Thats an inherent misunderstanding of the meaning of the term "market". A market is whatever group of customers is available to you.
The internet has vastly changed that group of customers to a nationwide market.
That you would choose to focus on a subset (only buying/selling local) of the market does not change the fact that you are focusing on a subset while ignoring the broader market that exists and is available to you.
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mar·ket
noun
noun: market; plural noun: markets
- 1.
a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other commodities.
"farmers going to market"
- an open space or covered building where vendors convene to sell their goods.
h
Similar:
shopping center
- 2.
an area or arena in which commercial dealings are conducted.
"the labor market"
- a demand for a particular commodity or service.
"there is a market for ornamental daggers"
Look, its real simple. When your LGS has, say, a Colt Python in the shop and its the only one for sale in the entire town, and your LGS has it at a price that is indicative of the LOCAL scarcity,
thats the LGS pricing for the local market.
BUT
When I can jump on the internet and find a wide selection of Colt Pythons in a selection of finishes, barrel lengths, condition, year, etc, and order them in at a price thats competitive across the entirety of the internet, then order them in instead of being bound by whats available on hand locally.....
THE LOCAL MARKET IS DEAD.
This happened to me the other month. A shop had a NIB python for sale for $3.5k. Nice gun. I looked online right there in front of him and found a gun with the same features in the same condition in the same year range for $2400. He countered with $2800.
Did the value of the gun in the local market just drop by $700 in the few minutes that I spent looking it up?
Like what? If I've got the internet, I can find the range of prices the gun should be in, and of those, I can find the best price for what I'm looking for.
And I don't care about any of those factors. I don't have to let them affect me since I can jump on the internet and find a gun at a price that isn't affected by local market factors and order it in.
The price may be different, but the value of two identical guns does not change no matter the sticker price on each one. Price does not equal value.
I don't do business with Khaled at Shoot Straight. The way you are describing his pricing practices, I wouldn't keep him high up on the rolodex if I did.
If he sells guns above what I can get them for elsewhere, I'd buy them elsewhere. If he makes good money selling guns for a higher price than others, good on him, he has found another way to maximize his value as a shop to the customers....or his customers don't do their due diligence and are content paying more than they could have elsewhere....which I suspect is the case from how you are describing him.
People overpay for goods all the time, often by choice. I've never claimed otherwise.