Supporting The Local Gun Dealer

[perazzipro]

I always try to support my local gun shop over the big box stores and to some degree the internet vendors. In my case, I have a great one man shop that specializes in high performance tack drivers. He is a wealth of information. I buy MOST of my supplies and much of my equipment from him even though I know I am paying more than I would on the internet. However, recently I was in the market for a new scope, decided on the Weaver T36. Gave him the opportunity to order it for me but his price was about $130 more than the same scope from Dan Killough at Killough sports when you add in the state sales tax as well.

I feel bad about not ordering from him but at what point do you say, nope can't do it.

 

[TheSnake]

Can't hold that decision aginst you there, 130 is quite a bit of change. Did you tell him that was higher than you are willing to pay and see what he said? One of the local shops I purchase from has several resources he buys from and always checks them all to make sure he is getting the best price for me.

Another local shop close to me that sells reloading supplies is always less than the big Internet shops and I don't know how he does it. He doesn't have everything I need but he has quite a bit of stock and is getting in his first order of Berger bullets.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[perazzipro]

Yeah, I gave him a chance to do better, albeit without being a jerk about it. Still, that was probably a mistake. I should have kept my mouth shut. As soon as I mentioned that I could get the same scope for significantly cheaper, you could tell he took offense to it. Explaining how he hasn't taken a paycheck since he opened the shop two years ago, how it costs him $2,500 a month to keep the place open. I understand the challenges of running a small shop which is why I support him to begin with. But like everyone else, I have financial limits as well.

I wouldn't have said anything but he would have figured it out sooner or later as I normally have the dealer mount and lap the scopes. So he does benefit at some point.

 

[TheSnake]

Yes I know it is difficult to keep the doors open and pay the bills, but I always go back to something I learned a long time ago; I would rather make a small profit on an item and sale a bunch of them, then make nothing at all. If he would have made the sale, you most likely would have gotten a few other things while you were at it. Now you may even be compelled to have the scope mounted by someone else and he not get any business at all from it. It's easy to loose a customer, keeping them is the hard part and many companies have lost sight of that.

 

[tunered]

I cant think of one local shop that thinks about me, there is NOBODY looking out for us. ed

 

[Steve Blair]

No gun shop in the greater San Diego area has anything that I want to buy. The only stocking dealers carry a bunch of tactical stuff and there is no gunsmith in this area that does precision bolt gun work. [br]
That's pretty sad considering that this is the eighth largest U.S. city and there are a lot of shooters here. So, Powder Valley, Sinclair, etc. get a lot of my business. Not that I blame anyone for not wanting to own a business in California. I wouldn't. The upside is that I get good prices and work with some of the best gunsmiths in the country.

 

[robbor]

I only support 1 person, myself. I shop for the best price for me. I find pricing and service lacking for my local shops. I mainly buy all my gun stuff mail order anymore. Im with gator, i lived in los angeles, the shop mainly sell to cops and nuts. They leave us hunters out in the cold unit they want our help for laws agains their assault weapons. NRA is the same way, absolutely worthless.

 

[fdshuster]

I'll try to buy local first, but the majority of times what I need is simply not available. To add insult to injury, when I ask for a particular item, which they do not have, someone who has no firearms experience what-so-ever ( probably worked at McDonalds last week), will tell me I don't know what I'm talking about & should buy the similar item that they do have. With that response I just walk away & never return.

Try to buy VihtaVouri powder, Berger bullets, Lapua brass ( I've neen told "Remington is better") locally and it's not available, anywhere, so here comes an order: Powder Valley, Sinclair, Bruno, etc.

Place the telephone or on-line order & in a few days the brown truck is at my door. No hassle & B.S.!

 

[areaone]

Small retailers sometimes forget the value of a good customer. A relationship a vendor creates with a customer can be lost in one instance and almost impossible to regain. Why more vendors do not realize this is beyond me. The customer is your business, without them you are "out of business". The small business owner sometimes think that they are "doing you a favor" by selling a service or product to you. Lesson Number 1:
Never take the customer or client for granted. The client can always buy their product somewhere else, and many times cheaper...........appreciate the fact they are buying it from you.
In the case of the scope purchase and $130.00. Go with the cheapest price, no brainer. If a few bucks more, go with the local......keep him in business...competition is good for everyone. This is voice of experience(39 years).

 

[KEYBEAR]

I have thought about this a lot . I have a local shop that has been in business over 45 years . The owner and family are good friends of mine and I do buy from them IF I CAN .
The problem is they don,t carry the stuff i need and will take a week or two to get it at a little/much higher price .

I do buy two or three guns from them every year but very little higher dollar stuff . The shop is doing very well so i don,t feel to bad .

 

[dan06]

I try to buy local if possible. It is tough if you get very specialized in any shooting sport because the little guys cant keep a variety of inventory necessary. The little shops need to get away from the things the big box stores carry and get into the unique things that we gun nuts demand...Nothing sounds more stupid to me than a shop owner telling a customer he really doesn't want to buy Berger bullets because winchester Bulk bullets are just as good and a lot cheaper. If i didn't want berger bullets I wouldn't have asked for them. We all understand that if they stock everything that we want there is a cost for that. They need to understand that if they are not going to stock the things we want and want to order them for us that they cannot charge the same markup as they do when they stock it in inventory. We can order for oursleves.

 

[Sully2]

I go local first, then "local" within some amount of driving time...then internet. The old song and dance about not having a paycheck for 2 years...or no vacation for "X" amount of years....etc...etc. dont fly with ME even 1 iota. If the man wants job security...a paycheck every week...etc ( hospitalization; retirement check...you get the idea) he should close up shop and go to work somewhere that can give him those things. I looked around before I started at the "jet motor plant" where I worked for 37 years....got retired at age 55. Put up with long drives back and forth; horse **** bosses that 1.2 the time didnt know crap from shinola...but I stuck it out.

The guy made his choice...now he can live with it and Im not afraid of "local" gun stores closing....because if they do...someone will come along and open up another one.....thats just the way it is!

 

[NateHaler]

t he would have figured it out sooner or later as I normally have the dealer mount and lap the scopes. So he does benefit at some point.

Unless you are 100% confident that this dealer is 100% capable of properly mounting (and lapping?) the scope (and rings, I presume), then I think this is a mistake.

There's no task more important to proper long term performance of your optics than to make sure it is mounted properly. You'd be amazed at how little care many shops and so-called gunsmiths expend on this crucial task. I would never trust a gunshop to mount a scope. YMMV.