Opening a gun shop -- UPDATE: Two Years In!

[Ryanxia]

If you don't have 500 guns in stock AT A MINIMUM, you shouldn't call yourself a gun shop. Most of the GOOD gun shops I've been in had at least 2000 guns in stock, and people STILL complain that the selection isn't enough.

20-30 guns? You barely have a "collection", much less a gun shop. I'm not going to bother getting in the truck to pay you a visit.

We must be in different areas, our biggest stores have around 500 and their prices are 30-60% more than my LGS. If you wouldn't take the time to check out what guns are in stock today (remember the turn over makes that small inventory change every day) or to place an order on something specific that will cost you far less than I think you're in the minority.

Bottom line, I'm not going to spend more money on a gun because it's sitting in a fancier/bigger store. I'll go to that special little hole in the wall every day and get good prices. Just my opinion.

 

[silicosys4]

I have seen 3 of 4 of the local gunstores close because of poor customer service. For some reason, people open gunshops around here, and think just because they sell guns, people will knock down the doors. They last for about 2 years, and make a series of 1 time sales and never get repeat customers, then they close because their reputation is gone. The last guy to open a gunshop did things like quote a price for an FFL transfer, $30, then when doing the transfer would charge over $100....by tacking on things like "background check fee's" even when purchasing with a concealed pistol permit...the guy was an ex sheriff, who would charge $75 for a "background check", even over the transfer fee, call his local sheriff buddies, and have them run the name for free...the first year he did great business, was gloating all the time about how many pistols a day he sold....8 months later he wasn't seeing a single customer in a day... a year later he was belly up. The #1 mistake is thinking that selling guns is somehow different than any other business, and that if you overcharge customers and act rude and talk over their head, they will keep sucking it up because you sell guns, and guns are kewl. The 1 shop that has been around forever has the most reasonable prices, loves FFL transfers (no inventory to maintain, "free" money for filling out 10 mins. of paperwork), treats each and every customer like gold, and is very friendly. They have done things for me like insisting I pay $30 for $75 worth of transfer fee's because "I'm a great customer"....they know that for every gun I transfer, I'm going to buy a holster, mags, and ammo...from them because they are #1 in my books, and I won't spend money anywhere else. They have wholesale ammo buys, where they put the ammo out at cost, to get people in the door...and it works. Earning customer loyalty doesn't mean treating that one guy who bought a kimber like gold, hoping he buys another one next week...its treating every customer like they buy kimbers every week.

 

[larryh1108]

Earning customer loyalty doesn't mean treating that one guy who bought a kimber like gold, hoping he buys another one next week...its treating every customer like they buy kimbers every week.

You want a recipe for success? Here it is. Simple. Treat every customer like your business depends on them because it does.

 

[gym]

That's basically what I said a page or 2 ago, you need to not try and save money on the help. They should be your number 1 concern. Hire the best, and pay them well , they will make or break you. Some guys don't get that, if I lose a customer because of a stupid salesperson making a mistake, it didn't just cost you that 1 customer, it cost you every person that the guy speaks to about your shop. He tells 15 or 20 people how he got a suck ass deal in your store ,and like the last guy said, a year later it's closing time.
You want your sales guys to look sharp and know their stuff. that is the main thing in any business.
No one wants some smelly, dirty, foul mouthed guy, telling them about how he feels about everything from politics to baseball. They came in for a gun or gun related product, stay on track, and you sill succed where others may fail.
Choose your help wiselly, not your friends or your brother in law, interview people 2-3 months before you open, you need time to find good people, and if you find a real winner, hire him and pay him just to sit there and help you, until you open, you may not find another one for a year. There are a lot of people out of work, but I know some people who lost a job and got another in less than a week, for more than they made before, My next door neighboor is one. He got let go, now the guy who let him go just had to give him his office, as the company lost 6 million since he left. Find good help. It's often the last thing that people think about and the most important if you want repeat business. Give incentives, and always talk about opening another store, and let them know that someone from inside will run that store.

 

[Reloadron]

No one wants some smelly, dirty, foul mouthed guy, telling them about how he feels about everything from politics to baseball. They came in for a gun or gun related product, stay on track, and you sill succed where others may fail.

I left my thoughts several pages ago. Very good point. We had a table area with a coffee pot always going. Piles of gun magazines back there. Not every person who visited bought a new gun on every visit. However, they were all customers. The discussions were limited to guns. In a decade I only tossed one ass out the door for politics and religion <deleted>. It was an area where people could come and talk guns, plain and simple. It afforded atmosphere and the atmosphere I wanted was that of a gun shop way back when. It worked for us. My shop was never going to resemble a department store. Loitering by the right people talking the right subjects was encouraged.

