EJFudd
NES Member
Nothing wrong with shops grouped close together. It certainly hasn't hurt Four Seasons and Collector's Gallery that they are 12 minutes apart (well, according to Google Maps anyway).
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New Gun Shop - Looking For Input
- Thread starter CDSUSA
- Start date
Congrats on new shop. Now I’ll be honest..follow MA law not a enforcement notice and I will be by to purchase a AR or AK platform rifle.
D
Deleted member 67409
Lots of guns are extremely marketable but won't sell as fast as expected. Colts are a good example. Lots of guys want a Gold Cup or a Python, but because of the price tag, those guns won't move as fast as cheaper guns.
Like I said, I think this would work better with customers who have some skin in the game or who are well known by the gun store and are thus trustworthy.
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This is where a store that is not well capitalized is at a serious disadvantage. Just try to comprehend the $$ value of inventory at Four Seasons (and no, what you see in the shop is not their entire inventory) and ask if Carl is going to get bent out of shape because he buys a used gun that sits for a while.
But then, I don't think he goes out searching for specific used guns for customers.
D
Deleted member 67409
That was the original question - why don't shops keep a list of wanted used guns and customer contact info. If a shop maintains a list and actively manages it, the shop would be on the lookout for certain, specific used guns. What determines "marketability"? If a trusted customer wants say a Martini Henry, do you say no because no one else would want one? Or if a total rando shows up looking for a Glock but then never returns a call.
This doesn’t make sense to me, but then again I am not a dealer either. We are not talking about an NFA item or something. The fixed mag is just to satisfy State law and get around Maura’s 2016 interpretation. What does the state care if a fixed mag AR was built as such or later modified? As long as the evil features were removed, I would think they would be satisfied.
Sorry OP, I’ll stop derailing the thread now. Good luck with your store and keep us posted!
That's the thing. It doesn't "get around her interpretation." She literally says it's not legal in her enforcement notice:
"If a weapon, as manufactured or originally assembled, is a Copy or Duplicate under one or both of the applicable tests, it remains a prohibited Assault weapon even if it is altered by the seller. Therefore, a Copy or Duplicate will be treated as an Assault weapon even if it is altered, for example, by pinning the folding or telescoping stock in a fixed position, by removing the pistol grip, by removing a bayonet mount or flash suppressor, or by preventing the weapon from accepting a detachable magazine."
You can argue that the enforcement notice isn't law, is BS, whatever, and I'll agree with you. But if a shop intends to follow her edict, they cannot simply fix the magazine and say they are in compliance. Would they be in compliance with the written laws? I'd say so. But I don't own a shop.
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You have to analyze goals by actions, not words (words that mandate something are actions).
The goal is NOT to prohibit AW clones, but to take as much "territory" as possible and ban as many guns as possible, with the goal being that only highly privileged and important people will be allowed to have them.
The goal is NOT to prohibit AW clones, but to take as much "territory" as possible and ban as many guns as possible, with the goal being that only highly privileged and important people will be allowed to have them.
Not at all, whenever I'm near one of them I will stop at both. And yes, the GPS will put you on back roads between the two for a short trip.Nothing wrong with shops grouped close together. It certainly hasn't hurt Four Seasons and Collector's Gallery that they are 12 minutes apart (well, according to Google Maps anyway).
Agree, unless the person is a very good customer of the shop, picking up a very expensive gun with the risk that the person won't follow thru can kill a small shop, get a deposit (non-refundable).
A very good friend was a firearms instructor and didn't require deposits. A number of times he showed up at his rented classroom to find that nobody showed up!! I always require a non-refundable deposit and most people understand. A few don't like even after I explained that I have to block off a date with the gun club (so no other instructor can use it) and we pay the gun club to use the classroom. I had one instructor cancel an NRA personal protection outside the home class on me 3 or 4 times and he expected me to "understand" and refund his deposit every time as a "personal courtesy". That's a 2 day class that requires a lot of pre-planning and he was going to be the only student one or two of those times. He got furious with me and finally I told him that I won't allow him to attend any class I teach.
As for shops, back in my early days of shooting, I did a lot of business with a one-person (garage on side of his house) shop. I always paid on the spot for everything I bought (I don't believe in owing others money nor do I like to be owed money). After he closed his shop (he's still a good friend and fellow retired LEO) he mentioned to me that if all his customers paid their bills like I did he wouldn't have had to close up shop. Apparently (I never asked, his business was none of my business) he extended "courtesy credit" (no interest, pay when you can) to numerous customers who stiffed him. He was the secretary of my first gun club so lots of club members were customers. You can't afford to do this and expect to run a profitable business.
The AG ruled that you can't convert a "banned by her edict" gun into an acceptable gun, so dealers won't do this. And her office is watching all FA-10s emanating out of FFLs and making phone calls if they see anything of interest to them.
greencobra
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here i go off topic again
![[banghead]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/045.gif "Bang Head [banghead]")
carl/four seasons? yeah, they will, i've had them try to conger up a unicorn twice for me with negative results. i don't think they make it a lifetime search, i got a call both times after 3-4 days saying no luck. how do i know they tried? when i searched i only found what i wanted, both mass "legal", in shops down south who wouldn't ship, wanted a ftf sale. fs got the same result, those guys wouldn't ship to an ffl dealer.
