, I have utilized three different LGS. the first was a big outfit with high prices, indoor rental range (bow, pistol, rifle), and hot chicks working the reception counter. The gun shop guru's were quick to point out what I didn't want, despite what I was actually telling them. Their elitist attitudes and high prices drove me to the second LGS. I actually really like this place. Good gunsmith, not just a retailer. Not a lot on the shelves, but inventory rotated enough to make stopping by worth while, even though I usually didn't buy anything. I've missed out on a few good deals there not being quick enough on the draw. I only don't go there anymore because I moved.
My current LGS is another large outfit. They have a lot of inventory, both guns and ammo, and hunting and fishing and everything else outdoors oriented. Usually very busy, but the gun salesmen really know their stuff. Ammo guy is a hoot, and again, very knowledgeable. Prices are competitive. As long as they treat me well, I'll return and do business with them.

 

[ridgerunner1965]

local gun shops

mine used to be great, but the elderly gentleman and his wife who ran it were murdered by punks in their bedroom late at night.they caught the guys and one of them killed himself.its now run by their 2 sons and they try hard but its not the same.but i still give them all my blackpowder biz cuz thats what they do best and out of respect for old bob and his wife.they do have a lot of uncommon stuff but out of stock stuff takes forever to get ordered back in.

 

[hey_poolboy]

I have several LGS in my area. There are only two that get my business. They are both excellent.
One has an enormous selection of firearms (1000+) and they are always swamped. The employees are pretty knowledgeable, and friendly. There is some obvious discretion on their part when they wait on people. If they know you buy stuff there you will get waited on before a new guy even if he was standing there first. That can really sour someone in a hurry, so I always make it a point to say if someone was there before me.
The second one is a smaller shop. Usually just the owner and one other employee. I would say less than 100 guns, but he'll order you anything you want. They are extremely knowledgeable, and very courteous. Really nice place to do business with. I've only bought one firearm there, but buy accessories and lead there often.

 

[Patriotme]

I like some of them better than others but I won't say that I'm a huge fan of any of my local gun shops. They are just businesses and I try to support the better ones. The thing is that I've bought guns from all of them at one time or another over the last 15 years and all of them have annoyed the heck out of me.
I'm in the Richmond, VA area so maybe it's just this part of VA. I don't know. I've had the old guys behind the counter act rude, bored and uninterested (on several occasions). I had one guy go off on a derogatory rant about the Marine Corps after I mentioned that I liked a USMC decal on the display case and was a former Marine. I asked another salesman what he had hanging up in the corner. He responded with, "That's a gun." He lost a $850 sale that day as I drove across town and bought a Bushmaster from another dealer (the one with the rude, bored, old guy working the Assault Weapon section).
I don't know. Maybe it's me. I'm not that thin skinned but when I'm buying a gun I expect a bit of service. I buy at least a gun or two per year (Kahr CW9 and LCR this year so far) and crappy service sends me to the gun show instead of the locals.

 

[A-FIXER]

No..... would not even think of him trying to make a living with is bad everything let him drown in his own crappy perspective of how to treat people. The hell with those type of Owners....

 

[MachIVshooter]

Walmart finished off most of them in my city, then quit selling guns.

Any gun shop that is put out of business by Wal-Mart was headed that way anyway. Wally world carries no hand guns (Except AK) and a couple dozen cheap rifles and shotguns. That's not competition.

A good gunshop will survive. Here, they put up a Sportmans Warehouse across the highway from The Firing Line, and a Gander 2 miles down the road. Sportmans shut down, Gander is headed that way, but Lenny and Mike have never been better. They have a huge inventory and a good staff, and they price merchandise competetively.

 

[clance]

Call me crazy but, as a young(er) guy of thirty-four, I don't think local gun shops are even interested in dealing to my demographic.

Living up in Maine these days, whenever I'm on the road due to work or travel throughout the state, I try to make it a point to stop in the local gun shops to see what they have, pick up some ammunition, targets, whatever it may be to help support these small shops that, really, just can't compete with the internet and larger stores that can buy in volume. The problem is, when you get right down to it, it's a group of "old" guys who aren't even interested in giving me the time of day. I'm not fondling guns, asking stupid questions, or making any sort of ruckus, but these guys don't even put down their cup of coffee to say hello.

