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| Victim of Life's Circumstances  |
All the sight of cash does is prove you are a qualified buyer ready to do business. On used guns there are more variables than new guns and often the seller may have the big eye when he marks the price but if it's laid in the case a while, who knows how much they will discount? Fast nickel vs slow dime thing. ________________________ God spelled backwards is dog | |||
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| Idiot by birth, Asshole by choice |
FMJ Armory in LaGrange GA. It has a nice selection. Female staff. Indoor range. Friendly atmosphere. Weekly community matches. Monthly raffles. Class 3 items. Helpful customer service. Entrance greeting. On sight gunsmith. Knowledgeable staff. Their own AR manufacturing. Probably more that I can't think of. Shooters in Columbus GA is the exact opposite. All the staff are ass-holes in training. | |||
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| Min-Chin-Chu-Ru... Speed with Glare |
Here in Eastern Massachusetts (of all places) we have Four Seasons Firearms. It meets all of the OP's criteria including in my personal experience, at least one female on the friendly and knowledgable sales staff, community outreach and charitable support, link to an online inventory, etc. | |||
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| Go ahead punk, make my day |
I have shot there twice & walked around their store the couple times I've been in the area for work - honestly I got the exact opposite impression in that limited experience (both within the last 8 months). Maybe I just got lucky (completely possible). | |||
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| Member |
Balony. If the business is too overwhelming, then they need to sell or, retire. There's plenty of resources to set-up a simple, current and relevant website, it doesn't need to have a E-tail component. Social media is the cheapest vehicle to communicate sales, promotions, and events. The retail world is changing as fast as consumer spending habits evolve. Shops needs to get up to speed or, they'll go the way of record stores. | |||
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Stay Classy!! |
As a gunstore/range owner, You hit the nail on the head and then some. | |||
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| Member |
Put up, or shut up... | |||
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| Unapologetic Old School Curmudgeon  |
I used to shoot at Double Action Shooting in Madison Heights when I lived in Michigan. Good people, always very nice and helpful. I didn't know much about guns, didn't come from a gun family. But every pistol I bought they showed me how it worked, how to strip and reassemble, and maintain before I left the store with it. Gave me good pointers on the range, and I always liked shooting there. They were a little more than other shops but worth it. Been many years since I've been there since I moved but they were a good shop. Don't weep for the stupid, or you will be crying all day | |||
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| Member |
Check these guys out.Probably covers just about any gripes you may have about gun stores. http://www.centertargetsports.com/ ------------- The sadder but wiser girl for me. | |||
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Member |
I think the fact y'all are naming individual stores hundreds of miles away from me proves my point that they are exceptions to the norm : ) __________________________________ An operator is someone who picks up the phone when I dial 0. | |||
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Member |
I agree 100%, Caneau. I've never worked in the firearms industry. But I *have* worked in the recreational SCUBA diving industry. I see a *lot* of parallels. And gun stores today reflect the way dive shops were about 30 years ago, until professional marketing-driven organizations got involved and helped dive stores "evolve" into more sophisticated retail establishments. Back in the early 80's most dive shops were run by ex-Navy types, who were long on attitude and short on customer service. The shops themselves were usually dumps, poorly lit, with little variety of inventory (if you're not an athletically built man, you weren't finding a wet suit). Most shop owners thought recreational diving training should comprise some very demanding sub-set of their (exceedingly demanding) Navy training. Go into one of these shops, you invariably found three or four guys (some customers, some store staff) sitting around talking among themselves. You were lucky to get acknowledged. This was a MAJOR roadblock to the growth of the recreational diving industry. Women didn't feel comfortable in these stores. Heck, lots of GUYS didn't feel welcome in these shops. Once somebody learned to dive and bought their basic gear they never came back into the dive store. Why would they? It wasn't a nice place. And there was nothing specific that brought them back into the dive shop so they could buy more stuff. To me, this sounds almost exactly like the way most gun shops are today. Over