I'm hearing that they're not doing really good right now. I was in there about a month ago and there was only 15 pistols in the entire store, no help at all from the employees and the store was extremely empty of inventory. Any word on this, from what I've seen/heard they probably won't be around for very much longer.

UPDATE

A friend of mine went by there today and saw that the doors were locked and there was a notice on the door. I'll swing by tomorrow and get a pic.

I don't know about that but I have been in many times and had mixed service.
Everything from bend over backward great to surly.  

Honestly I can get everything I need other places and cheaper.
To date i have purchased One pair of 5.11 pants and two pair of boots in as many years. I can't afford to buy guns from them and most of the time they don't have pants in my size.

Think their locaction with all the I-45 work hurt them the past couple of years.  Couple with their high prices and how they treat civilians vs. cops did not help.  First question they always seem to ask, "are you in law enforcement", made me feel somewhat unworthy to shop there.  They had a lot of stuff and a few of the guys in there were fairly nice.  Too bad.  

I bought a few hard to get things there.  some of their stuff is high priced.  Edit: bought clothing, no firearms)

There transfer fee is kind of high - 35 dollars.  No one was rude to me, maybe one guy being straight forward.  (If you do not know me, I am the first one to express if someone was rude to me, heh  should now that of me about due to someone posting here that has worked in a place that an employee was really rude to me).

I think they ask so they will have it in their data base.  I do not think they do it to drive people away.  They always ask me that too when I checked out.  They have a "open to the public" in their window.

correct-answer

I think some of the replys here are crap.

First off I have been in there several times over the last few months.    The staff as always been polite and very helpful.    I have never been asked if I'm a cop.

The store also has lots of stock and is by not means cleared out.

One of the items I bought there was a wilderness belt.  It was either the same price or a buck of two cheaper then the other places I would have had to order it from, but they had it in stock.

One time I went in there, they had siaga 12s and 10 or 12 round surefire mags, they were only a few bucks more then internet prices.  Well cheaper or same if you include shipping/transfer fee.
I do not see them losing money, they (I assume) have contracts with police departments... maybe some other company is trying to get the contracts?

The last time that I was in there they didn't have any new Sigs, Kimbers etc..

Infact the only new pistols that they had were a few M&Ps, the place is looking bad and I'd be surprised if it lasts through the end of the year.

I worked there for a year and a half.

They won't be around for much longer...

The few times I have been in there, they lacked in the Customer service and it really doesn't matter if you are LEO or civilian. Also, I think they are pricing themselves out of the market. I go go acroos the street to Academy and get better prices.

I worked there for 6 months back in 2005.


...and I met the new store manager yesterday, blonde with bad teeth and a lazy eye, seriously looked she was picked from random women at the worst trailer park in Texas.

I know the owner and his wife.  Nice people.

If someone has an issue they should let thebowners know.  They will correct it.

Last time I went in there was a few months ago.  I had picked out a couple pairs of 5.11 shorts and a Wilderness belt.  I stood at the cash register for at least 15 minutes and no one acted like I was even there.  I finally just left the stuff on the counter and walked out.

So your basing your opinion of her performance on her looks?

I'm not basing her performance on her looks at all, but from what I saw the store is going downhill fast and the "new store manager" looked like she should be running a midnight shift at the local stop and rob, not a police supply store.

I'll run by in the next few days and get some pics, I haven't been in a month but when I was there the pistol cases were almost empty.

SO other then bashing a former employer, what is your point?

If you don't like the place then just move on, get over it and go cry some place else?

Oh they haven't seen any of my money in years, but the point of this thread was to see if anyone had any info on what was going on, not to bash the company.

I have been going to Prodefense a few times a year for almost ten years.  Except for one salesman about five years ago I have always been treated great. (that is a great record for the gun industry)  The people there have gone out of their way to help me on many occasions.  Like any store some prices are good and some are not.  

The last time I was there, the lady was very helpful in finding what I was looking for.  One of the items was a little more than the internet price and one of the items was a little less.

I try to go to all the local gun stores.  The more gun stores in the area the better.

I spotted this place on my way home from work one day....

A quick Google search told me everything I needed to know

so who are you? sounds like a fan or the owner himself



 

Then I guess add me to your crap file.  I went in there twice.
I never even got asked if I was an LEO.  I was ready to buy several things that they had, but I never had anybody offer to get a damn thing out of a case.  Several people standing behind the counter, tried to get their attention, but they were too busy dicking around.
If they're going out of business, oh well.  I guess people get tired of being ignored or treated like crap.

good riddance. I have custom ordered 2 things from them in the past and they fucked both of them up. Then they said it wasn't their fault/problem.