Maybe what your problem is that you're not fondling the guns or asking the questions.

In their mind you're probably just one of many that have walked through their door to just window shop. They don't make a living from you window shopping or out of just selling the occasional box of shells or a few targets. It's the guns which have the real mark up (couple hundred at least) so unless you make them believe that you're seriously looking for something, they're not going to waste their time.

Like you, I'm on the road alot. While I may be just looking, I always pick a gun or two in the case or on the rack that I ask to see, let them know that drive through the area from time to time and been meaning to stop. That I like stopping at shops like their's cause you never know what I'll find that I just can't leave without. If it looks like a shop that I might come back too, I alway introduce myself and hold out my hand to shake. People don't usually introduce themselves unless they plan on returning the shop owner knows that as well and will be more open and welcoming usually.

 

[MJ_ATL]

Dryft, I like the employees at the gun club and range I'm a member of. Most of the employees were not gun people prior to working there, the GM hired nice people and taught them about guns. What's even odder is that the guys working there that are gun people are good and don't get into religious arguments and just help people.

There seems to be a sub-culture of gun enthusiast that are very opinionated and only interested in their opinions and unfortunately the tend to work in retail gun shops. They also don't seem to be too friendly unless you're a regular customer. Around here that's changing since we have more options with new shops opening up that actually want to attract and keep customers. With any luck the new interest in gun ownership will translate into a descent shop up in your area.

 

[orionengnr]

I love my LGS and support them, and will continue to do so. Find one you can love and love them to death.

 

[Lex Luthier]

The closest LGS to me is run by a couple of old coots who should just retire and get it over with. No selection, and a seeming unwillingness to foster a relationship with a great new customer.

The next closest LGS gave me a weird look when I enquired about Condor technical gear, and assured me that he did NOT have a variety of slings for the AR15. (That old guy thing again)

The next closest LGS has a decent indoor range, a wide selection of everything, and I give them the first shot at selling me the next shiny object I need to have. If they cannot order it in a timely manner, I move on. They do however get my range $, and we know each other's names. My wife likes to go there and talk to the pistol packing salesladies. Win win.

The nextest closest LGS is fricking awesome and huge, but is too far away to just go and see. It is also a problem, because I cannot walk out of there for less than a couple hundred bucks a visit.

 

[Grump09]

In central Maine try Old Town Tradeing Post. They have new and used guns and are very Knowledgeable. They are often real busy and you must be patient. People enjoy going there. I know I do.

 

[burley]

WE have several good ones, one very good one and one I liked OK 'till the main salelady was on vaca and I dealt with the owner who seemed a total jack ass too me. A couple more visits and I just couldn't spend another $.05 in that shop. Love the folks that work there and can't stomach the owner.

 

[Jonah71]

I like my local shop so much I need to have a camper in the parking lot.

 

[One-Time]

Not as much as I used to, their are 2 I frequent now, both are way high on price, but one has a huge collection worth browsing, the others a pawn shop and decent people just high prices, though I can generally talk them down to reasonable

 

[woad_yurt]

A few years back, a new shop opened near me on the main drag. The selection was good, the prices were great and it was a stone's throw from the best Cuban/Puerto Rican plate-lunch place around, so I became a regular. It was great, a fantastic lunch and then a trip to the gun shop. I spent quite a bit there and, a couple of times, when I saw some WWII handguns there, called my father and he, 1000 miles away on the phone, spent some major money. The owner was a big internet-email user so I could shoot an email to him telling him what I needed and he'd get it in and email back. It was a very nice, cordial, convenient arrangement. He did transfers for $10.00 as well!

