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I'm with you Swingset.  My three closest choices are the following:

1 - One grouchy old guy who has somewhat high prices on guns, though a decent selection and retarded prices on a shitty selection of shitty ammo.  It is frequented by an aging, smelly bunch of fudd farts who mill around grunting at each other about which local doctor sucks the worst and whether Burger King or McDonald's is the "healthier" choice for their lunch.  I doubt that a single one of them has purchased anything more than a choke for a shotgun they never shoot, in several decades.  If you can manage to get his attention diverted from his be-plaided, hairy, exposed ass-cracked, malodorous fuddie buddies long enough to get him to waddle over to the counter with the gun you want to look at, he sneers and grunts at you while you check it out.  And this is the best LGS in my immediate area...  
 

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<<<SNIPPED>>>
Fuck, I wish you could just Amazon Prime all your guns and ammo.
<<<SNIPPED>>>

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I can't wonder how many potential new gun owners have been turned off entirely by visiting a gun store for the first time and having to interract with some mutant behind the counter.



I don't think I"ve ever been to a gun store and enjoyed the experience. Most make me feel like a need to shower as soon as I get home.



Internet + a good FFL are the way to go.

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I don't buy guns in person stores, ever.

I don't know of any other business where the sort of nonsense described in the OP is not only tolerated, but seems to be the industry norm.

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That's why I buy at smaller gun stores with good customer service and not Gander Mountain.

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You would positively hate one of my local gun stores. They provide rocking chairs, jars of boiled peanuts in the shell and loads of gun magazines spread out on old whiskey barrels for their customers. Think: Cracker Barrel meets gun store meets old timey doctor's office.



Despite their slow-ish service, the guy who owns it is alright in my book. He shipped off a gun for me for repair (that I didn't buy off of him) when the local UPS branch wouldn't. Provided the box, wrapped it up and everything. Only charged me what UPS charged him.



Sometimes slow, but personal service can be good.

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I walked into a local one and was told the FFL transfers were $75, and an extra $15 (maybe it was $25?) if you didn't buy the gun from them.

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I haven't bought a gun for a long time, and I can't say that has been something I missed. I sure like having a new one, even looking at them all, comparing, holding them...but the gun store experience is something I've always found frustrating.

Today perfect case in point, I went with the money to buy and the exact model I wanted to buy. Saw online they had it going on sale for a decent price. No need to finger-fuck anything, no talking it over, just hand me the 4473 and we're on our way.


So, being savvy to how the gun stores have changed in the last 7-8 years, I go on a Tuesday afternoon to avoid the weekend derp.


I walk in, there's 2 guys working the big counter, there's a number machine, 3 people at the counter (two being helped, a third milling about). Not sure if they're working on the number machine or not, I grab a number just to be safe and stand there.


After 20 minutes of listening to the 2 guys being helped, neither of which had ANY intention of buying anything...one is telling his Elk hunting story and the other can't decide which cheap Burris scope to put on his bolt gun, the other guy standing there walks away...leaving me "next". For all I know the tire kickers had been there for 3 hours.


20 more minutes go by, and I'm getting pissed. This is 100% on the dickwads behind the counter, if your customer just wants to stand there and do face time because his wife is a sour cow he needs to escape from 2 hours every day, it's your job to say "Can you hold on a minute, this guy has been standing here a while and I need to help him". Nope, both counter dicks just stand there and chit chat. First rule of a good salesman: Always be closing. Closing is not listening to a fat fuck who couldn't walk up a broken escalator talk about an Elk hunt he didn't do.


By now, a couple other people have walked up to around the counter, 3 of us plus the chatty two bar flys. Finally, Elk hunter gets up off his stool (another pet peeve, don't put a fucking chair by the counter...this encourages social time, it's a fucking gun store not a bar), and before counter guy can do anything one of the dudes just buts right in and starts hitting him up to look at a gun. Again, failure on the counter twat's part - pay attention to the order, or work off your numbers. And, fail on the part of the rude cock face customer. Have some fucking manners, gun owners shouldn't be on par with the Walmart Black Friday house fraus.


Not wanting to be a confrontational dick, I let that slide...but I'm getting pissed. The other guy finally decides he'll go home and do some research on shitty scopes, so he leaves. The dude helping him turns to the person closest to him (not me) and asks if he needs any help. At this point, fuck it, I'm hot.


I spoke up and said "Hold on a sec here, I was next". The counter guy goes "We get really busy in here sometimes, it's hard to keep track" and the guy he asks looks at me like I'm the bad guy (he also saw me standing there when he walked up and gladly accepted the help knowing he was butting in line).


I'm just livid at this point, and turned off of the idea of giving either of these guys a $1 on their commission, so I said "You know what, fuck it, you go back to bartending and listening to stories, and I'll go buy a gun somewhere else. BTW, I took a number." and out I walked.


Got home and ordered the fucking gun from Buds.