BUMPA01603
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Try and keep your overhead and expenses to a minimum, as best you can. Hire only knowledgeable and friendly staff, have decent fees with your FFL services, keep a tight and marketable inventory, and don't forget the inner doomsday prepper in most people! And, don't ever make any backchannel deals with Maura if you don't want an NES boycott..... good luck!
Thank you all very much for the constructive responses and ideas. There are some things I can/will act on immediately and others that are in the works, but may take awhile.
Let me give a quick overview of my current situation so I can answer as many of the questions at once as possible. Some of the other questions I'll have to respond by PM.
I currently have a full time job Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. This is the only way I can afford to have a shop at the moment. The shop hours are Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm, open to the public with all inventory on display. I also have "by appointment" hours Monday through Thursday from 6pm to 8pm, but no inventory is on display. The weekday hours are mostly to facilitate transfers because I remember how excited I was waiting for a new firearm to come in, so I try to get them to the customer as soon as possible. If a customer has a specific firearm they are interested in I can also have that out for them to look at.
My transfer fees are always $25, except Sunday's they are 20% off ($20). I do consignment for 10% commission, and no charge for return transfers unless the gun is pulled before the end of the consignment contract (3 months), then the fee is $25 to cover the time I put in trying to sell the item (waived for repeat customers). I have a 3% cash discount on all new and used firearms. I have a 5% discount for active duty military, police, and fire fighters (does not stack with the cash discount) on all new or used firearms. I have a layaway program, which basically consists of a 25% down payment and then monthly payments until completed. I'm very flexible on the monthly payment amounts as long as the customer stays in contact. I have a website, www.cdsusaonline.com , that's basically a live stream of all my distributors inventory to give people an idea of what I can order, but there's no "MA compliant" filter, so unfortunately there's a lot of tease items on the site I can't sell in MA. The pricing on the website also has some shipping margins attached so I can usually do a little better on price if you contact the shop with the UPC# that you're looking for. I list all of my in stock inventory on Armslist, however I'm a little behind on this due to the big influx of consignment guns (about 40) over the last 2 weeks, but I'm plugging away.
That's all I got. If I think of any other pertinent info I'll edit this post.
Thanks again to everyone that took time out of their lives to help me with some great suggestions. I really appreciate it. If you find yourself near Littleton stop in and say hi, don't forget to mention you're an NES'er!
Let me give a quick overview of my current situation so I can answer as many of the questions at once as possible. Some of the other questions I'll have to respond by PM.
I currently have a full time job Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. This is the only way I can afford to have a shop at the moment. The shop hours are Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm, open to the public with all inventory on display. I also have "by appointment" hours Monday through Thursday from 6pm to 8pm, but no inventory is on display. The weekday hours are mostly to facilitate transfers because I remember how excited I was waiting for a new firearm to come in, so I try to get them to the customer as soon as possible. If a customer has a specific firearm they are interested in I can also have that out for them to look at.
My transfer fees are always $25, except Sunday's they are 20% off ($20). I do consignment for 10% commission, and no charge for return transfers unless the gun is pulled before the end of the consignment contract (3 months), then the fee is $25 to cover the time I put in trying to sell the item (waived for repeat customers). I have a 3% cash discount on all new and used firearms. I have a 5% discount for active duty military, police, and fire fighters (does not stack with the cash discount) on all new or used firearms. I have a layaway program, which basically consists of a 25% down payment and then monthly payments until completed. I'm very flexible on the monthly payment amounts as long as the customer stays in contact. I have a website, www.cdsusaonline.com , that's basically a live stream of all my distributors inventory to give people an idea of what I can order, but there's no "MA compliant" filter, so unfortunately there's a lot of tease items on the site I can't sell in MA. The pricing on the website also has some shipping margins attached so I can usually do a little better on price if you contact the shop with the UPC# that you're looking for. I list all of my in stock inventory on Armslist, however I'm a little behind on this due to the big influx of consignment guns (about 40) over the last 2 weeks, but I'm plugging away.
That's all I got. If I think of any other pertinent info I'll edit this post.
Thanks again to everyone that took time out of their lives to help me with some great suggestions. I really appreciate it. If you find yourself near Littleton stop in and say hi, don't forget to mention you're an NES'er!
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
You seem to already have a good online presence with for sale ads, which is great. Judging by your answer to the consignment debacle post where the guy got porked for a transfer fee after he made the dealer $600, you have the right approach to servicing your clientele. Reasonably priced ammo (as close to TSUSA as possible, if possible), educational/training opportunities sponsored and run by the shop - Basic Safety Courses, etc. Any time you can get new people shooting, and they can associate that experience with your shop, they will likely buy something from you. Consignment promotions with special % rates to get some free inventory on your shelves. Offering an outlet for people to get the guns that they want that some people in the state might not want them to have is helpful, too.
AHM
NES Member
That's the best request anyone's made of OP in this thread.