Then, I went in there with my girlfriend at the time. The owner wasn't there and one of his employees, in front of 5-6 all-male customers, said "no women allowed." He just sat there smirking. I said "what?" He said "you heard me, no women allowed," still smirking. It was very awkward and all of the cutomers were just standing there, looking at my girlfriend who was getting pretty uncomfortable with being made the center of attention. I told him to cut it out; he did it again. After he said it a few more times, he then said "we'll let you slide today because you're with him (me) and he's a good customer." The whole time, my girlfriend was very uncomfortable and embarrassed with being put on the spot in front of everyone. The whole store was silent and everyone was just looking at us while the jerk just sat there grinning. It, well, I, got a little loud and the other employee present said that it was a joke and that we didn't think it funny because we had no sense of humor! We left, very pissed off.

I emailed the owner and told him what happened and he never replied. I tried again and he still didn't bother to answer.

In the less than two years I shopped there before this nonsense happened, I and my father easily spent in excess of $4,000.00 there. I also shoved my friends in his direction, too. The woman I was with loves to shoot, owns two handguns, and would have been a regular. I haven't set foot in the place since and she now asks me to get her ammo for her because she doesn't want to chance anything like that happening again somewhere else. She's a carry permit holder who now avoids gun stores. It was pathetic.

Since, I've either bought online or in a little pawn shop near me that either prices stuff way too high or very, very low, like a dangerously loose and beat-to-death H&R 922 for $225.00 or a beautiful Model 14 for $300 out-the-door. Mostly, however, I shop online. Everyone else around here usually charges way too much.

 

[mljdeckard]

Sometimes.

The main one that comes to mind in Ogden is Impact. They have a huge presence on the web, and their management is very tech-savvy, but they hire chimps to work their floor. Safety violations, bad legal advice, etc. But I have been dealing directly with their management over their facebook page, and he has helped me and a few of my friends out a lot. I think they pay more attention to what their customers are actually saying there.

I really like Norman Van Wagonen in Orem, but I don't live there anymore and I haven't been there in several years.

 

[bk42261]

LGS in Freeport,ME.

Go to C&R trading post in Freeport. Craig and Roger are great guys, with a good selection and no BS. My wife loves going there too, because they don't treat people like idiots. If someone has a question, they will answer honestly, or say "I don't know."

 

[Kendal Black]

When I travel I visit gun shops. There are still some good ones out there, but a lot have turned to the dark side: providing customer misinformation, trying to vastly under-pay for the guns customers sell them or trade in, rocking the pseudo-commando attitude, and the rest.

I blame the economy, mostly, the atmosphere of uncertainty that makes people tempted to grasp for any penny of gain. Gun shops already operate under a regulatory burden greater than most businesses and the industry has excise tax and hoop jumping to deal with, all of which presses down on the bottom line, even in good times.

A good gun shop, in my opinion, is one where the staff is truly knowledgeable, and uses their knowledge for the customer's benefit. A good shop is interested in advancing the customer's knowledge and capabilities--which cannot be done by selling him the wrong thing because it's what's in stock, handing him a line about what he's buying (there is a whole thread about that) and so on. The good shops, of which there used to be more, are more interested in making customers than making sales, taking the attitude that a lifelong customer is worth more than a quick buck.

The shop nearest my house isn't the one I use; I drive farther to get to either of two others--nuff said, probably.

I'm a realist about business. I know shops have to buy low and sell high, and charge prices that will keep the lights on. I don't have a problem with that. But there is a line--not a fine line, but a big broad bold one--between being, on the one hand, in business to make a profit, and being a sleaze, on the other.

 

[Sam1911]

They don't make a living from you window shopping or out of just selling the occasional box of shells or a few targets. It's the guns which have the real mark up (couple hundred at least) so unless you make them believe that you're seriously looking for something, they're not going to waste their time.

Actually, that's exactly backward from the accounts of almost every gun dealer/FFL I've spoken with or who's posted here.

The guns are teasers to get people in the door. Markups are small. The real profits, scant though they may be, are made on accessories, ammo, services, etc.

 

[Cal-gun Fan]

My dad and I love our local gunshop. It mainly caters to LEOs and my dad's department, so we buy pretty much everything there. They've got a very good stock and their customer service is great.

 

[avs11054]

I don't like mine at all. From what I have found, the IF they have the gun I am looking for, it is WAY overpriced. Because of this, I get all my guns off gunbroker.