Silly Question

[trigun87]

Why don't Sporting Goods stores list their firearms online? Well not all but particularly Sports Authority and Dick's.

 

[Josh45]

Im not 100% sure. I have always thought about this as wel. Im tagging this to hear what others have to say

 

[gfpd707]

I asked the sales guy at dicks and he said its because they wont sell them off the internet. Kind of a lame excuse I think.

 

[Billll]

I dropped in to the local Sports Authority to buy some .22. I was informed that they don't carry any gun related stuff at all. Never been back.

 

[joeq]

I go to the Academy website and they always have their guns listed. Or at least most of them.

 

[kingpin008]

Why not email them and ask?

 

[Carter]

My guess would be maybe not all of their stores sell firearms. Kind of like different wal-marts. So they aren't listed online so that areas where they don't sale firearms can't be ordered.

But who knows.

 

[mgmorden]

My guess would be maybe not all of their stores sell firearms. Kind of like different wal-marts. So they aren't listed online so that areas where they don't sale firearms can't be ordered.

Last I checked though Wal-mart.com actually did list their firearms online. I'm too lazy to check at the moment, but this was certainly the case as of about a year ago.

 

[Mike1234567]

Probably has something to do with "political correctness".

 

[writerinmo]

Nope.. I'll tell you why. Because you know they sell firearms... and being naturally curious, at some point you will probably stop in. You will wander through their thoughtfully arranged aisles, looking at all sorts of things you never thought you needed until right then, filling your cart/basket/arms with a myriad of impulse purchases. At some point you will probably make it to the actual firearms, not find exactly what you want, the sales person will assure you that "if you come back next week we should have one in by then", you will purchase all your impulse buys, head out the door and return next weekend to repeat the same process...

 

[Bobson]

Nope.. I'll tell you why. Because you know they sell firearms... and being naturally curious, at some point you will probably stop in. You will wander through their thoughtfully arranged aisles, looking at all sorts of things you never thought you needed until right then, filling your cart/basket/arms with a myriad of impulse purchases. At some point you will probably make it to the actual firearms, not find exactly what you want, the sales person will assure you that "if you come back next week we should have one in by then", you will purchase all your impulse buys, head out the door and return next weekend to repeat the same process...

That may very well be their plan, but like Billll said earlier, when I go into a sporting goods store and find that they don't have what I'm interested in, I avoid it like the plague, even if I need something later that I know they do have.

Same reason I generally avoid restaurants and private businesses that don't allow concealed carry on the premises (and I don't even carry a gun, ever, unless I'm hunting). I live in Free AZ - I expect the business owners to be like-minded. If they aren't, I do my part to drive them out of business.

 

[Sunray]

Hi. Keeping a web site up to date is time consuming. A lot of shops don't have the people or the skills as well. Paying to have it done is expensive too.

 

[mgmorden]

Hi. Keeping a web site up to date is time consuming. A lot of shops don't have the people or the skills as well. Paying to have it done is expensive too.

I'm guessing that Sports Authority and Dicks have at least one web designer on staff (probably several more than that). They're already doing the work for all the other items they carry - firearms would be a trivial addition.

Heck given the economy right now Information Technology has been hit as hard as most other sectors (or harder). There's a lot of people in that area looking for work right now who would be happy to do that sort of thing for pretty low rates right now.

 

[tbutera2112]

not all of their stores carry those items, that is probably why they are not listed online.

it depends on what area of town they are in.

the dicks in the ritzy neighborhood around here doesnt carry firearms, but the one in the big city does

 

[Bobson]

I don't think stock-on-hand is the reason stores don't put firearms online. For example, the WalMart right by my house sells shotguns and rifles, but the WalMart 10 minutes further away doesn't sell guns at all - not even BB guns, unless I'm mistaken.

But if you go to WalMart's website, you'll find that they have a specific feature that allows you to see whether or not your specific WalMart carries the item you're viewing online. Some products say 'Online Only,' others say 'Not Available in Your Store - Check Another' (meaning the one with the zip code closest to mine, presumably). If WalMart has the ability to filter products by the specific store they're stocked at, I would imagine a national sporting goods retailer does too. There's gotta be another reason, and I'd venture to guess that WriterInMO is pretty close in his theory.

Guess we won't find out for sure though.