I know, CSB and all that, but seriously I have had a lifetime of the putzes that mill around gun stores with slobber glaze on their chin and the barely employable turds that work the counter. If I never step foot in one again, it'll be a good life. Fuck, I wish you could just Amazon Prime all your guns and ammo.


If you work at a gun store and any of this hits close to home, clean up your fucking act. It's a business, don't let lonely porkers sit there and drive off your business. If they're not serious, MOVE THEM THE FUCK ALONG.


Tomorrow's rant, Uncle Mike's products should not constitute the bulk of your accessory isle.


/Soapbox.

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SNIP

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I haven't bought a gun for a long time, and I can't say that has been something I missed. I sure like having a new one, even looking at them all, comparing, holding them...but the gun store experience is something I've always found frustrating.

Today perfect case in point, I went with the money to buy and the exact model I wanted to buy. Saw online they had it going on sale for a decent price. No need to finger-fuck anything, no talking it over, just hand me the 4473 and we're on our way.


So, being savvy to how the gun stores have changed in the last 7-8 years, I go on a Tuesday afternoon to avoid the weekend derp.


I walk in, there's 2 guys working the big counter, there's a number machine, 3 people at the counter (two being helped, a third milling about). Not sure if they're working on the number machine or not, I grab a number just to be safe and stand there.


After 20 minutes of listening to the 2 guys being helped, neither of which had ANY intention of buying anything...one is telling his Elk hunting story and the other can't decide which cheap Burris scope to put on his bolt gun, the other guy standing there walks away...leaving me "next". For all I know the tire kickers had been there for 3 hours.


20 more minutes go by, and I'm getting pissed. This is 100% on the dickwads behind the counter, if your customer just wants to stand there and do face time because his wife is a sour cow he needs to escape from 2 hours every day, it's your job to say "Can you hold on a minute, this guy has been standing here a while and I need to help him". Nope, both counter dicks just stand there and chit chat. First rule of a good salesman: Always be closing. Closing is not listening to a fat fuck who couldn't walk up a broken escalator talk about an Elk hunt he didn't do.


By now, a couple other people have walked up to around the counter, 3 of us plus the chatty two bar flys. Finally, Elk hunter gets up off his stool (another pet peeve, don't put a fucking chair by the counter...this encourages social time, it's a fucking gun store not a bar), and before counter guy can do anything one of the dudes just buts right in and starts hitting him up to look at a gun. Again, failure on the counter twat's part - pay attention to the order, or work off your numbers. And, fail on the part of the rude cock face customer. Have some fucking manners, gun owners shouldn't be on par with the Walmart Black Friday house fraus.


Not wanting to be a confrontational dick, I let that slide...but I'm getting pissed. The other guy finally decides he'll go home and do some research on shitty scopes, so he leaves. The dude helping him turns to the person closest to him (not me) and asks if he needs any help. At this point, fuck it, I'm hot.


I spoke up and said "Hold on a sec here, I was next". The counter guy goes "We get really busy in here sometimes, it's hard to keep track" and the guy he asks looks at me like I'm the bad guy (he also saw me standing there when he walked up and gladly accepted the help knowing he was butting in line).


I'm just livid at this point, and turned off of the idea of giving either of these guys a $1 on their commission, so I said "You know what, fuck it, you go back to bartending and listening to stories, and I'll go buy a gun somewhere else. BTW, I took a number." and out I walked.


Got home and ordered the fucking gun from Buds.


I know, CSB and all that, but seriously I have had a lifetime of the putzes that mill around gun stores with slobber glaze on their chin and the barely employable turds that work the counter. If I never step foot in one again, it'll be a good life. Fuck, I wish you could just Amazon Prime all your guns and ammo.


If you work at a gun store and any of this hits close to home, clean up your fucking act. It's a business, don't let lonely porkers sit there and drive off your business. If they're not serious, MOVE THEM THE FUCK ALONG.


Tomorrow's rant, Uncle Mike's products should not constitute the bulk of your accessory isle.


/Soapbox.

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Uncle Mike's products should not constitute the bulk of your any accessory isle.

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Must be an engineer.  A sales guy would have butted in and said something like, " I'm here to buy a gun today. "  Money beats chit chat all day every day.  Being a Beta Male must really suck.

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Why did you go to gander mountain?

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Maybe I've been lucky (and the more I hear, the more I tend to think so), but that has generally not been my experience at local gun shops.

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Sometimes there is just no way to politely break off the conversation with a customer.



sometimes.

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I can't wonder how many potential new gun owners have been turned off entirely by visiting a gun store for the first time and having to interract with some mutant behind the counter.

I don't think I"ve ever been to a gun store and enjoyed the experience. Most make me feel like a need to shower as soon as I get home.

Internet + a good FFL are the way to go.

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well put,  fucking retards infest gun counters ..
not all , but the intelligent are in the minority

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I suspect a poll of gun store owners and employees regarding their previous retail and sales experience would answer a lot of our "why do gun stores suck" questions.

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I don't like gun stores either.

Rather do my shopping online.

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Manager

Get him now.

You need to be louder theses days.