The owner or at least he claimed to be, tried to talk me into a 14.5 barrel with a pinned and welded flash suppressor instead of getting a 16 inch barrel on the AR I ordered from them. Many of the employees seemed like young kids with no knowledge of what they were selling, I remember one kid was trying to sell me a civilian P90 and said that the military was going to adopt it soon (this was in 2006) because it was so "bad ass".
I eventually stopped going and just started buying off of the internet and was happy to wait for it to be shipped to me instead of having to deal with ProDefense. I could go on about my other terrible experiences there or how they broke a buddies gun, or another friend ordered a Glock 34 and got his but it ws stripped of the extended slide lock and extended mag release and night sights and replaced with stock parts and was told "that is how it came" or many other horror stories I hear from good friends at work about buying stuff there.

And there was a huge difference in the way they treated civilian customers vs police, I first went before working at the PD and was practically ignored and then later as an officer they would pay attention to me but try to sell me shit I didn't want or need.

fuck Pro Defense.

Could you PM me the details on that? Not trying to sidetrack this thread.....

Was it a new gun or played with used?

why would they strip a gun for about 100 bucks worth of parts?

not calling you a lair...  I am just want someone here to enlighten me.  then again, I never buy from a gun store directly.  Its either a big chain, or just a transfer.  (lets face it, gun transfers as a main practice will be the norm for gunshops).

Not unheard of.  There have also been examples of employees taking the extra mags out of Glock boxes, taking the sights and mags out of ARs that came with them, etc.
Why take them?  Because an employee/the owner wanted them.  Because they wanted to get them for free and turn around and sell them to person that should have gotten them with the gun or to someone else.

I've been shopping there for years. I even had them transfer my 9/11 gun. My experiences, that I can remember are...

League City location:
1. First visit. Door was locked. Had to press buzzer. Got buzzed in. Walked into the place and looked around. Guy behind the counter asks, "Are you in law enforcement. I stated, "No. Do I need to be?" Guy says, "We mostly focus on law enforcement here." I remember feeling somewhat out of place. Like I just turned Jewish at a Baptist revival. I just said "Shalom" and walked out.

2. Second visit. Went in to see if they did transfers. They did. Gave them all my info and money and they sent off my payment to a place in GA. Then 9/11 happened and had to wait weeks for my gun to come in. They were friendly enough, but only after they saw my CHL.

3. Visited to pick up my gun. Another normal/respectable guy was there trying to buy a bp vest. The guy running the place didn't want to sell it to him. He spent a good 10 minutes explaining to him why he'd probably get in trouble for wearing a vest. Said something like, "The only reason for wearing a bp vest is to keep cops from shooting you." I remember thinking, "Sounds like a good idea to me". I think the guy finally left without it. Still just slightly friendly, but not very.

Webster Location:

4. Went in. Young girl working there. Bought a set of BDUs with no problem. When she was ringing me up she asked which agency I was with. I told her none. She said, "but you want to get your discount." I still said none. She looked at me and then said, "Oh, I get it, no problem." I guess she thought I was an undercover guy who refused to blow my cover even to buy BDUs. She was friendly and helpful.

5. Went in to buy an EOTech. Only young people working there. Two guys, with one talking to a girl who seemed to be a customer who just didn't fit in. Maybe his GF. The other guy sold me the EOTech. Friendly and helpful.

6. Went in to buy a streamlight TLR-1. Young people again. Helpful and friendly.

Those are just the times that I actually interacted with people there and remember what happened. My overall opinion on the place is that they never really wanted to cater to the civilian and they were initially trying to project an image of professionalism. It might have come across as a bit unfriendly but that's what they appeared to be doing... just too serious and intense.

I think the construction just simply killed them. And access is very poor in that shopping center now so I'm not too sure it will get much better.

Friend went by there recently.  Landlord did a lockout.

This is my surprised face

For those of us unfamiliar with gun-store parlance, what is a "lockout?"

They failed to pay their rent, depending on the lease either for the current month, or for more than one month.  The landlord / owner has changed the locks and locked out the tenant pending payment of rent / fees associated with the lockout.

Went a couple of times when they had Bushmasters around 05 for a good price.

I saved up and went back to pick one up and all they had were DPMS's, I told them I would wait for the Bushies and thats when the pushy salesmans tactics started.