time, with guidance from the major recreational diving industry groups (I'm thinking PADI here), many dive shopped changed into attractive, friendly, places that offered all manner and size of colorful gear. The shops added continuing education classes and organized activities to motivate people to return to the store regularly. The gross revenues of these stores increased significantly. It seems to ME that the retail firearms industry is lacking the kind of developmental guidance that dive stores got back in the day to help them "evolve" into successful modern retail establishments. Gun shops should be pleasant, well lit, welcoming. There should be classes and organized activities that get people into the shop on a recurring basis. Once people are IN the shop, they'll buy more stuff... hopefully even higher-margin type stuff. This is what we need to grow new generations of shooters who aren't necessarily from a .MIL or LE background. When folks see that shooting can be for everyone, they'll love it. And we'll have more 2A supporters. But if we don't make it easy for them to walk through the door of that LGS, make their first visit comfortable and easy, and keep them involved once they've made that initial move, we've already lost the battle. | |||
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blame canada |
For all of those reasons I'm desperate to open a store. The fact that I like to pay my bills and not go broke keeps me from actually doing it. MagnumU mentioned it. You can fix these issues, but unless you can find a way to make money doing it....you won't be in business long. I discovered a similar paradigm in the aviation retail world. In the end...I want to create a store that I would want to shop at, but I'm convinced I'd go broke doing it. I think the future is a club atmosphere, that stocks products at a no-profit price point but utilizes bulk buying to get better pricing. I've started moving that direction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.rikrlandvs.com | |||
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Member |
#1 - Online inventory synched with the brick & mortar store's inventory is much more complex than you think. A lot more complex, and the local gun shops don't have the IT budget of the Home Depot Corporation. Having an online eCommerce solution tied to an easy-to-use retail point of sale system is just the beginning. What if you have multiple stores? How often do you synch? What if you have parts kits made of different parts that are also sold separately? I've had conversations with Michelle from Top Gun Supply, and if you knew the costs and tribulations they have gone through to build/update/manage their online eCommerce and POS systems, you would not believe it. Steve Small Business Website Design & Maintenance - https://spidercreations.net | OpSpec Training - https://opspectraining.com | Grayguns - https://grayguns.com Evil exists. You can not negotiate with, bribe or placate evil. You're not going to be able to have it sit down with Dr. Phil for an anger management session either. | |||
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Ammoholic |
I stopped in "The Gun Dudes" store. Not much of a store, very friendly people though. They had a used SIGPRO on sale for more than I can buy a new one. No thanks. The coffee smelled good, but I didn't try it. Loudoun Guns, the one time I stopped in were super nice and helpful, even telling jokes. I will be going back there some time. They didn't have the holster I was looking for but gave me a contact to follow up with that made them very inexpensive. Still have not followed through and picked up a holster for that gun yet. Blue Ridge Arsenal, all the people there are friendly, semi knowledgeable, but not who I would turn to, to ask any questions. They at least can give a little spiel about whatever gun you are looking at in a friendly, polite, and professional manner. The will give you coffee! Not only coffee but also free ice cream!! Who doesn't like free ice cream? Sterling Arsenal pissed me off a while ago, I won't buy a thing there. The employees are rude, prices are high, selection is mediocre, but they do have some SIGs at least. I stopped in 50 West Armory once, they were friendly, didn't really glean much besides that. Just poked my head in to look around real quick, was in/out in 7-8 minutes. Jesse Sic Semper Tyrannis | |||
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| Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle  |
I have a friend who will not go to the LGS with me. the owner 7 years ago, followed him out to his car because he thought he was stealing. Creepy guy, but my friend had just spent a pile on a new AR. Why would he steal? Anyway, I am on a first name basis but rarely buy anything, I just use the range (at $15 a hour). I agree on most points, but I will defend a bit as the customers that come in are really weird too. I once dared correct one telling his friend that the S&W was the cheapest and best deal in AR's out there and even though it says .22lr it is because a 5.56 is actually a .22 caliber boolit. I tried in vain to correct him, no it is just a .22lr semi auto that 'looks' like an AR. I was told to mind my fn business, so I did. I asked my friend behind the counter if this was normal, he said 'all the time' So yes, while I do not understand the business model, but I understand the difficulties they sometimes go through doing the job. This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it. -Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Joshua Painter Played by Senator Fred Thompson | |||
