Okay, here's a side to the story from someone who once owned a gunshop.
I had a good business. I had my regular customers, and a hell of a lot of walk-ins.
My standard was that if you were a first time buyer, you paid "list price" for a firearm. On your second purchase, and all purchases after, you paid 15% over my actual cost.
Gunsmithing fees and custom work was fixed and everyone paid the same fee. All repairs and modifications were performed on a "first-come-first-serve" basis. If you came into the shop the day before hunting season, you were **** out of luck if you needed the gun for hunting season, regardless of the bribe you offered.
So I guess it is as I have preached in all the forums. It really wasn't the big stores, or the internet that caused the disappearance of the locally owned gun shop ... it was the tight-assed customers who thought they were saving $1 or $2!
Do I miss the shop? Sure do!
Would I open another one? NO WAY! (Unless of course I only handled $5000 and up firearms, which would only be sold at "full list".) I am not going to be bothered about a stinking $400 or $500 rifle or a $300 shotgun or a $100 handgun.
You guys decided that saving a dollar or two was more important than maintaining a regular relationship with your local shop owners. I decided that I didn't need you ... as have many other shop owners.
So quit your bitching about paying hazmat fees, paying transfer fees, and not having a gunshop close with a decent inventory.
YOU are the reason for all of this...
ricciardelli has told his story, and Im sure he is a fine gentleman, and a gracious, well-regarded shop keeper.
Without any reference to mr. ricciardelli, the other side of the story needs to be told, and that is why some customers like myself stopped going to the local gunshops.
And it has nothing to do with Walmart.
I am no youngster, and Ive been buying guns since the 1970's. Before the era of Walmart and big-box retailers, when gun shops held their own and were more plentiful, I had already been disappointed by the customer service attitude in most gun shops.
First off, the usual temperament of the gun shop owner was most often that of a curmudgeon.
Questions, and I dont mean those about laws & safety, just honest questions about a particular gun or family of firearms were usually returned with sharp or ungracious answers, like the customer was a rube.
Whether it was a gun or ammo, you were made to feel like you oughta buy what was in the damn counter, and not go asking about some damn thing you saw in a magazine, cause that was cr-p and not worth spending your money on.
As I grew older, I did a lot of reading. Books on firearms, reloading manuals and gun magazines. I subscribed for awhile to Gun Tests magazine. On the old CompuServe BBS, I met people who were life long hunters or distinguished shooters. Boy did that open my eyes!
In a lot of cases I learned that the customer of the local shop had been fed a load of bull by the self-interested shop owner. For instance, when youve read every thing you can lay your hands on about hand guns and hand-gunning from authors like Massab Ayoob to Jeff Cooper and many others in-between, and you over hear a counter jockey making BS statements about a pistol that you know well, you just have to shake your head in disgust. :roll:
You know what the gun shop owner is doing. He wants to sell what hes got in inventory, not whats best for the buyer, and hell belittle any other gun the customer mentions to make the sale today.
Used guns. Did they ever inspect and clean the things before they put them up for sale? And the prices they asked for used firearms! Gawd, it was like buying a used car. And when you wanted to deal on price, the statements you heard. Like That {Shotgun News or Blue Book of Gun Values} is garbage. Those prices are made up. or Mine rifle/pistol costs more than the book because it has the special . .
Gunsmithing? You really took a risk there. I dont think most of the shop employees had any machinist training, it must have been learn-as-you-go. I once had a receiver ruined by the scope mount holes being misaligned. I found out that for competent gunsmithing, it is imperative to send the firearm to the gunsmiths that specialize in one type of firearm or do a lot of work for competition shooters. The gunsmiths that put up a tent at a Schutenfest, or whos work goes on a rifle that travels to matches, they give a damn, and you will get competent work for a fair price. But at the local shop its buyer, beware, and youll be lucky if the gunsmith will speak to you rather than AT you.
Ammunition? Reloading? You can buy whats on the floor, but dont ask for a premium or special grade or else be ready for a lecture on why you dont need that brand or item.
Sorry guys. The local gun shop is driving themselves out of business due to attitude, outrageous prices and irregular hours. I know that there are a hundred bad-customer horror stores.
I work with customers myself every day. I know there is a small, but vocal and extremely unpleasant core of people who interpret the 'customer is always right' mantra that they're always being fed as an absolute license to behave in ways that would get them shunned, arrested, fired, beaten up or institutionalized if they tried it in their own workplaces.
But I cant regard the parts I sell as gold-plated. And neither should the gun shop owner. There is a usual, reasonable cost for items, and that is where they need to be priced.
And if you are a shop keeper and you think the customer is wrong, you need some lessons on diplomacy and persuasion. The customer is not wrong; the customer is probably frustrated and annoyed.
