Long-Gone Gun Shops of New England

[Len-2A Training]

Scott's Surplus (ran gun & militaria auctions too) on Moody St (near the fire station) in Waltham.

As a kid I recall a Class 3 toy shop in Randolph Square, near Child World and the cinema. It later became a shoe store (my Wife shopped there). Also in No. Randolph, the typewriter repair place had an FFL and a few guns.

I used to buy a lot of supplies (reloading) and accessories at Coleman's in Canton and Quincy.

 

[NTMAREMACH]

Bought my first rifle at Sears at Seartown Mall Leominster back about 1975.

 

[ISOTOX]

I don't know why I thaught of this, but I was driving through my old hometown the other day, remembering my childhood. Does anyone remember the hunting section of "MVP Sports" in Woburn, by 4-corners? I remember as a kid going in there and oohing and aaahing over the guns. I remember the guy who worked there used to watch us like hawks. if I remember, it went from "MVP Sports", to "Decalthlon" to "bye bye!"

So, what are your memories of gun shops of long ago?

On the North Shore it was Coleman's before MVP Sports.....

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

I don't know why I thaught of this, but I was driving through my old hometown the other day, remembering my childhood. Does anyone remember the hunting section of "MVP Sports" in Woburn, by 4-corners? I remember as a kid going in there and oohing and aaahing over the guns. I remember the guy who worked there used to watch us like hawks. if I remember, it went from "MVP Sports", to "Decalthlon" to "bye bye!"

So, what are your memories of gun shops of long ago?

that's where I got My Berretta onyx O/U... traded some pistols for it!

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

Ivanhoe when it was a retail store, and Lew Horton's in Framingham.

I loved Horton's before they moved to Rt 9

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

Bought a Spanish Mauser converted to 308 from the Woolworth's in Wakefield RI many years ago...

I bought one of those in the downtown crossing Woolworth's in Boston

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

How about Coleman's in Canton center? I used to buy all my shotgun and 22 ammo there back in the day. There was also a nice gun shop near Weymouth Landing back in the '70s where I bought my first Remington 20 ga.

That store was Bra-Wey sports.
That was my favorite spot for fishing gear when I lived in Weymouth.

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

WOW! this thread reminded me of some of the guns I'd forgotten, and where I got em.
used JC Higgins 22 from Lew Horten's, a 12 gauge Savage bolt shotgun from Sears in Natick, and old Stevens SXS from Bra-wey, a Remington 700 Adl .270 from Service Merchandise, Mauser .308 from Woolworth's, A Berretta O/U from MVP in Woburn, A TC Hawkin from Buzz Bower's in NH, Mossberg 500 from Coleman's in Canton, a Marlin 60 22 form a shop just south of Town Spa Pizza on Rt. 138 in Stoughton, (can't recall the name), a Ruger #1 pistol from Roache's Sports shop on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge, and a Ruger O/U from Bob Smith's.
Oh Man! that's a lot of places that've closed over the last 50 years, most in the last 20.

 

[Tomas Dunlap]

Ahhh, Lew Horton's! I got my first EVER gun from them, a crossman 10 pump air rifle, ohh man!

LOL mine was a Crossman 750 from there. the one you could pump the hell out of.

 

[PL-52]

Just to stay in the mix and keep an old thread alive.. Bruce Richardson's Frontier Gun Shop in Danvers Square, I bought my Marlin .44 mag lever action there in the early 70's for around $100 Still have it and it's still fun to shoot. Jerry's Army and Navy on Essex St with the wide creaky stairs to the basement Sporting Goods Dept. Salem Sport Shop by the Paramount Theater. And Bob's Gun Shop on Boston St. I don't if Bob Gallant is even still alive , I bought lots of recently traded in handguns from Bob, but the sign is still up on the building.

 

[Len-2A Training]

There was Herman's World of Sports in South Shore Plaza. The clerk was from TX and whatever he said to my Wife convinced her that gun ownership would be a good idea. I bought a Mossberg 144LS there and still have it.

I bought a rifle from Lechmere Sales in Dedham (now a BJ's). I used to buy stuff at Coleman's in Canton, the shop that Tomas referred to in Stoughton near Town Spa (don't recall the name), Sharon Sportsmen Supply, Scott's Surplus Store on Moody St. in Waltham, Ivanhoe in Watertown, Barry Fox (table top dealer) in Braintree, Bob Smith's in Boston (I only bought supplies here), Central Supply in Millis (cop-shop, bought my service revolver here), The Gun Room in Shrewsbury, Lew Horton's on Rte. 9, AG Guns in Lowell (unsure if it still exists), Peter Dowd's Village Gun Shop, Fairground Traders in Brockton, The Powder Keg in Mansfield, etc.

 

[Sparky123]

Ivanhoe when it was a retail store, and Lew Horton's in Framingham.

I remember Ivanhoe's. I bought my first revolver there, it was a S&W model10 with the tapered barrel. It cost me $95 bucks back in 1977.

 

[BTSDOG]

Sears and Roebuck in Brockton and Woolworths in the Dartmouth mall back in the late 60's early 70's.......

 

[EddieA]

Just to stay in the mix and keep an old thread alive.. Bruce Richardson's Frontier Gun Shop in Danvers Square, I bought my Marlin .44 mag lever action there in the early 70's for around $100 Still have it and it's still fun to shoot. Jerry's Army and Navy on Essex St with the wide creaky stairs to the basement Sporting Goods Dept. Salem Sport Shop by the Paramount Theater. And Bob's Gun Shop on Boston St. I don't if Bob Gallant is even still alive , I bought lots of recently traded in handguns from Bob, but the sign is still up on the building.

