Sign of the times I guess.

My LGS and indoor range/Outfitters shop (and a nice one too) is closing down, going out of business. I heard it was the combination of online sales, a huge rent increase and the owner wanting to retire with no one willing to continue the business that did it in. This really sucks as it was the only indoor range in this whole area for me. Next closest range is 1-1.5 hours drive

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,

That really sucks man.

I’m in luck here. There’s 4 or 5 indoor and 2 outdoor within about 30 minutes of me.

I suffered the same problem about 3 years ago. Great range, great prices. Hate it, can't explain it, he was always busy. Tossed it off to NY regs. One bite at a time.

Approximately where in Pennsyltucky do you reside PASig?

quote:

Originally posted by Cookster:
Approximately where in Pennsyltucky do you reside PASig?

The LGS was in Phoenixville, PA (French Creek Outfitters)

I live in Boyertown.

A really nice indoor range here shut down inexplicably and without warning a couple of years ago. There is another one, but while their hourly rate is cheap, you can only shoot handguns or handgun-caliber rifles, and buy their ammo.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by Cookster:
Approximately where in Pennsyltucky do you reside PASig?

The LGS was in Phoenixville, PA (French Creek Outfitters)

I live in Boyertown.

I was in that shop a few years ago to transfer a pre-owned P938 to me. Nice shop with a lot of good gear and nice folks. Too bad they had to close down.

There is a LGS / range in Whitehall, PA called Relic Hunter Firing Line, and it is nice shop with decent inventory of new and pre-owned firearms and accessories, etc., and nice folks running the place. The shooting lanes are nice and they require everyone who shoots there to watch a ~15 min range safety and protocol video.

According to gurgle maps, it is approx. a 30 mile / one hour drive from Boyertown.

If you are interested in joing an outdoor range, check out Guthsville Rod & Gun club in Orefield, PA.

I am local to both.

Rob

Topton Gun Club is 18 miles from Boyertown- 31 minutes according to Google. Nice club with great people and facilities. If you need a sponsor, Randy Hollowbush, who owns "The Handgunner" shop, was president for many years and likely still is. He will sponsor you after a brief introduction.
When I lived in that area I also belonged to Fleetwood Gun Club which is closer to Boyertown and not used very much but a nice place. And I joined a club in Fredericksburg, south a bit from Fleetwood club. It's very rustic but serves its purpose.

My LGS, Loves Guns, here in Belton TX is closeting the door Dec 31....this sucks

I've preached on high about this on the forum for the past year or more. You are going to see A LOT more of this. The firearms industry is not currently profitable unless you can do massive volumes or are in a niche market.

FYI, they may not actually be going out of business, just closing the departments that aren't shooting related, according to what I read yesterday.

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
FYI, they may not actually be going out of business, just closing the departments that aren't shooting related, according to what I read yesterday.

From what I'm hearing from multiple sources, that WAS their plan; to drop the Outfitter/Fishing/Camping gear part and shrink the place down to a gun counter, firearms supplies and accessories and the range but the landlord then turned around and demanded the same rent for a space like 1/3 of the original footprint.

Yeah I read the same thing on the PAFOA website, they were going to downsize but the landlord did not want to create smaller spaces or something like that.

I've driven by there dozens of times but never stopped in.

Bummer. I wonder if they can just find a new smaller retail space and move inventory, rather than going wholly out of business.

One of the two mom and pop LGS's here went out about three weeks ago. Pretty sad.

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:
Bummer. I wonder if they can just find a new smaller retail space and move inventory, rather than going wholly out of business.

I've seen discussions on PAFOA and FB where the owners just don't want to move again, they've been in business since about 1991 or 1992 and are just going to pull the plug and retire. I thought they had moved just once in that time from '91 to '19 but it sounds like they actually moved 4 times.

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:
I've preached on high about this on the forum for the past year or more. You are going to see A LOT more of this. The firearms industry is not currently profitable unless you can do massive volumes or are in a niche market.

There’s a large country club style range near me. I mean so large they have an indoor skeet facility and members lounge, etc. They had a massive sales floor, one whole wall was guns and multiple aisles and sold coolers and Big Green Eggs and such.

I stopped by a week ago and they had that retail portion closed off and only had two small racks of guns now.

My favorite local shop closed up within the last month or two... Not going to be any one left to transfer all the internet purchases eventually.

Hard to believe but here in the Chicago area there are countless indoor ranges available to shoot at.
NOT in Chicago but in Cook County and all the surrounding counties.
Many of the ranges are new multi-million dollar businesses.They sell about any type of firearm you could think of.

A banking/credit friend and shooter indicated to me he believes the current position of some credit card companies against firearm purchases appears to be having some of this impact on the market.

The debt that some families have due to medical, transportation and housing costs also is a factor. I know some gun a week types, broke and lookin to borrow 3-5 days after the Eagle drops. Guns are overall much better and cost less than days gone by, but most other life expenses are much more costly. New cars and trucks require insurance, registration and none of it is cheap. Firearms are really a good deal these days, if only that was all we needed to be about our lives.