Gun Stores!

[North]

I just went to my local gunstore to pick up a XD 40 service model. Nothing fancy just something for a carry gun and to shoot production when the mood strikes me. Now keep in mind I can order this model from Buds gun shop for $439 delivered. The Jask A$$ at the gun shop wants $570. I tell him, Look I cane get this online for 439 delivered and pay a $20 dollar transfer fee on base and have this for $459, I'm willing to pay a little extra for the convenience of being able to walk out right now with it, but not a $110. No deal.

Edited March 17, 2008 by North

[zhunter]

Good for you!!!

Stick to your guns, so to speak. I believe in supporting the locals, but they need to be reasonable.

[jam-man]

Not only that but there is no sales tax. I also try to support the locals and I know that have to make money, however don't make it all on my back. I am willing to pay a few extra bills but not pay their light bill for the month.

[9x21]

Bomar, no more

Masterblaster . no more

Zero's, like unicorns

Tripp chrome, soon no more

any bullet under a $100 / 1000 quickly passing........

Rest assured, your Fuel & food prices are about to rise, likely way ahead of your income.

Be thankful you still have a local gun store!

How will it be when they are gone?

Make your deal if you can, Support them while, (IF) you can...

Nobody complains about gas prices...... at least not enough to have an impact!

Edited March 18, 2008 by 9x21

[North]

Bomar, no more

Masterblaster . no more

Zero's, like unicorns

Tripp chrome, soon no more

any bullet under a $100 / 1000 quickly passing........

Rest assured, your Fuel & food prices are about to rise, likely way ahead of your income.

Be thankful you still have a local gun store!

How will it be when they are gone?

Make your deal if you can, Support them while, (IF) you can...

Nobody complains about gas prices...... at least not enough to have an impact!

Bo-mar=death, not because people didn't buy them

Tripp is choosing to stop hard chrome=not because people don't support him

Master blaster couldn't get lead=not because people didn't buy them.

What the heck is your point???

Frankly if I'm going to get Butt Raped anytime I go in there, I'm better off paying a few dollars in gas to go to the next town over. 110 bucks still buys enough gas to justify a 50 mile drive.

[Odie]

My "local" charges $25 over wholesale. On everything from a High Point to a Barrett. We have been really lucky, then the other day we find out he's selling the place. Great.

[9x21]

What the heck is your point???

Frankly if I'm going to get Butt Raped anytime I go in there, I'm better off paying a few dollars in gas to go to the next town over. 110 bucks still buys enough gas to justify a 50 mile drive.

My point is that for what ever reason, the shooting sports seem to be affected by the present economy. For whatever reason, I find it alarming such businesses are closing.

As I stated, make your deal if you can, but the little business owner is really feeling the squeeze to make some profit & stay in business right now.

If it is a business you would miss if it was gone, support it,

if not, don't.....................

[Middle Man]

While I can empathize with your rant, as a consumer in what other retail establishments do you apply this same logic?

There are two basic types of dealers; those that attempt to make profit via a large volume of sales and the others which attempt to generate profit via markup. Different business models...basic Economics 101

[MichiganShootist]

I have a huge sporting goods store nearby which has a multi-million dollar gun department. I tried to buy a G-17 from them for my daughter and they were $200+ over the market..... and nearly double the market on magazines and accessories.

So I bought it all on line and used that store to be my transfer agent.

So they got $20 for their effort and lost the sale. I like the irony.

[Heavy Metal Only]

Support you local gun shows, you can find lots of good deals out there. Some of those private dealers will offen tell you they reserve the right to sell to anyone and if you don't like my prices then go buy them some where else. Thats why I buy mine off the street. Lol no paper work, low prices and no back ground checks. You can always call your local sheriff dept. and run serial #s, if you r worried about the gun being stolen.

[Adam B]

I had the same thing with my local shop, I could buy the gun, pay for the shipping and pay the $40 transfer fee and still beat their price by $50 (which didn't include the 6% sales tax), WTF. I did 2 things, I bought the gun online and had it sent to another shop that only charged me $25. Hey if they don't want to deal that is their loss!

[DEADEYE]

I tried to by a Taurus PT1911 through my local gun shop he wants almost $600.00 not including background check fees & taxes he's nuts. I will order it on line and with the tranfer fee save $100.00 I don't begrudge a guy a living just don't expect me to fully subsidize it! When I told him he was out of line he got real defensive funny thing is he is ordering it from the same warehouse I'm getting it from. Too bad for him, then he wonders why he doesn't sell anything? I may go to Sportsman warehouse to get it they had them for $489.00

Edited March 18, 2008 by DEADEYE

[mdstihl]

Just my 2 cents: you can't buy something for 500 bucks, sell it for 550, and have anything left over to justify the rent and the hassle of the paperwork. Start a small business from scratch, and you'll understand.

[North]

Just my 2 cents: you can't buy something for 500 bucks, sell it for 550, and have anything left over to justify the rent and the hassle of the paperwork. Start a small business from scratch, and you'll understand.