Bought my first gun, Browning .22 lever action, at the Frontier Shop, I also bought ammo at Jerry's, and at the Essex County Co-Op. Still have a Crosman Blue Streak with scope and mount from Bob's.

 

[PL-52]

Remember the big tall guy with a funny eye from Colemans? He worked at the Salem Sport Shop before urban renewal tore most of downtown Salem down, he was always good to deal with. I could go into Jerry's get what I wanted and sign my name to my account, and pay them what I could, when I could back when Jerry Rich was still alive

 

[lowbuckbob]

In the early 80's, Woolworth's in Boston sold a ton of Garands and M1 Carbines re-imported from Korea. People were walking around downtown and on the subway carrying them.

Bought my first Python at Ivanhoe

I frequented Coleman's in Canton

 

[AFVet]

I'm not sure if the question about the Leominster gun shop got answered but It was Hembrows Gun Shop, They retired to Maine years ago.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Might be mentioned before, but remember when K-Mart had a hunting section? I forget if they had guns there. I think they did. (Of course, my memories of a ROBUST hunting section in K-Mart extends to the 70's and back in Cleveland. A place a bit more hunter-oriented than Eastern mASS.)

They definitely had archery stuff at K-Mart. I remember every K-Mart had the huge archery bullseye targets high up on the wall so when you walked in you knew where to go.

 

[triggercage]

best gun shop used to be AUTOSPORTS in agawam class3 , walt was a nice guy ,now its a axe throwing pretty sad,AAA was pretty good first owner in W.S.,then phil started working there.

 

[Glockster30]

Just to stay in the mix and keep an old thread alive.. Bruce Richardson's Frontier Gun Shop in Danvers Square, I bought my Marlin .44 mag lever action there in the early 70's for around $100 Still have it and it's still fun to shoot. Jerry's Army and Navy on Essex St with the wide creaky stairs to the basement Sporting Goods Dept. Salem Sport Shop by the Paramount Theater. And Bob's Gun Shop on Boston St. I don't if Bob Gallant is even still alive , I bought lots of recently traded in handguns from Bob, but the sign is still up on the building.

Your post brought back some memories. My grandfather bought a S&W K22 (Model 17), a K38 (Model 14), in addition to a Colt Gold Cup in the early 1960s from Jerry's. He also bought a Springfield M1903 and an M1917as well as some other rifles. I still have all of his guns. All of the revolvers and the Colt have better than 95% of their blueing or better as I have used them very little. I thought Bob's in Salem had closed, but on Google maps, it looks like it reopened again. I doubt if Bob is still there. His store is/was about as big as my master bathroom. Bob used to reload practice ammo I think for the Salem and Peabody police. I remember buying one box of his .38 reloads and had my first and only squib in years of shooting. Never bought reloads again.

 

[Paul455]

Bought a Sheridan .20 caliber air rifle at Jordan Marsh in 1967.

Hardware stores used to carry some long guns and ammo.

Most of the box stores carried guns - bought a Colt Huntsman .22 caliber pistol at the Fair in Milford for $80 in 1975.

My first .22 rifle, a Remington Nylon 66 was bought at Dwyers Sportland on Water Street in Milford in 1972 for $59.

Still have it.

Times have really changed, and not for the better.

 

[greencobra]

i bought a winchester 94 30-30 and later a ruger single six at service merchandise in burlington. remember them? they were in that little shopping plaza next to the cafe escadrille restaurant. early 70's this was. don't remember if i mentioned this before. they did have a decent little gun department for several years.

 

[wahsben]

There was a Service Merchandise in Auburn,Ma.
Service Merchandise, Spags, Galyans, Ames Dept. Store, The Fair Dept. stores, Sears, KMart, All carried guns at one time.Some only long guns like KMart,Sears, Ames & Spags. Some pistols too like Galyans, The Fair etc. Also a couple of gun stores that have closed that I can think of off hand is Sparky's in Webster, and HS Trading in Auburn.

 

[rudiewhitebwoy]

On the North Shore it was Coleman's before MVP Sports.....

I remember riding my 10 speed from Boxford to Danvers to buy .22LR when I was a kid.

 

[Paul455]

Guns were not a scary big deal back then. No one was freaking out.

Not like today, were the sheeple are conditioned to be pertified of GUNZ.

 

[426wedge]

Westfield. Jack and Harry's sold rifles and ammo. '50's..'60's. Elm sporting goods. maybe a longer time frame than J&H. Witek on Meadow st.

 

[PL-52]

DiGloria's Sport Shop Merrimac St. in Methuen , back in the 80's was ammo only. But real decent prices. Is a fishing specialty shop mostly now.

 

[EddieA]

I remember riding my 10 speed from Boxford to Danvers to buy .22LR when I was a kid.

Same, but rode my Schwinn Varsity from Boxford to Topsfield, Co-Op sold .22
My future BIL and I tried for woodchucks at Merideth Farm.

 

[fitzknny]

Roach's in porter Sq. Camb. on Mass. Ave. I think they packed it up in the early 2000's . . . great gunand ammo selection new and used . . .

 

[Mark from MA]

Used to be a Service Merchandise in Auburn, MA (closed in the 1990s, IIRC), and yes, they had firearms.

Does anyone remember "The Fair" in Worcester, MA -- they too carried guns in their sporting goods dept. ?

Yes. I remember the Fair well. They had a wall full of AK’s for like 125 bucks each. They sold a lot of guns back in the day.