Gun Shop Grumps

Hawkeye said:
Yo, check it out:


Pete's Gun Shop in Adams in definitly worth the ride seeing that he has alot of rare stuff especially glocks.
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I second Pete's. I wandered in there one day and there were about 6 in there BSing. The owner and another behind the counter both came out from behind the counter to welcome me. After 10 mins of looking around, I was one of the group. I stayed for another 20 mins as the owner was getting an M16 ready to go.

Definitly my best experiance.

I won't name any name's, but unless something changes I'll never spend my money on Upper North St. in Pittsfield.
 
Not that he has a lot of guns, but I was pleasantly suprised by Dave's Pioneer Sporting Center in Northampton. I needed a Savage rifle transferred from MN, and my usual FFL was on vacation. Walked into the store as a brand new face, got an instant friendly response, and all he wanted to know is whether he was dealing with an FFL on the other end, and what I was transferring. I would have been out the door in under 10 minutes if he hadn't mentioned he had a few Savages towards the back I might want to look at. I left half an hour later with a lefty .223 Savage 110, some bass fishing suggestions, and a wild turkey story.

His main business is fishing and hunting, but he has some nice used guns, and an interesting selection of ammo. Put Dave on the good guy list.......[laugh2] ....and congratulate him on daring to sell firearms in Northampton!
 
I wonder if the general atmosphere in gun shops was friendlier when there were more of them? Something about limited or no competition causes some people to adopt a take it or leave it attitude.

Gary
 
subcomunic8r said:
I suspect those that are churlish are tired of people who have no intention of buying coming in and finger f**king their wares...
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That's exactly the attitude being discussed. It turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's no requirement that customers intend to or actually do purchase anything when they go into a store. Store owners that expect that in negative way are in for disappointment. Information and help today often turn into a sale tomorrow.

Now, I often will try to buy something whenever I visit a gun store and am treated well. If I get the "what are you doing in our treehouse" (love that analogy) attitude then I don't.
 
kevin9 said:
Information and help today often turn into a sale tomorrow.

Now, I often will try to buy something whenever I visit a gun store and am treated well.
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+1+

The good shops realize this. I also find that nothing warms them up like a purchase (except A.G. Guns in Lowell - those guys are just jerks).
 
kevin9 said:
That's exactly the attitude being discussed. It turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. There's no requirement that customers intend to or actually do purchase anything when they go into a store. Store owners that expect that in negative way are in for disappointment. Information and help today often turn into a sale tomorrow.

Now, I often will try to buy something whenever I visit a gun store and am treated well. If I get the "what are you doing in our treehouse" (love that analogy) attitude then I don't.
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Gun shop owners are actually at a tremendous advantage here. If you are running a consumer electronics store, camera store (same thing now days), or many other kinds of shops you have to compete with low overhead mail order places. Yeah, I've been guilty of looking at stuff at Best Buy and then ordering the identical unit online for 30% less - but hey, they called it "Best Buy" and they asked for 100% retail so they weren't exactly being honest with me :).

Gun shops only have to market against other competitors who also have storefront over head and, in the case of handguns, don't even have to worry about competitors across the state line.

Another problem with gunshops is that far to many owners and clerks think that they are the "expert" and the the prospective custom is an idiot who doesn't know anything. It doesn't always work that way :)
 
Chris said:
I agree, Four Seasons is a great place, but even a few of their counter help could be a little more friendly at times. They should learn from Holly, now there is a cool approach - Nice girls coming out from behind the counter and rubbing against you. But I digress....
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ROFL... You know you're in at FS when Holly comes out decides to
sit on your foot. [laugh]

-Mike
 
Rob Boudrie said:
Gun shop owners are actually at a tremendous advantage here. If you are running a consumer electronics store, camera store (same thing now days), or many other kinds of shops you have to compete with low overhead mail order places.

Gun shops only have to market against other competitors who also have storefront over head and, in the case of handguns, don't even have to worry about competitors across the state line.
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In MA they don't, but in every free state they do... informed buyers usually
end up transferring a gun they want nowadays. A buddy of mine in the
AF (who was stationed in FL, and now TX) bought one pistol and one AR
through gunbroker, because he could not get an equivalent price locally-
even after shopping around a bit. My previous roommate used to
live in PA... and he bought only two handguns at a storefront, but several
more on the internet w/smaller FFL local to his hometown. You often
end up saving the sales tax plus you get a better price. Returning privilege
doesn't work real well, but most good guns are backed by the factory
anyways, if new.

You're still mostly right... though, because the average buyer doesn't
even know what the hell a transfer or gunbroker is.

Sometimes I think the grump factor comes from some of the clientele,
though... I've seen some customers that were even more assholic than
the worst gun store owners. That is probably a minority, though... so
in the end they don't have an excuse to be grumpy. As a worker,
though, retail always blows chunks. It's tough just to live for the good
customers.

-Mike
 
drgrant said:
You're still mostly right... though, because the average buyer doesn't
even know what the hell a transfer or gunbroker is.
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Yeah, but *some* dealer gets a transfer fee ... no in state dealer gets a dime when you mail order a cam corder or computer.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
Yeah, but *some* dealer gets a transfer fee ... no in state dealer gets a dime when you mail order a cam corder or computer.
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In free states though, that's often $30 or less, and is far less than the amount
of money that a larger gun retailer would have made off of price gouging when
selling the same gun in their store. Yes, I realize that $30 is still raw
profit, and so do a lot of FFLs... at least the ones that aren't so anal about
not selling you one of "their" guns to perform the transfer service.