Look, I could buy this pistol for 439 delivered. That means before shipping it was around 414. The online store has to be making money at 414, otherwise why are they selling it for that. Why don't one of the FFL's tell us what the wholesale for a Springfield XD Service.

My gunstop is asking 570 before taxes. Tat is a 28% difference in price.

I don't mind supporting the local guys, but come on.

[Bear23]

I'd have to agree with North. Having been to 'said' gun store. His prices are high. Even at the gun shows he does not negotiate prices.

XD's are like Honda's every store has one or two, the only factor is the price.

I support a local gunstore here in Las Cruces, but he will give me a good price, he knows i'll be back. So why screw me?

[Wakal]

I have a FFL. The last few distributor lists I saw had XD's running from $379-399, and that was for single sales. Buy enough to get into the "master dealer" level and the price per gun drops some more. Not a huge markup.

I like selling guns cheap. Accessories are where the profit margin resides

Alex

[Nik Habicht]

Just my 2 cents: you can't buy something for 500 bucks, sell it for 550, and have anything left over to justify the rent and the hassle of the paperwork. Start a small business from scratch, and you'll understand.

Look, I could buy this pistol for 439 delivered. That means before shipping it was around 414. The online store has to be making money at 414, otherwise why are they selling it for that. Why don't one of the FFL's tell us what the wholesale for a Springfield XD Service.

My gunstop is asking 570 before taxes. Tat is a 28% difference in price.

I don't mind supporting the local guys, but come on.

I'm not willing to disagree with a hate rant --- I hate exorbitant prices as much as the next guy. That said, extraneous stuff matters -- such as the amount of overhead; rent and property taxes for instance do vary from one part of the country to the next, which explains why gas in Princeton N.J. was always 15-20 cents higher a gallon than it was 15 miles down the road in Trenton, N.J.

I used to work in a successful camera store, a store that averaged more than $ 50,000 in sales a day at it's high point. We couldn't beat everyone else out there on price and stay in business, but if it wasn't a single item for cash transaction we could get pretty close, often paying higher prices for gear traded in, than the competition. We also staffed the store with actual working photographers -- who could and would share their experience and expertise. At the end of the day, we felt that what we offered on top of the equipment was worth something, and for the most part, the people who walked through the door, or called on the phone to place an order, agreed.

As my boss put it once --- it's not personal. I know what I need to sell the item for in order to turn a profit, and keep the doors open. The buyer knows what he can afford or wants to pay. When those two things coincide, a transaction happens. When they do not, it's not personal, it's just not possible for the exchange to work to both parties satisfaction.

I do think that it's very bad form to "shop" at a local store, looking at the merchandise, having questions answered, using the resources of the shop, only to then buy the item via mail order. I see some value in keeping local shops open --- and as much as I can afford to, I patronize them......

[North]

Just my 2 cents: you can't buy something for 500 bucks, sell it for 550, and have anything left over to justify the rent and the hassle of the paperwork. Start a small business from scratch, and you'll understand.

Look, I could buy this pistol for 439 delivered. That means before shipping it was around 414. The online store has to be making money at 414, otherwise why are they selling it for that. Why don't one of the FFL's tell us what the wholesale for a Springfield XD Service.

My gunstop is asking 570 before taxes. Tat is a 28% difference in price.

I don't mind supporting the local guys, but come on.

I'm not willing to disagree with a hate rant --- I hate exorbitant prices as much as the next guy. That said, extraneous stuff matters -- such as the amount of overhead; rent and property taxes for instance do vary from one part of the country to the next, which explains why gas in Princeton N.J. was always 15-20 cents higher a gallon than it was 15 miles down the road in Trenton, N.J.

I used to work in a successful camera store, a store that averaged more than $ 50,000 in sales a day at it's high point. We couldn't beat everyone else out there on price and stay in business, but if it wasn't a single item for cash transaction we could get pretty close, often paying higher prices for gear traded in, than the competition. We also staffed the store with actual working photographers -- who could and would share their experience and expertise. At the end of the day, we felt that what we offered on top of the equipment was worth something, and for the most part, the people who walked through the door, or called on the phone to place an order, agreed.

As my boss put it once --- it's not personal. I know what I need to sell the item for in order to turn a profit, and keep the doors open. The buyer knows what he can afford or wants to pay. When those two things coincide, a transaction happens. When they do not, it's not personal, it's just not possible for the exchange to work to both parties satisfaction.

I do think that it's very bad form to "shop" at a local store, looking at the merchandise, having questions answered, using the resources of the shop, only to then buy the item via mail order. I see some value in keeping local shops open --- and as much as I can afford to, I patronize them......

I'm all about helping the local guys.

But would you pay 570 + tax which is around 615 bucks for a bone stock XD 40 service model?

[Nik Habicht]

I'm all about helping the local guys.

But would you pay 570 + tax which is around 615 bucks for a bone stock XD 40 service model?

