Sam1911
Moderator Emeritus
I think there can still be a niche for the "LGS" but I think they're having to really step up their game, so to speak, in order to thrive.
This being "Gun Utopia" (central Pennsylvania) there are plenty of little gun shops around, but a very great many of them still operate as though it's 1972 and that all of their customers will prefer a tiny basement hole-in-the-wall or nondescript storefront in a strip mall in a long-disfavored part of town. I don't even understand how they afford their taxes, let alone the light bill.
On the other hand, a few stores around here are REALLY putting on their "A" game. Probably the best of the lot is Trop's. https://www.tropgun.com/info/trop-gun-shop-retail-information
This is a place that tries to provide something for everyone, but understands that their focus has got to be on the hot new exciting interests to keep people coming through the door. They stock silencers and other NFA weapons. They have racks of guns of all description and a large staff who they obviously groom to be appealing and open and helpful to the customers. (No grumps or boorish know-it-alls.) On very busy days, they even have a nice young lady floor-walker who greets you as you come in, helps you find what you're looking for, and if you're headed to the gun counter, logs your name into a hand-held wireless device to make sure you are seen and served in a timely manner. While you wait, there is a quite sizeable accessories selection to browse through, all stuff that's straight out of the latest issues of G&A or National Rifleman. Current, interesting gear that people want to pick up and play with.
They run AR building classes, where you can come in, buy a lower, buy all of the accessories, and put it together in their workshop, with their help.
They run training of all sorts, and have nice classroom spaces.
They've got an upstairs lounge and cigar bar!
They've got their own M35 truck with the store's logo painted on it, and they bring it and their smiley young staff out to every gun show, sportsman's show and similar large event with a big pile of merchandise for folks to handle and buy.
Their indoor range is state-of-the-art, with plenty of rentals, and both male and female range staff to help out the new and experienced shooter alike.
They run shooting classes, basic firearms instruction, and leagues like "A Girl And A Gun."
They even have VERY nice bathrooms!
(No, seriously. Like a nice restaurant would have.)
The amount of money required to get something like this off the ground must be staggering. But they're doing a booming business. And you don't get the financial backing for something like this without a rock solid business plan, so I don't expect them to fail.
While we lament the loss of the LGS, everything evolves. The day of the little mom&pop gun shop really being a viable business and career may have simply passed for the most part. That's kind of sad, but the day of the local malt shop and your doctor making house calls passed, too, and society lived through it.
But a "destination" gun store -- a real "shooters' paradise" -- may really fly.
This being "Gun Utopia" (central Pennsylvania) there are plenty of little gun shops around, but a very great many of them still operate as though it's 1972 and that all of their customers will prefer a tiny basement hole-in-the-wall or nondescript storefront in a strip mall in a long-disfavored part of town. I don't even understand how they afford their taxes, let alone the light bill.
On the other hand, a few stores around here are REALLY putting on their "A" game. Probably the best of the lot is Trop's. https://www.tropgun.com/info/trop-gun-shop-retail-information
This is a place that tries to provide something for everyone, but understands that their focus has got to be on the hot new exciting interests to keep people coming through the door. They stock silencers and other NFA weapons. They have racks of guns of all description and a large staff who they obviously groom to be appealing and open and helpful to the customers. (No grumps or boorish know-it-alls.) On very busy days, they even have a nice young lady floor-walker who greets you as you come in, helps you find what you're looking for, and if you're headed to the gun counter, logs your name into a hand-held wireless device to make sure you are seen and served in a timely manner. While you wait, there is a quite sizeable accessories selection to browse through, all stuff that's straight out of the latest issues of G&A or National Rifleman. Current, interesting gear that people want to pick up and play with.
They run AR building classes, where you can come in, buy a lower, buy all of the accessories, and put it together in their workshop, with their help.
They run training of all sorts, and have nice classroom spaces.
They've got an upstairs lounge and cigar bar!
They've got their own M35 truck with the store's logo painted on it, and they bring it and their smiley young staff out to every gun show, sportsman's show and similar large event with a big pile of merchandise for folks to handle and buy.
Their indoor range is state-of-the-art, with plenty of rentals, and both male and female range staff to help out the new and experienced shooter alike.
They run shooting classes, basic firearms instruction, and leagues like "A Girl And A Gun."
They even have VERY nice bathrooms!
(No, seriously. Like a nice restaurant would have.)The amount of money required to get something like this off the ground must be staggering. But they're doing a booming business. And you don't get the financial backing for something like this without a rock solid business plan, so I don't expect them to fail.
While we lament the loss of the LGS, everything evolves. The day of the little mom&pop gun shop really being a viable business and career may have simply passed for the most part. That's kind of sad, but the day of the local malt shop and your doctor making house calls passed, too, and society lived through it.
But a "destination" gun store -- a real "shooters' paradise" -- may really fly.
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