Favorite gun shop closed up today!

Most shops are to greedy, they will sit on a gun for years to make $100, better to make $25-$50 and have the sell that week.
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A guy I went to HS with owned a gun/pawnshop for several years. Starting in January, after deer season ended, he would sell just about any deer rifle at his cost. That put money in his till to pawn to people @ 20% interest/month. He knew that he could sell a rifle for $300 in September, but the $200 he got for it in January would bring in $360 ($40/month) in profits off interest between January and September.

Handguns and non-hunting rifles sold at about the same pace year-round so he wasn't quite as quick to come down in price on those.
 
Currently the firearms sales, like many non-essentials, have slowed down. A licensed dealer still has to pay rent, utilities, and maintain an attractive inventory. Companies like SIG Sauer sell to small dealers for the same price that they offer for law enforcement and first responders. SIG Sauer offers a "special" package of ten different pistols -of their choice- at that not very competitive price and then throw a free one in. Among those are some slow-movers and they tie up capital as much as lay-away. When the return on the investment is too low to cover the cost and survive, the enthusiastic hobbyist will wake up from the dream and close down.

For a minimum investment of $250,000 that is necessary to have a well stocked gun store, you can find business opportunities with a better return.
 
Sorry to hear that! The only one thats closed here in the last few years is my buddy, and he still had his ffl just stopped doing the brick-and-mortar thing.

Ours pretty much became gun stores to supply demand, they make most of their money on other stuff. The two primarily gun stores we have are doing ok still.
 
I had two that I liked to go to, but the prices, WOW! The one place had a ton of older revolvers to look at, but the owner, who I never saw stand up one time, wouldn't budge on prices. Not a single dollar, "The price is the price, take it or leave it!". He had a great location on a road with huge traffic, a decent amount of parking, and a nice store in general, but I saw prices that made GB the easy choice, same gun, much cheaper, um, I didn't need to think about it.

I wasn't shocked when the owners died and their kids just sold everything off. That one store is now some sort of radiator repair, looks very bad. The other place is gone, some fast food place is there now.
 
Have I lost my favorite store. Kinda sort of...
There is a family owned store that I have bought firearms and accessories from for over 35 years. They moved once to the current location decades ago. Used to be full service with older retired cops/military guys working the counters. They had a spectrum of products all things firearm and even clothes and camp gear. I used to get filson clothes there. Over many years on several visits I bought both my sons their first 22 rifles, 22 pistols, shotguns and big game centerfire rifles and had the scopes mounted while we did paperwork. It was a family ritual and the place was cool. The employees were real helpful and always positive and encouraging to my young sons being new to shooting and hunting. You know rites of passage kind of experience. Now it looks like a third world ammo dump. They have fortified the place with huge metal doors that truly are mad max level. Most of the counters are gone, not nearly as many firearms and ammo is stacked deep on pallets. It is filthy. There are no longer public customer restrooms. The many fewer workers are young guys who are lazy. It is sad.... l almost don't like to go there now. To be fair they are probably making more bank selling ammo than they ever did before. Every time I am there I see big ammo sales going out the door. Our Norman Rockwell version of many things keep disappearing.
 
Here in Lawrence, KS gun shops haven't existed for many years. The anti-gun crowd is alive and well in this left wing haven. Much more gun friendly, the neighboring communities have several big and small shops. KC offers Cabela's/BassPro, Scheels, and Academy. In the surrounding area, there is Up In Arms Desoto, Gun Guys Ottawa, Olathe Gun Shop, Bullet Hole Overland Park, Frontier Justice Overland Park, and the best one is Atchison Outfitters in Atchison. The owner/manager of Atchison Outfitters is amazing. He always manages to have items that no one else has and attracts buyers from as far as 600+ miles away just on word of mouth. He's not cheap, but is fair given whatever supply/demand dictates. Every one of these places has pros and cons.
I recently visited a new shop in Belvue, KS and happily bought a new .22. It's about a one hour drive, but that is still considered local to me. Topeka (25 miles away) is one of the bigger cities in Kansas, but is a disappointment in terms of good gun stores and is odd. There was one just outside of Topeka, but the prices were always ridiculous and it eventually closed.
So, all things considered, we are doing OK in my neck of the woods.
 
Most of the favorite ones I have lost over the years lost me with gouging during panics. I was loyal to them up to the point they drove me off to other vendors. The others I lost because people don’t live forever.
 
lightman said:
No, haven't lost one lately. Thats sad! Gunshops are in a very competitive business. On line sales, big box stores, BATF looking for infractions, ect. I imagine its a tough business to be in.
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it is not just gun shops. all small retailers have the same kinds of problems. it is very hard to compete unless you are able to find a niche you do better than the bigger guys, AND somehow people learn you are doing it better.

its why small business fail at such high rates.
 
Every time you purchase on the internet, the local shop loses a sale. They get the transfer fee but not the sale. The transfer fee does not pay the overhead. It is not that hard to see why they close.

One of the local stores has a two fees for transfer, one for items they can get, the other (lesser fee) for uncommon items. It makes sense to me.