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| Member |
Don't come to my favorite gun store, then. Their website is VERY basic, and the staff are all white guys. I seriously doubt they have much product training, but I don't hear them spouting a lot of bull, either. They are one of the main businesses in a town of <250 and very charitable. There is a guntry club about 100 miles away that sounds right up your alley. Just be prepared to pay for it. | |||
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Hop head  |
quick answer,, money number 1 online presence is a must nowadays, but it is expensive to do, website fees, create and update, time to post used stuff, etc etc etc number 2 honest answer,, it is hard to find a female that wants to work in this industry, I work in that industry, and have tried to hire some,,, number 3 despite the training available, from distributors, manufacturers, experticity, and various other sources, it is hard to break folks from what they think they know and their preconceived notions, seriously, I had to have a conversation with several folks that wanted to poo poo some product because they either read it on the internet, or heard it from a friend etc,,, you will also find this in other retailers,, , (what can of corn is best, what shade of crayon, etc etc) number 4 I work for a company that actively reaches out,, and often receives very little participation, spend the $$$ to have seminar, training class etc and have 1 person show up,,, wasted $$ we use and outside trainer now for CCW etc, and let them use our facility,, sometimes too many show up,, but that is very rare number 5 bigger stores, every day, almost, smaller stores don't have the funds, look at greentop, bass pro, cabelas, they reach out,,, number 6,, I could preach for hours on this,, one of the most frustrating things I have faced since I left the grocery business and went into the firearms business it seems to me that all the training I got as a store manager and dept head was a good thing in that industry, but the sporting goods and firearms business talks a big game but hires folks with 0 , i mean absolutely 0, people skills, and literally no public interaction from store managers,, amazing,,, think about this a bit, you sell stuff only some people want, and some people want to to put you out of business you have stuff that folks love to steal, and to do so brings on much paperwork, ATF involvement etc etc, you tend to attract military and police, as both employees (not always the best) and as customers (usually good) you have stuff that honestly no one needs, you are not selling anything the avg joe needs to survive a day (food water, etc) as in some folks will never set foot in your location, no matter how big you may be you have to hire from the gene pool around you , and you cannot afford to pay a lot of $$,, (actual interview question,, what do you shoot, applicant, 9mm, me, what 9mm , applicant blaser, me, no, what gun, applicant 9mm, me , ok what pistol in 9mm, applicant, I am not sure, its 9mm,,, and this applicant said he knew a lot about guns,,, we, gun folks that work in the business, tend to hire gun people, and would often do better to hire folks good at selling, most buyers have done some research on what they want, and want to be reassured, used buyers will often know (and sometimes think they know) more than the sales gun will about a particular make or model,, https://www.chesterfieldarmament.com/ | |||
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| Hop head |
+1 and should have read this before my long post, add to this,, gun show patrons, lots of bitching about the dealers,, I offer anyone on this board to sit behind my tables at Richmond, Chantilly, Hampton or Fishersville for a few hours and help the patrons,,, you will never complain about a dealer again https://www.chesterfieldarmament.com/ | |||
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| Hop head |
flash all the cash you want, matters not to me, but I don't charge extra to run that CC either, I enjoy a good haggle, and don't mind offers but i am the type that will answer a really low offer by saying that will make a nice down payment,, and if you get pissed, , bye,,, if you get the joke, we can carry on and make a sale once the price is haggled a bit,,, and we are both happy https://www.chesterfieldarmament.com/ | |||
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| Member |
You need to take a vacation trip out to Utah! "Crom is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, 'What is the riddle of steel?' If I don't know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me." | |||
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