-Mike
 
If you're in the Hartford area ...

check out Hoffman's in Newington, on Route 15 / Berlin Turnpike. They always welcome customers. I bought my first handgun from the owner's father, "Dino" Hoffman, in 1976, now son Scott runs this impressive store.
 
+1 on Hoffman's. If you're ever near Hartford, CT and have a little extra time, take the short trip south on Route 15 and check it out. Very well-laid-out store with alot to offer. Just don't drool too much on the glass cases full of handguns you can't have in Massachusetts...
 
Its certainly a bummer to walk into a store and get the cold shoulder, but I cant stand it when I'm talking to someone on the phone placing an order and they treat you like an idiot. This just happened to me when spending over 1,000.00 with Bushmaster, every question I asked was answered as if I should know it. I'm just a small guy, I just wish large companies can remember when they were small. I going to call the CEO of the company on Tues. and if they don't make good by at least stroking me I'll never sell a snake again. [crying]
 
EddieCoyle said:
The good shops realize this. I also find that nothing warms them up like a purchase (except A.G. Guns in Lowell - those guys are just jerks).
Click to expand...

Now that they recognize me, they've gotten friendlier with me at AG Guns. I've bought a couple of nice guns from them and plenty of supplies. One of the guys is very talkative and friendly, I'm not sure his name.
 
It took me a while but I just remembered the one place where I haven't got treated well... Wal-Mart. (Yeah I know, they're all getting rid of their gun sections now.) Although I was treated more stupidly than rudely. One time I was desperate for a 9mm bore brush because I had somehow bought one at the gun shop that had the threads on the wrong side so it wouldn't fit my cleaning rod, and I needed to shoot my new gun the next day.

I searched everywhere in the Wal-Mart gun section and finally gave up and asked someone. I had to explain to the guy in the gun dept what "9mm" was... he still didn't get it. I then had to explain to him what a bore brush was, and he for some reason walked me over to a section that has stuff for gutting/cleaning fish. I never tried to get gun supplies there again.
 
15 to 20 years ago every gun shop I went into had rude people.

Now I always seem to get treated very well and politely wherever I go.

I have no idea why my experiences have changed.
 
drgrant said:
In free states though, that's often $30 or less, and is far less than the amount
of money that a larger gun retailer would have made off of price gouging when
selling the same gun in their store. Yes, I realize that $30 is still raw
profit, and so do a lot of FFLs... at least the ones that aren't so anal about
not selling you one of "their" guns to perform the transfer service.

-Mike
Click to expand...
Yea, but at any price-competitive shop in MA, $40 represents about the same profit as the sale of a "basic" $400 gun.
 
Holly sat on my foot on Friday. Carl wouldn't know me from this username , but he has a customer for life , far as I am concerned. And I love my new Para Ordnance 1911.
 
Hmm, I was there on Friday and never saw Holly. She must have been "on break"! [wink]
 
I hate going into friendly gunstores. The ones where they welcome you in and treat you like a human being. Just about every time I go into such a place, I come out lighter...in the wallet! I just can't help it. Hawyeye and I must frequent the same friendly places.[laugh]
 
Don't let the grumps talk

I was in a shop in CT today that had tons of ammo. I asked the fat slob working how much for a box? He tells me, & then I ask if there's a case price. "Whatever that is times whatever" he says, then starts giving me the whole do you know how hard it is to find ammo speech. I cut him off right there and said "I just wanted to know if there was a case price bud". Usually this particular shop has a bunch of 20-something dudes working. They are all wicked tactical and tend to have a really sucky attitude every time I go there.

The shop is pretty nice otherwise. Some stuff is a little overpriced but you can find some good deals. And when I can't find the ammo I need in MA I just roll down to this place. In the future I'm just gonna go a little further South on I-91; to Cabellas.

I'm 29
 
derek said:
I don't understand it either Chris... [thinking]
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I have a theory that many gun owners tend to be aggressive/angry people and that their dealings with one another reflect that.

I also think that over regulation keeps the number of gun shops low, so shops with poor people skills are not filtered out as they might be in another business. A customer with poor people skills just moves on to another store to share his love with that shop.

I would imagine that the result of dealing with difficult people leaves both the gun shop guy and the customer a little jaded.

Respectfully,
jkelly
 
I experience this too but I think it's because I'm young (and look much younger, young enough even to not have an LTC). I just bought a gun from R&R a couple weeks back and the guy i was buying it from is a complete ass every time I go in there. The owner is nice enough though.

Dick Hamilton (Nick's sport shop) is always nice and helpful though.

The young guy in Ware Gun Shop is a jerk. And I know other people work there but I've never seen them.
 
Nicks in Palmer - always always nice. Even says thanks for checking with us when he doesnt have what I'm looking for. Bobs in Webster, also nice. AAA in springfield - hit or miss depending on the day you go and how busy it is. ZHA is always great as is FS. First Defense in Uxbridge is great also (but their hours are kind of weird) ...

Thus ends my dissertation ...
 

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