Ever regretted going to a LGS?

[TomJ]

There's a LGS in the Chicago area that has a reputation for being less than ethical. A number of years ago I stopped in there as they had a CZ I was looking for that was hard to find at the time. I was waiting at the counter to buy the gun when one of their employees I had never seen before walked past. I said "excuse me", and he stopped, looked at me with contempt and said "you're excused" and kept walking. I left and never went back and later learned that's pretty much par for the course for how they treat their customers.

 

[SP5]

The last gun I bought was not available locally so I bought it on GB and had it sent to a LGS I hadn't done business with before. I mean how bad could it be? LOL the transfer fee was $50 and the background check $35. Nice place but I won't be back.

$50 is about the norm for a transfer fee anymore.

 

[SP5]

Like the price of everything these days, firearms too are up. I imagine the margin is not ridiculously large on what they pay versus what they list them for.

Also I think some people forget to factor in the fact that then they have to go find another store and spend not only their time but also their fuel to drive there blah blah blah. Time is obviously money and the one thing we can't get back but then when you factor in fuel and all that it evens out nine times out of 10 and then you've also wasted your time to go to that other store to save $20. Not worth the hassle to me

 

[igotta40]

I realize I posted initially about regrettable LGS shops, however, OTOH, I also may be the odd Cabela’s customer that’s had consistently good visits. Maybe because I visit the library enough that I’m familiar, or I fit a certain demographic, and it’s probably both. On at least three purchases from the library I’ve asked for, and received, a price reduction. Then the FedEx driver delivered this to my house today. I’ll be back.

 

[Remington1911]

Truth be told, I don't know if I have ever had an experience at an LGS that was particularly good. Most that I have been to simply did not have what I was looking for or wanted more for it than I could buy it for elsewhere.

Now, about economics and the LGS. To a degree, it is surprising the LGS has survived as well as it has to the present day. Across almost all of retail the mom and pop business model (stores with an owner that owns one or two locations) has been in decline since the 1950's. This is due to a variety of factors, some benign (better transportation leading to economies of scale, etc) and some less so (a shrinking middle class and a race to the bottom on price that puts most of the competitive advantage in the hands of large corporations). But by and large the main street of America that you would have seen in 1950, dotted with small stores, was replaced by the mall and chain store by 2000. But this trend seems to have been weaker for firearms. Partly this is due to large stores not selling firearms (Target for example has shunned them almost from the beginning), partly due to the differing economics involved (the race to the bottom in retail was always connected to declining American manufacturing and the importation of lower quality but lower priced goods from Asia, something which is far less of a factor with firearms due to federal regulations [As such, ironically, firearms are a good example of how regulation can protect and develop manufacturing in the US]), and partly because there is some cultural aspect to the LGS that makes them competitive in areas besides price.

One other limitation of the LGS was very apparent in the last 2 years. When the ammo shortage started to thaw it was always big box stores that got it back first. Presumably this reflects greater buying power and priority for orders, but no LGS I went to had decent ammo selection until very recently, while big box stores had been there for some time.

I think it is because of what they sell.

The "gun shop" is a very specialized shop, or at least this is what we want to think. That the people there know what they are talking about. And it does have a parallel IMHO, the "music" shop, instrument shop, or "guitar" shop. It is really the same thing. There is still a very hard core of the "mom and pop" shops that have very loyal customers. Like most gun owners most guitar players don't have one guitar, they will have a dozen....or more. And for the same reasons. Like I said the parallel is really there.

There are large "guitar stores", Guitar Center, but most people that are into music really don't shop there. They will cruise them on the net, and if they happen to find that Rickenbacker 330 of the right year they will go, but otherwise it is that local store that gives them the service they want. It kinda ties into the "flies" thread a bit.

 

[Jimfern]

I was just thinking about this thread and it reminded me that most of time at pawn shops in DFW, the staff is usually pretty friendly and helpful, if not always knowledgeable. A few pawnshops sell new guns, but I find myself mostly looking at used ones, even at regular LGS.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I don't like most dedicated gun-and-ammo shops.
Their normal profit margins are so low and their sales seasons are so small that they either decay into grumpy, unprofitable little clubhouses or quickly go out of business.
I usually go to multi-function stores that distribute a variety of goods and don't have to rely on the firearms trade to stay in business.
Farm and ranch stores and pawn shops are my favorites.
Then again, I'm not very interested in new guns... .

 

[Speedo66]

Truth be told, I don't know if I have ever had an experience at an LGS that was particularly good. Most that I have been to simply did not have what I was looking for or wanted more for it than I could buy it for elsewhere.

Now, about economics and the LGS. To a degree, it is surprising the LGS has survived as well as it has to the present day. Across almost all of retail the mom and pop business model (stores with an owner that owns one or two locations) has been in decline since the 1950's. This is due to a variety of factors, some benign (better transportation leading to economies of scale, etc) and some less so (a shrinking middle class and a race to the bottom on price that puts most of the competitive advantage in the hands of large corporations). But by and large the main street of America that you would have seen in 1950, dotted with small stores, was replaced by the mall and chain store by 2000. But this trend seems to have been weaker for firearms. Partly this is due to large stores not selling firearms (Target for example has shunned them almost from the beginning), partly due to the differing economics involved (the race to the bottom in retail was always connected to declining American manufacturing and the importation of lower quality but lower priced goods from Asia, something which is far less of a factor with firearms due to federal regulations [As such, ironically, firearms are a good example of how regulation can protect and develop manufacturing in the US]), and partly because there is some cultural aspect to the LGS that makes them competitive in areas besides price.

One other limitation of the LGS was very apparent in the last 2 years. When the ammo shortage started to thaw it was always big box stores that got it back first. Presumably this reflects greater buying power and priority for orders, but no LGS I went to had decent ammo selection until very recently, while big box stores had been there for some time.

One thing I would add as far as why LGS’s succeed while other small businesses fail is the customer base.

It’s mostly male and somewhat conservative. They’re willing to pay a little more if they feel it will help keep the store in business. I see that sentiment expressed here frequently.

 

[TinNePa]

Funny story that happened to a good friend of mine. He visited a local gun shop that I had driven by before but never stopped at, down the southern end of the county. So he walks in, is looking around, maybe he asked to see something from the counter or asked the price of a gun. I don't remember. Something like that. The owner goes off on him, ranting and raving. Accusing him of spying for some other gun shop, and he literally got chased out of the store!

That store had been there for years, but was out of business within a year of this incident. I always wanted to go there to see if I got the same treatment. Oh well.