Kevin
 
troy fairweather said:
Most shops are to greedy, they will sit on a gun for years to make $100, better to make $25-$50 and have the sell that week. The shop will have quick turnaround and customers will come more often. We all know those shops we go to that always have The same guns. Willing to work with people and treating everyone equal, I had it happen a bunch going to a shop wanting to buy a gun and the shop blows you off thinking he's got no money when I'd have a few grand in my pocket.
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I walked into a very well known shop a few years ago when I had just got a Delta Elite. Asked if they stocked 10mm ammo or if it was special order. They looked me up and down for anbout 10 seconds and said I couldn’t afford it. I lost my cool and left fussing cussing and raising as much hell as I could. I had 3 grand in my pocket because I literally sold a motorcycle in the parking lot before walking in. Nothing gets me worse than being judged by something as simple as dirt on my jeans or a grease stain on my shirt. It’s the working folks that should have the means anyhow. I told that story to one of my friends a few days later at a redneck bar and he just stopped and looked at me and said, “Now you almost get it, try being a black farm working redneck with a raggedy old ford. I get that everywhere I go”

Rant over. Back to normal programming.
 
troy fairweather said:
Anyone lose there favorite gun shop lately.
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Sort of. My favorite shop happened to be the closest one to me, it took me less than 10 mins to get there and now it's moved and is about an hour away, in the congestion of the city with prices raised up a lil but still within reason, just not as convenient. I'm also moving about 25 mins further away this summer so I don't see myself being a regular fixture there anymore.

It's always sad when a good place moves away or closes up shop. The guy who will be closest to me now is a guy in a wheelchair and some days he's OK to deal with but more often than not he's an ornery prick.... does not seem to give a tinkers damn about offending people and driving away business, snappy to kids, condescending, etc....
 
It’s sad, but unfortunately, this the trend. Older owners can’t find family members to take over when they retire.

Schools and the press vilify gun owners to the point that young people don’t want the social stigma of owning and shooting a firearm, heaven forbid their friends find out.

As gun owners, we are a dying breed in this country. So are the places that supply us.
 
In the past 3 years there are now three that are no longer in existence. One was a new store that opened right here in my small town. At the time I thought it was a strange location for a gun store as we are kind of off the beaten path. Though he did do well offering classes throughout the peak for Concealed Carry. The second was a gun shop/second hand store. Did some business with them. They closed unexpectedly... Last was a shop that had been struggling though it had a long time presence. It was also one that had a small 10 lane indoor range. The last year of so it went through 3 different owners. The long time owner was retiring and almost shut it down until a last minute now owner came along. They also had another large instructional business in the suburbs of Chicago. They came in made needed repairs, spruced the place up and increased inventory. After two years they sold it to one of the employees and shortly after that I believe they were shut down because of the ventilation system.
 
Speedo66 said:
It’s sad, but unfortunately, this the trend. Older owners can’t find family members to take over when they retire.

Schools and the press vilify gun owners to the point that young people don’t want the social stigma of owning and shooting a firearm, heaven forbid their friends find out.

As gun owners, we are a dying breed in this country. So are the places that supply us.
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I dunno… we have 10 new hires at my company, all young 20-somethings. I had to give them a gun safety/intro to firearms presentation today and I was pleasantly surprised, every one of them seemed to enjoy it. Several are already enthusiasts, all the rest were open minded, even the pretty obviously socially progressive ones were into it. Think I sold an old Winchester 1906 to one of them, actually. I think the radical leftist media wants us to believe that every young person is a frothing at the mouth advocate for gun control, and there are plenty out there, but in the real world I think people are a lot more nuanced.
 
I'm sure most of you guys on here would consider me "young" but I remember when basically every grain and feed store along with country stores all had at least a small selection of guns and ammo for sale in the more rural parts.

That was over 20 years ago and they have just slowly disappeared over time. And then there's the guys older than me that could shop guns in almost any hardware store.

I wish I was of buying age when that was going on. My uncle bought an Egyptian Maadi with a case of ammo + mags for $350 about 20 years ago from a local Grain & Feed.... I miss the old days even though I wasn't alive or of buying age, those days are never coming back.
 
As read the posts on this thread I can't help but think about old wood rifles.
Nothing against modern rifles, but back when you walked into a big gun shop they would have a rack of wood stock rifles. I remember guys looking for nice looking wood. Then finding a beautiful rifle, but couldn't buy it because it was in 270 and his good for nothing Brother-in-law used a 270:rofl:
 
Sad to say, but YUP!! Winchester Gallery & Military Arms here in Fort Worth, TX.

The former, a coupla’ months ago. Great source for old guns.

the later, about a year ago.

bought many guns from each.

Shoot Smart opened in the former location: Made a DEAL on a Remington #4 Rolling Block rifle in 32 RF. Will probably convert it to centerfire 32 S&W, tho it shoots NICE as manufactured!
 

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troy fairweather said:
Anyone loose there favorite gun shop lately.
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As you can imagine, gun shops are not plentiful in London! However one closed fairly recently and the reason I miss it is because it was close enough to my work place that I could visit it on my lunch break. I wouldn't say I was a "heavy" purchaser at that store but I certainly bought a few thousand rounds of .22LR from there and had a 12 gauge suppressor and a .22 reflex suppressor transferred through them.
I think COVID is the main reason they had to close, they lost any business that could keep them viable.
 
Odd Job said:
As you can imagine, gun shops are not plentiful in London! However one closed fairly recently and the reason I miss it is because it was close enough to my work place that I could visit it on my lunch break. I wouldn't say I was a "heavy" purchaser at that store but I certainly bought a few thousand rounds of .22LR from there and had a 12 gauge suppressor and a .22 reflex suppressor transferred through them.
I think COVID is the main reason they had to close, they lost any business that could keep them viable.
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At least you can always stop in at rigby or Holland & Holland.
 
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