AHM
NES Member
If you've got the wall space,
a corkboard w/ pushpins for business cards
and a small table under it of local/national gun club pamphlets
(provided by the clubs - not fetched by you),
would be nice.
(You can't see it in these photos, but)
The Candy Store in Salem, NH
has that kind of thing for ham radio operators.
a corkboard w/ pushpins for business cards
and a small table under it of local/national gun club pamphlets
(provided by the clubs - not fetched by you),
would be nice.
(You can't see it in these photos, but)
The Candy Store in Salem, NH
has that kind of thing for ham radio operators.
I would not encourage buying guns on spec. But if you are consigning guns and had a list you could refer to or for estates wanting to unload a collection then it would better help you decide to take in those guns.
Guy leaves wants to consign xyz gun you go to the list make a few calls if no one answers or picks up maybe you pass. If they do then maybe you make a sale with min effort. I was looking for an Automag III for a long time (5 years maybe) I'm sure several went through shops I was occasionally going to and purchased from. Had one of those shops taken my name they would have had a guaranteed sale.
From selling AK handguards I found the firearms community to be an honest group. I shipped somewhere around 500+ custom handguards to people and told them to send a check or the guard back if they were not happy. I got 1 guard back and never got stiffed. Only time it took a while to get paid by a vendor was because he was diagnosed with brain cancer and went for an immediate surgery. After recovery I got the check.
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Track the pricing of firearms and ammo in the local area, and try to stay reasonably competitive. Personally, I will pay maybe 10% more for a firearm, and a dollar to two more per box of ammo, to support a vendor I like, and also for convenience. But I will not pay $100 more for a common polymer handgun. So I would recommend keeping track of the local market, and only stocking items where you can come pretty close on price.
Of course there are some people who will drive and hour and wait on line to save $15, and then boast to everyone how no one ever tricks them out of a dollar. You probably can't get these customers, but I don't think there was any money to be made there anyway.
So basically, I would like to support small local businesses with good service, and I will pay a bit extra to do so, but not too much.
Also, your rates for consignment, and your clear description on how you handle it, have got my attention. I will keep you in mind if I decide to sell anything.
Of course there are some people who will drive and hour and wait on line to save $15, and then boast to everyone how no one ever tricks them out of a dollar. You probably can't get these customers, but I don't think there was any money to be made there anyway.
So basically, I would like to support small local businesses with good service, and I will pay a bit extra to do so, but not too much.
Also, your rates for consignment, and your clear description on how you handle it, have got my attention. I will keep you in mind if I decide to sell anything.
The goal of any retail establishment is to generate foot traffic. You want people to come into the store and look around, and hopefully buy something that they weren't looking for. Telling people that they don't have to bother coming into the store, and you'll call them if what they want is self defeating.
Managing said list is also a time sponge. Let's say you get in some desirable gun, and there are ten people on your list who have expressed interest. First person on the list says to email him. Second says to text. Third says to call. You call and his voicemail box is full or not set up. You call #4 and he's a chatterbox. You can't get him off the phone. So you finally get through the list, and someone walks through the door and buys it. Now you've wasted an hour, and pissed off the two on the list who actually show up to buy it.
Any business is a time sponge. There's no point in committing more of your time to something that's not likely to generate income.
This is not a bad idea ... expanding on this ...
What of you reached out to a smaller, more custom oriented Shop and told them to send you 10-15 simples, for the ones they sell the most.
You can keep those samples in your store, people can check them out and if they like them, you order it for them.
Make sure you can order at a price that you can sell ot and match the online price. So people dont try them and then order online.
You effectively become a reseller for a brand that might not have as much exposure as some of those big very generic ones you see everywhere.
greencobra
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kind of a paradox right there.
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you best work by yourself and use candles. poach your internet service also on your battery run lap top.
Here's something I've thought about doing.
Get hooked up with an online gun shop, but restrict the selection to Mass compliant guns (what you're allowed to sell). There are two Mass gun shops I know of that have online shops, and both let me put a Glock Gen 5 in my shopping cart. (I'm pretty sure neither shop will go through with those sales). Set it up so the customer pays in full before it's shipped to you, and the supplier sends you a check. That way you don't end up carrying inventory. If the sale doesn't go through, return the gun to the supplier, and have the supplier issue the refund. Remove anything that you stock from the online store so you're not undercutting yourself. (You NEED to make the margin on your inventory).
Get hooked up with an online gun shop, but restrict the selection to Mass compliant guns (what you're allowed to sell). There are two Mass gun shops I know of that have online shops, and both let me put a Glock Gen 5 in my shopping cart. (I'm pretty sure neither shop will go through with those sales). Set it up so the customer pays in full before it's shipped to you, and the supplier sends you a check. That way you don't end up carrying inventory. If the sale doesn't go through, return the gun to the supplier, and have the supplier issue the refund. Remove anything that you stock from the online store so you're not undercutting yourself. (You NEED to make the margin on your inventory).
if you read the actual bull shit notice the AG put out it clearly states that the firearm must be originally manufactured to be acceptable and in line with her enforcement
