...both a popular "tourist" location (for me about 2 hours away)...but I enjoy the drive via the back way up on 411/Chapman Highway (TN folks will relate )...long story short...

Bud's Gun Shop was desolate...as in NOBODY WAS THERE desolate (well, maybe excepting the 5-6 people at the pistol section and the 2-3 folks picking up and fondling the stack of cheap ARs along the wall...not even the muted "punk...punk...punk" from the indoor shooting range...seriously folks, this place was "dead"...the check out folks were just standing around (like, this is a weekend, in Pigeon Forge...where are the customers?...when will be laid off?) dead...this time last year it was PACKED with customers, not just looking, but buying!...

I left...

Walked next-door (same building) to the Coleman outlet (as in coolers, grills and hiking poles) and it was busy...there were lines at the checkouts...didn't need a cooler, grill or hiking stick...

I left...

Walked over to the Smoky Mountain Knife Works...holy hell!...it was PACKED (it's always been a popular place) BUT...it was wall to wall with people...not just people buying cheap-assed Chinese knives, Lord Of The Rings Orc blades and such things...but in the area dedicated to guns and ammo, cases of Wolf Gold .223 ($299 per K...cheaper on-line I know), Wolf steel .223 for $229 per K, Anderson stripped lowers $49...these are just examples. PACKED...as in "you can't stir them with a bolt paddle" packed...as in "people were buying guns, gun related stuff and ammo with the counter sales staff being almost overwhelmed packed"...

On one side, you have a popular website/gun store/upscale shooting range well known for good selection and reasonable prices (I know the online store is in KY, but the name is well known)...pretty much dead...

On the other side, you have a knife store (famous...but somewhat "tourist trappy") with a gun/ammo/shooting section that was doing a great business...

This was totally reversed from this time last year (there was a line for people to take a photo in front of the brass Colt repro Gatling gun)...I will be surprised if Bud's Gun Shop survives till next year...Smokey Mountain Knife Works will be around...

Just a one day observation from a guy that needed to get outta the house took a drive a little north of home

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that info.

I think the AR and CHL-gun markets have certainly hit the saturation point.

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Does Bud's retail store add the 3% (sorry offer a 3% discount to cash customers) for using a CC?

I was just there today. Prices aren't that great in my opinion. I went next door to SMKW because it's fun and my son loves the cheap crap knives so I let him pick out a grab bag of stuff. He is happy and I didn't spend much. Good day. The gun shop in smkw basically sells at the same prices so why buy from buds?

I want to love buds but 30 bucks for a g19 mag? Really? (I did overspend on a couple 21 rounders for my 320).

Something has to cover the cost for all that ammo that Hickok45 shoots.

Hmmm. All of my local Brick 'n' Mortars seem to be feeling a pinch lately. Maybe it's online competition, or market saturation, or Canadians, or sumpthin'.

You are not the only one seeing a slow down. This only works toward our advantage, in the end (I hope).

H&K-Guy

It's the first day of school, so the local tourists were busy.

I was there Friday and bought a new Walther PPS M2. The store and especially the range were busy when I walked in, but by the time my background check came through and I completed the purchase, there were only two other people on the range.

quote:

Originally posted by SigM4:
Does Bud's retail store add the 3% (sorry offer a 3% discount to cash customers) for using a CC?

Nope...I've bought some P-mags as well as some Magpul furniture in the past and there was no discount or fees between cash and CC...

The website (located in KY) does give the discount if you don't use a CC...I saved over $120 (even with the 3% and transfer fees) over the local price of a Rossi model 92 .45 Colt (Cowboy Action rifle) last year...I have had great satisfaction from ordering from them online. It's just odd to see their TN retail store so devoid of customers compared to a year ago ...I like Bud's.

quote:

Originally posted by Gear.Up:
It's the first day of school, so the local tourists were busy.

I was there Friday and bought a new Walther PPS M2. The store and especially the range were busy when I walked in, but by the time my background check came through and I completed the purchase, there were only two other people on the range.

Off topic...just a question...are you (or were you) associated with the motorcycle stuff store off the main drag in Tellico Plains...your post triggered me to think back (scary thought ) that you might be...my late wife and I used to stop by there when we headed up the Cherohala Skyway back in the day...good times

quote:

are you (or were you) associated with the motorcycle stuff store off the main drag in Tellico Plains

Just a second... let me take a picture of this t-shirt that just came out of the dryer...

You mean this one?





Only as a satisfied customer who misses them a great deal!

Yes...I was thinking there was something I remembered ....those were good days ...thank you for the memory!

The owner and his wife are great people and still in the area. They just got fed up with troubles from some bass-ackwards locals.

There was a reason he open carried.

quote:

Originally posted by Gear.Up:
The owner and his wife are great people and still in the area. They just got fed up with troubles from some bass-ackwards locals.

There was a reason he open carried.

My wife Terri and I made that ride from Tellico Plains to Joyce Kilmer (and past) on the Cherohala many times...it was a good ride (I always let her lead...she was fast!)...she was a good rider ...she lapped me at motocross on more than one occasion back in the day...thank you for triggering those memories!

Bud's Retail and Bud's Online are different operations. The retail store does not use cash discounts like the online store. The cash discount is a fair deal, although people complain. Kroger, for example, adjusts its pricing to cover the cost of credit and debit cards. Many gun stores simply ask the person using the card pay the fee, rather than redistributing the cost to all customers.

The retail store in Lexington and the online store often have differing prices. When I look at a gun in the store, I take my iPad with me and compare the online price. If the difference is significant I order and wait.

We were in Pigeon Forge earlier this summer, and that was our experience as well. I had higher hopes for Buds, as I just bought a Beretta 71 off of them. The Lexington store is supposed to be better.

I guess that is the way of the world now. Brick and mortar stores for items that have regulations to their sale probably don't do so well in touristy areas. What is their customer base there? I'll bet they have plenty of tourists renting machineguns.

We drove by there in February during our trip. My wife got a kick out of the parking lot being so full at the Knife Works and then seeing the parking lot at the heavily advertised adult store just down the street being deserted. We found that rather humorous considering how the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area is often promoted as a romantic getaway.

We were planning to stop by Bud's on the way home, but decided to skip it to get home a little earlier.

A LGS was well known for being wall to wall with customers in the past. If you didn't know exactly what you wanted the clerk would walk away and wait on someone else. Not so today. The last 3 times I've been in I got waited on right away, and take all the time you need to check out different guns of just talk guns or whatever. Times have changed!
Rod