Opening a reloading supply store

[Altusp27]

I want to open a reloading / gun Store. I live in a relatively small community in Oklahoma. Our closest gun supply store is 45 miles away. And they are closed saturdays and by 5:30 during the week. Anyone who wants reloading supplies or ammunition must travel to this store or farther. We have a local walmart. But they don't have much of a selection. I KNOW this may be one of the worst times to get into this. But it may be one of the best times to do it also.
I want to cater to the CCW people and the reloaders. Hazmat cost for shipping is a killer. Or just pick a Saturday and travel more than an hour and go buy what you need. I don't see why this won't work.
Any suggestions or thoughts?

 

[Oklacoyotekiller]

Sounds good to me! I go through altus occasionally. I'll stop by.

 

[rondog]

Good idea, good luck to ya! Supplies are pretty tough to come by these days, even for the big distributors like Powder Valley. It'll be hard to compete with them to get products, something to think long and hard about, and do plenty of research.

I admire the thought to try and make a go on your own, but you can't sell what you can't get, and you'll have to sell a lot to keep the doors open. Tread carefully my friend, don't stick your neck out very far. Maybe see about doing it from home, or leasing a small space in another business, before renting your own place.

How's the shooting community there? Got any good, well-used ranges there with lots of people and lots of demand? Any gun dealers there? Room for another? You may have to get an FFL to buy and sell guns, and do transfers too.

 

[whetrock]

What small town are you in in OK ? I too live in rural OK and feel your pain as a handloader, just about everything I own was purchased off of Midway and the like. I own a small business (I'm in the cutlery business) though, and can tell you from experience, that any store that carries a decent selection of hard to find goods can flourish in these sorts of areas. People will drive for some time to purchase some hard to find items. Keep your prices as reasonable as possible, and you'll be in competiton with the internet retailers. Lots of rural americans, even in this day and age still aren't even internet literate.

 

[mdemetz]

Hazmat cost for shipping is a killer. Or just pick a Saturday and travel more than an hour and go buy what you need. I don't see why this won't work.
Any suggestions or thoughts?

If you get powder/primers by UPS/FEDEX you will pay Hazmat too, which you will have to pass on. Some stores around here use a freight service to get around it. They also save by ordering at least a skid full of stuff.

 

[baz]

I don't see why this won't work.
Any suggestions or thoughts?

Strange topic for a first post. More power to you, but you better have lots of $$$. Before you even think about getting contacts/contracts with suppliers, you'll need a good lawyer and insurance agent to advise you on all the liability you'll expose yourself too. This doesn't seem to me the thing one gets into on a whim.

 

[12many]

I don't think you will get enough volume locally and it will be hard to buy in volume to compete with the big boys online.

 

[Paying It Forward]

Research

Suggest talking with your intended suppliers before signing leases. Some suppliers may have allotment schedules in place to their current vendors based on their past sales volume. You, with no past history / volume could be at the bottom of the list and wait forever to get a small supply of product, while the larger sales outlets receive the little that is available. Best of luck.

 

[308win]

A friend and I applied for and were granted a license from the ATF years ago. We never actually purchased for nor sold under the license registered with the ATF. The process then (mid 70's) was burdensome so I can only imagine what it would be like now. I don't know what kind of population is in your target market but it needs to be substantial if this is to be anything more than an avocation. Savy on-line buyers can share hazmat fees plus many of the on-line suppliers will have a built in pricing advantage because of the sales taxes. As I recall, the ATF agent who vetted our application didn't like the concept of selling out of a residence; in addition to the BATF, your insurance company probably won't either. My wife and I owned a specialty retail business for 15 years and made good money most of that time but it is an expensive and consuming proposition without the added complexities of dealing with the BATF.

 

[Reloadron]

I can share with you my personal experience. During the late 80s and the 90s my wife and I owned a brick and mortar gun shyop in a Cleveland, Ohio suburb. We also had "real" jobs. The business did quite well and eventually we sold it.

You don't easily compete with the Mega-Marts in new guns and this was pre Internet. I had a few niches and one big niche was loading supplies. However, there are things you need to watch that will choke you. The first have been mentioned. Powder and primers with the HAZMAT charges.

I wanted s few things nobody else in the entire area sold. I was doing quite a bit of shooting at a range called Keblys, a bench rest range and home to the Super Shoot. George Kebly was real good to me. He was getting VihtaVuori Powders direct by the truckload from Kaltron Pettibone and selling to me a few bucks over cost because I would set things up and buy a few thousand bucks in powder at a time. I would do a day of shooting and load my truck with powder. No shipping and no HAZMAT fees. I was able to sell the powder at a very good price, be competitive and still make a decent profit. George also set me up with Berger Bullets.

I was also doing a good business with then ABN (Ashland Buckeye) about an hour south of me. I bought all my other powders and primers from them again in large quantity and again I would drive down and pick up. Additionally my brass and bullets. For cast bullets I had the old now gone National Bullet right here in Cleveland.

Even after my fuel cost (which were nothing much) I eliminated all the HAZMAT and shipping cost.

Today the Internet and online buying changes many of the things that will make you a success. You need to get some paper and a real sharp pencil. You also need to figure on times like these.

Ron

 

[thump_rrr]

My question for you is at what stage of your life are you at?
What are your qualifications?
Do you have current employment etc.

Even If you were able to stock up tomorrow would you be able to make enough money to turn a profit by the end of the first year in business?

Will you require the same license as a gun store to sell reloading components?

I think that unless you have an Internet presence and can turn over a large volume it will be difficult to make the numbers to turn a profit quickly.

The one person I know that is doing this is retired and is supplementing his income.
He is also doing it without a storefront so he is not tied down and has less overhead.

I'm not trying to discourage you but without firearm sales I think it will be tough to turn a profit.

Best of luck to you.

 

[G'dale Mike]

I have a friend

That raises bulldogs in Altus!

 

[leadaddict]

We have a small store near here that offers powder and bullets and prices to match online stores. He's been open for 20+ years. He keeps overhead very low. It's basically in his detached garage. He's an ffl as well, but I think he sells mostly reloading equipments. At least that's been my impression. Start small and grow as you can.

 

[Mobuck]

If you can find inventory right now, you're better connected than most.
My experience was that after I gave up my FFL, most distributors no longer wanted to sell to me at dealer pricing. I tried to continue to run a business selling optics, accessories, and reloading supplies but it just didn't work in my area.
Now that supplies are impossible to get, I'm getting lots of calls but too late. I'm not going through the effort to run down supplies for little profit and end up with inventory that's over priced when the market drops.
Good Luck