On one more note. You take on a gun shop business (or any business like it) do not plan many vacations for several years.

You set up your business for your clientele in your area.

Just My Take
Ron

 

[cyclopsshooter]

LOVE IT so true...

Actually it's more like this:
Hello, RealGunz Gun Shop.
Yes, I'm looking for a Kel Tec Sub 2000 9mm.
Yes sir I have one in stock.
I want the one with the Glock mags.
Yes sir, that's what I have.
How much is it?
The gun is $299.
299??! I see them on the internet all the time for 269. Would you come down on the price?
Sir these are hard to get and I couldnt replace this one. I could do 289 and a discount on some ammo.
OK. Look I get my tax refund in 2 months and I'll come see you then.

And people wonder why clerks get a bad attitude.

Im getting dizzy, gun stores suck... customers suck... especially you spoiled millennial generation fools... You want everything right now, your way, just like the "video game" you "mastered" last-night.... I'll take a cranky, cheap, old curmudgeon any day of the week, at least they understand business better...

Now please close this thread... It's kinda like Jerry Springer in here...

 

[drsfmd]

You want a recipe for success? Here it is. Simple. Treat every customer like your business depends on them because it does.

I don't disagree at all... but that doesn't mean a shop needs to accept transfer's from Bud's (or whomever).

 

[FMF Doc]

Marketing...Marketing...Marketing. You can have the lowest prices on the largest inventory, but if people don't know about you, you won't sell anything. When you get up and running, try to get involved with LEO programs from conpanies like Glock, Sig, S&W. You won't make much money on them, but they get people (military, LEO, Firefighters...etc) in the door buying something, and may get them to reccomend your shop to friends. Don't cater JUST to the LEO community, give them a deal, but don't screw everyone else. Carry what people are buying. These days, where I live, that is Glocks, S&W, XD, Rugers (revolvers), 500-$1000 rifles, and common shotguns, Mossberg, Winchester. Unless you live in a place that has a population with a lot of expendable cash and a shooting passion, you won't sell alot of $1800 Kimber Warrior 1911s Knighthawk Customs, or H&Ks, but you'll sell pleanty of Springfield loaded and basic Rock Island Armory for 400-$550.

 

[drsfmd]

We must be in different areas, our biggest stores have around 500 and their prices are 30-60% more than my LGS.

My experience has been the opposite... around here the small stores have absurd prices and dust on their guns. I don't know how they stay in business.

If you wouldn't take the time to check out what guns are in stock today (remember the turn over makes that small inventory change every day) or to place an order on something specific that will cost you far less than I think you're in the minority.

Again, it's been my experience that those small local shops usually carry the low end to outright garbage. The used guns tend to be beat to death. I can't be bothered to drive somewhere to see a rack of beatup junk. To put it another way, I've never run into a Krieghoff K-80 in a small shop that didn't specialize in such things.

There are some smaller shops out there that carry high end stuff, and the internet has been great for them, because there simply aren't enough people out there to sell $20,000 shotguns in most communities.

 

[fallout mike]

I've never run into a $20,000 shotgun in a large gun shop that didn't specialize in such things. Your point is?

 

[Brockak47]

I have seen 3 of 4 of the local gunstores close because of poor customer service. For some reason, people open gunshops around here, and think just because they sell guns, people will knock down the doors. They last for about 2 years, and make a series of 1 time sales and never get repeat customers, then they close because their reputation is gone. The last guy to open a gunshop did things like quote a price for an FFL transfer, $30, then when doing the transfer would charge over $100....by tacking on things like "background check fee's" even when purchasing with a concealed pistol permit...the guy was an ex sheriff, who would charge $75 for a "background check", even over the transfer fee, call his local sheriff buddies, and have them run the name for free...the first year he did great business, was gloating all the time about how many pistols a day he sold....8 months later he wasn't seeing a single customer in a day... a year later he was belly up. The #1 mistake is thinking that selling guns is somehow different than any other business, and that if you overcharge customers and act rude and talk over their head, they will keep sucking it up because you sell guns, and guns are kewl. The 1 shop that has been around forever has the most reasonable prices, loves FFL transfers (no inventory to maintain, "free" money for filling out 10 mins. of paperwork), treats each and every customer like gold, and is very friendly. They have done things for me like insisting I pay $30 for $75 worth of transfer fee's because "I'm a great customer"....they know that for every gun I transfer, I'm going to buy a holster, mags, and ammo...from them because they are #1 in my books, and I won't spend money anywhere else. They have wholesale ammo buys, where they put the ammo out at cost, to get people in the door...and it works. Earning customer loyalty doesn't mean treating that one guy who bought a kimber like gold, hoping he buys another one next week...its treating every customer like they buy kimbers every week.

