Quote History Quoted:
Their was a local fellow I knew who already had a store front, he sold motorcycle/off road parts. He opened a small gunshop off of the same store.
He said the biggest thing that shut him down was the insurance. If I recall correctly he was open approximately from 2008-2013. He said the only reason he didn't close sooner was because of Sandy Hook.
Judging by that, I would guess that it is very hard to keep a shop up and running, unless you have a LOT of upfront money to put into it.
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Quote History Quoted:
Their was a local fellow I knew who already had a store front, he sold motorcycle/off road parts. He opened a small gunshop off of the same store.
He said the biggest thing that shut him down was the insurance. If I recall correctly he was open approximately from 2008-2013. He said the only reason he didn't close sooner was because of Sandy Hook.
Judging by that, I would guess that it is very hard to keep a shop up and running, unless you have a LOT of upfront money to put into it.
There was a local guy here who did the same sort of thing
Snowmobiles, 4 wheelers, and a small gun shop off in one corner of the building
They eventually got broken into and a bunch of guns stolen.
That prompted them to close the gun shop up
There was a real shortage of even tabletop guys around here in the late 80s early 90s after the only full time gun store closed up and some of the other general merchandise retailers like KMart, Woolworths etc closed up or scaled back their gun sales
Quoted:
1. Profit margins on new guns are low. The money is made in selling accessories or used guns
2. From April to September the gun market is flat. Unless their is panic buying.
My slow time is January
The holidays are over, people blew their wad on gifts so no money for guns or ammo
It's winter, so most of them aren't out shooting
Used guns, meh
I never got into the consignment stuff at all, but this year I've been handling some stuff for guys who are fleeing NY
People wanting to sell guns want top dollar for their used guns, and the guys looking to buy want to pay bottom dollar
I sort of feel sorry for the full time pawn guys trying to make a buck off guns
Quoted:
What sort of mark-up do you imagine gun shops make on ammo? How often do you think they turn their inventory? I look at the walls of ammo at a well-stocked gun store and just shake my head. I can't imagine what kind of investment it takes to keep a good selection in stock. Just stocking the common stuff would be bad enough but my local shop has all kinds of weird odd-ball ammo. It's got to take a staggering amount of money to do that.
Not that I'm the norm, but in my years as an FFL, the only good year I had for the ammo on the shelf was the panic a couple of years ago
Guys were coming in and cleaning the shelf off of a particular caliber because the brick and mortar places were stripped bare by then
Then I eventually couldn't get what I needed to re-stock for the longest time. Did my best to, though
Even with the SAFE act cutting off mail order ammo, I suspect many shooters are having ammo mailed elsewhere out of state and picked up or are buying in bulk out of state and bringing it back
Or they've simply moved. I don't see a lot of the old regulars anymore. Some I know have moved. Some have moved on to other hobbies because Cuomo is doing his best to kill the gun culture in this state....
Quoted:
BTW, a fella who decided to open a gun shop right now would have a tough time finding desirable firearms to sell. He could get all the Beretta 92 and Browning Hi-Power pistols he wanted but he'd have to search long and hard to find a Glock 19 (much less model 43) or a 9mm S&W Shield to buy. Ruger LCP and Kel-tec P3AT? Forget about it. Everything is sold out.
And what they DO have, their listed quantities are in the single digits
I love the guys who call up for a price check, tell me they want to "think about it" and are mad a month later when the item they price checked weeks ago is out of stock.
With inventories being what they are now, there should be no involved thinking about it
If I can find you what you need and its only showing a handful of units in stock, jump on it because odds are it wont be there tomorrow, let alone a week or a month from now.