Where I live that's probably close to in line with local pricing --- I'm thinking they sell for around $550 here, though I may off by $10-20. I have bought most of my recent guns from people on this board, as well as selling a few, because I'd rather buy preowned. That said, I've bought a few pieces from my local FFL as well; he maintains a indoor range that's extremely convenient for sighting in or function fire, holds monthly indoor IDPA matches on the one day a week he's closed, he's a competitive shooter. So yeah, I'd pay that to get the gun from him --- I probably wouldn't pay that to one of the chains though. It's apples and oranges; I have a vested interest in seeing that my friend's doors remain open, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.

The only thing I wanted to share from the "other side of the counter" perspective is that it may not be greed; it may be a matter of location or management mistakes.....

And none of that really means anything either --- because you're certainly free to decide where to spend your money, without having to justify it to anyone......

[Middle Man]

My gunstop is asking 570 before taxes. Tat is a 28% difference in price.

Bear in mind that the average overhead costs for the average small business is in the 30% to 35% of gross profit range. Gross profit is the number after the inventory is paid for and before any bills are paid.

Some business models make use of "loss leaders" to attract and entice consumers to patronize their store, regularly giving away their gross profit on the loss leader item in an attempt to make bigger margins elsewhere on other items (or services) they hope you'll buy or make you buy (shipping & handling). Alex made that case in his comment...

I have a FFL. The last few distributor lists I saw had XD's running from $379-399

Alex

To add some additional insight: 399 is the common sale price at wholesale, which allows 26 bucks gross profit at wholesale before any other bill or shipping is paid. And you wouldn't want to see our shipping bills... Regular prices, at wholesale, are about eight and a half more dollars. I do this on commission...that's a whole quarter (as in 25 cents) before taxes...

Damn, I need to get back to work!

[Hairtrigger]

Just my 2 cents: you can't buy something for 500 bucks, sell it for 550, and have anything left over to justify the rent and the hassle of the paperwork. Start a small business from scratch, and you'll understand.

Doesn't volume mean something?? Yes you may break even on this deal but sooner or later your suppliers will take you seriously.

I have a local shop that does FFL transfers for me very reasonably, he knows I will buy my primers, bullets and powder from him as he moves a bunch of reloading supplies and can buy them at a very good price.

[kruger]

I used to work in a successful camera store, a store that averaged more than $ 50,000 in sales a day at it's high point. We couldn't beat everyone else out there on price and stay in business, but if it wasn't a single item for cash transaction we could get pretty close, often paying higher prices for gear traded in, than the competition. We also staffed the store with actual working photographers -- who could and would share their experience and expertise. At the end of the day, we felt that what we offered on top of the equipment was worth something, and for the most part, the people who walked through the door, or called on the phone to place an order, agreed.

As my boss put it once --- it's not personal. I know what I need to sell the item for in order to turn a profit, and keep the doors open. The buyer knows what he can afford or wants to pay. When those two things coincide, a transaction happens. When they do not, it's not personal, it's just not possible for the exchange to work to both parties satisfaction.

I do think that it's very bad form to "shop" at a local store, looking at the merchandise, having questions answered, using the resources of the shop, only to then buy the item via mail order. I see some value in keeping local shops open --- and as much as I can afford to, I patronize them......

When you worked at the camera store you provided a service... you shared your experience and expertise. Something that is actually worth something. I doubt that the average small gunshop owner has that same level of experience. I also doubt that any value adding firearms experience and expertise was shared with North (thread starter).

[Ted Murphy]

I ran a family retail establishment (not guns) for many years. It is a challenge to keep the doors open, even making 40+ percent on a product.

When the big box stores came, we kept afloat, till they built 2 home depots nearby. I got out of the retail and concentrated on our service business instead.

Funny part is. I was in the home depot the other day and one of my past customers was there, complaining about the high price and low service of the home depot, and the fact they don't have a part he needs that I once stocked. After the depot chased out the mom and pop hardware stores they jacked their prices and lowered their wages, making it a rather different shopping experience than it once was.

If I could modify a statement about retail stores, I also hate when retail stores really hit you hard with prices, but submit that you usually can find another mom and pop shop that will be more compeitively priced and help keep the industry going. I can save $1.25 a brick on .22's from the ammo guy at the gun show but I typically will buy my .22's from the gunshop for 1.) convenience and 2.) because I think it the right thing to do.

Ted

[Hank Ellis]

My favorite gun shop is ... Houma Auto Parts.

Houma Auto Parts started out as a mom and pop auto parts store. When the big box stores, AutoZone and the like, came to town he knew that he couldn't compete. Since his FFL was already in the HAP name and he liked guns in general he shifted his business focus. Great guy. Good prices. Supported the first Gator Classic. I go in every couple of weeks just to see whats new and chew the fat. And every so often he has a fan belt that I need.

[Gary1911A1]

I don't buy much locally including my guns as I can get most things cheaper in Columbus. I'm retired LE by definition so I can get a discount at Vances in Columbus. Same with other things I want to buy. I'm not from southern Ohio and will likely leave the area in the future so I really don't care to put up with the local attitude of them doing me a favor like I work for them or something.