Wow, that about sums it up right there. I don't go my LGS because one guy that works there is a complete ass

 

[drsfmd]

I've never run into a $20,000 shotgun in a large gun shop that didn't specialize in such things. Your point is?

Maybe $20,000 was a bit high, but every decent shop I've ever been in had shotguns that were decidedly more high end than your run of the mill Brownings and Berettas (Krieghoff, Kolar, Perazzi, Ljutic, and the like) and at least a couple of decently higher end vintage shotgun choices (Parker, LC Smith, AH Fox and the like).

 

[gym]

Krieghoff is here in Vero, they don't do firarms transfers, I called a couple years ago, and they didn't even understand what I was asking. I figured they were close to me so I would give it a shot. No way.

 

[fatcat4620]

Parts! I probably spend as much as I do on the gun as I do on ge-wiz gizzmos.

 

[leadcounsel]

The business model that turns away customers wanting to pay even $20 for minimal work that a low paid employ can do in 10 minutes is doomed for failure.

It isn't just about a $20 transaction. It's about building relationships. Facetime with pro-gun folks.

Last time I got a gun transfered in, I also put $100 nite sites on it and bought a few mags and other unrelated accessories while I was standing around waiting for the background check. That turned into a tidy little profit for the store that day.

Treat a customer fairly, he'll be back.

Say you sell him a gun for $550 and he learns that it's a $450 gun. Sure you made $100. But he won't be back. I promise that.

If a customer thinks you stole his money, he won't be back.

$0 = a failed business model.

 

[Bubba613]

Funny. I offered my attorney $20 to file eviction on a tenant, something a low paid clerk could do. And he turned me down. And then threatened to sue me.

 

[k-frame]

It's been said somewhere on here I'm sure. But once again...

Gun = razor
Gun stuff (especially ammo)= razor blades.

But I want to buy my blades so that it's easy, pleasant and reasonably priced. So figure out ways to get me back in the store.

• A range with incentives for members.
• Ladies night (well, not me but Mrs. k-frame).
• Free instruction one night or one Saturday a month or quarter.
• Factory rep night -factory reps bring in the latest toys for folks to sample and smear with drool marks.
• Special sales for patrons on your email list
• Raffles with decent prizes
• Carry some unusual ammo in small amounts (A friend of mine couldn't find .41 caliber locally. Ended up buying some at a gun show.)

 

[fallout mike]

Nobody here offers their ffl anything. This is the going price for many many places. But don't let The facts get in the way. Just continue to enlighten us mere pheasants with your brilliant insight that is just way over our heads.

 

[drsfmd]

It isn't just about a $20 transaction. It's about building relationships. Facetime with pro-gun folks.

$20 transfers beget more $20 transfers, not relationships.

 

[Kynoch]

$20 transfers beget more $20 transfers, not relationships.

Amen. It also begets a reputation of being a drop ship point for Bud's and not a LGS.

You know if someone has hunted down a used XYZ on GunBroker or GunsAmerica and wanted to receive it locally, I would really work with that person. I might even charge them only $20.00 if it was a used Glenfield Model 60 like they had when they were a kid.

But for someone to waggle a printout from Bud's and expect a $20.00 transfer on a new gun? No freaking way. Bud's has more than one retail outlet. I wonder if they will receive new guns and how much do they charge?

The more I think about this the most I simply would not receive new guns unless it was something I could not get for my customer on my own.

 

[Kynoch]

Something else I would suggest is to keep a file on the guns your regulars are looking for. It a used model comes in for sale or consignment it can be a quick (and appreciated) sale if you have the right person to call.

 

[Bubba613]

A shop that doesn't do that is run by idiots. That's a big part of that relationship thing.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

OK, being a newbie on this site, I've noticed an apparent animosity towards Bud's Guns. At least by some in this string.

What's with Bud's Guns that would have some of you not do a transfer for a customer? Is it Bud's Guns, or the attitude of the customer?

 

[Bubbles]

Bud's was one of the first to use the drop-ship business model for firearms. Since they move a lot of guns they can often sell the gun via their web site, drop-shipped from the distributor to the transfer dealer, for a lower price than the transfer dealer could buy it from the same distributor.

Also, while most transfers are easy, occasionally firearms arrive broken in transit, they were not as described, the wrong gun was shipped, the seller gets denied by NICS, etc. Then the transfer becomes a lot more than "merely 10 minutes of paperwork" (which it's not even when everything goes smoothly).

 

[fallout mike]

And you get the really smart people that say if you buy from buds to save a few bucks then you always buy from buds and never from the lgs doing the transfer. This is just ignorant thinking. In the last year and a half I've bought roughly 50 guns. 2 required a ffl transfer.