I was also told DPMS are Milspec, Chrome Moly was the better option over Chrome Lined and that Colt and RRA were too hard to aquire. (by them)

I did buy a g23 (after arguing with the guy that I did not want the 19), a WASR, and my Norinco SKS.

Was told by someone who shopped there since they were in League City that the non AR weapons were bought at gun shows, marked up and then resold at the store.

And no, the construction did not do them in, it was changing management/ownership so many times, relying on kids to do business, if not kids, then gung-ho drill sargent types who give you a look if you are not leo or mil.

Garden Ridge had the same traffic issues and even that rinky-dink tool store that has been there before Prodefense made the move have survived quite well.

Insert HAHA pic

awesome, that is classic. Glad to see you are still in business though Jen!

Yes, still here and kicking :)

I did drive by this evening and can confirm that it was a landlord lockout due to delinquent rent.  I believe under Texas Law, and depending on the lease terms, he has 60 days to remedy the delinquency, though still has to pay all rents during that time as well.

OUCH

LOL I went by there today just to get a pic of that

I wonder what the legalities of the landlord assuming possession of the firearms would be? I would assume that they can't keep them, and they can't revert without payment? or does the BATFE step in and act as custodian until the civil matter is resolved?

The FFL is only good for that location, right?

Right now, it's a lock out.  If the rent isn't paid then the Landlord has the right to get a judgment and proceed to public auction with the contents. More than likely, unless the firearms are seized, BATFE would have the Landlord acquire the services of an Auctioneer who has an FFL License to which the firearms content would be transferred prior to auction, should it get to that point.  Really, that's ATF's ball, so no telling what might happen in actuality if the Rent doesn't get paid in full.  The Landlord has a lawful lien on the property contained within that space, including any and all firearms, so it just makes sense that this is likely what would happen.  Again.. ATF's ball on how it would be handled.

I hope no one had anything on consignment there.

I hope the owner had enough sense to get everything out of the store knowing that he was going to be delinquent...

Maybe I need to talk to the land lord and see if he is willing to do the "dime for each dollar" so he can at least get something from all those "awful icky ugly black guns" that are now just taking up space there.  

MING the Merciless

Based on what I saw looking in the window, that would be a Negative, Ghostrider.

I'd have gotten the money to pay the delinquent rent and penalties, and clean the store out if I were him... That sucks. I can't imagine losing your business and your entire inventory, too.

You know...   you gotta be completely inept to not pay rent and on top of it lose tens of thousands worth of inventory.


It's not like landlords do a lockout when the rent is a few days late...

This. when i went looking for a place that honored the LE/Fire/EMS Glock discount, they told me unless I was LE, I dont get the discount, no matter what Glock says.





Fuck em.



 

I have been in Pro Defense a few times.

The first time was just to go in and look at what they had to kill time while my wife was in Garden Ridge. I was looking at the handguns and some guy asked me nicely if I was Law Enforcement. I told him no and he just moved a long to talk to someone else.



The second time I went in there was to look for a IWB holster for my SXD and I walked around the store for 20 minutes before I just felt too uncomfortable and left. There were several L.E. and EMS people in the store (not that it mattered to me) at the time standing around. I just got the vibe and feeling that I should leave by the fact that the staff didn't seem to really care that I was there. They stood behind the counter and watched me as did the LEO's who were in there. no one was talking at the time. I would have thought that someone would have come over and asked me if I needed help looking for something after 15 minutes of walking around.



The third time I went in there was back in the winter of 2009. I went in to look for some defensive 9MM ammo. I figured a place that catered to LE would have at least a few boxes. I stood by the counter looking at the ammo on the shelves behind the counter for a long time before some guy came up and asked me if he could help me. I asked him about 9MM ammo and he told me they didn't have any 9mm at all. All they had was some .40 S&W and some 12 gauge ammo. The guy was nice but couldn't tell me when they would get any more ammo in. I browsed their Kimbers and left.



Last Friday, I was driving on the NASA Road 1 bypass off of the Gulf Freeway and looked over to see that there were no cars in front of Pro Defense. It was about 1:00 PM and I thought it was odd that they would be closed. I was planning on going in there to see if I could get some more defensive 9MM. After reading this thread, I guess it is doubtful that I will.



I'll just wait for the next gun show. The last time I was at one, I saw 500 round cases of 9mm 147 grain Winchester Rangers for less that $150.00.

Appears there are moving trucks over there today.. Not sure if they paid or if the landlord is clearing out the space.