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My Local Gun Dealer Has Sold Too Many Guns

6K views 24 replies 20 participants last post by  frankmako 
#1 ·
Hi everyone....busting my proverbial forum cherry with this post.

So I decide to head down to a gun dealer right down the street from my house. He has only been open a short time and I had yet to wander in there and check out his inventory. Plus I remembered I needed some 9mm ammo for my Baretta.

I go in and the place is packed,10-15 people looking and buying (mostly ammo). I check out his rifles and find exactly what I am looking for. AR put together by local company that had exactly what I was looking for, plus it was only $950. So I decide to go home and debate the $2000 purchase (come on I gotta have 5 extra mags, a red dot, at least 1000 rounds of ammo,etc). At home I decide I should pull the trigger and look up his number on my phone and call the shop to get a rough total on what I want so I know how much cash to bring.

Phone conversation goes like this:

"thanks for calling _ _ guns"

"Hi I was just in there and saw an AR i liked and wanted to make sure I had the prices right. The one I was looking at was on the left end of the cabinet and I think it was priced $950"

"Yeah I got a few AR's ranging from $900-$1200"

"Ok well I was wanting to know for sure because I was about to pop back over there and buy it"

"Yeah well I am closing for the day in a minute (it was 1pm then), I am packing up for a show(that is 40 miles away) on Saturday. I will have the gun with me there, you can just come buy it there"

"So let me get this straight.....you want me to not bring you $2000 cash today, but wait until tomorrow, drive 80 miles round trip, park in a fairground, walk a mile to the gunshow, pay $8 to get in, find you table, and buy the gun?.....No thanks, you have sold too many guns"


Wow....I own 3 businesses....(2 large sports bars and an equipment leasing company)....and I wish I had enough business to just turn money down.....ha ha
 
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#5 ·
Down in Perry at the Ga. National Fairgrounds.

It's an Eastman Gun Show. The ones in Macon are packed and have plenty of vendors with nice weapons....and I don't mind paying $8 to look at a bunch of stuff (especially "Not for Sale"..."Display") that I would normally not get a chance to look at, touch, poke, rub, dry hump, etc. in person........but the last one I went to in Perry had only about 5 or 6 tables with people selling guns.


Yeah that left me with a bad taste......I did find a great gun shop here in town, but he just has not had what I have been looking for (although he does have an MP5 clone chambered in .357 that I have wanted)......maybe this was Karma's way of telling me to hold on and wait, do business with the other shop.....
 
#4 ·
Not only did the gun shop owner turn down a nice sale, he left you with a bad impression. As a local guy you will now share your experience with others in the community similar to what's posted. What comes around goes around, there are local businesses I wont solicit due to attitudes and practices of the owners. If he went the extra mile forum members would be PMing you for the location of the shop. A time will come when even gun shops will be feeling the pinch.
 
#6 ·
Business Sense

Having owned a retail store many years,I have often wondered why gun store owners sometimes seem to be stupid businessmen.
Are they in it because they are gun "nuts" and not really for the money?
My first rule when I was in business;
Make it EASY for customers to give you money.
 
#24 ·
Having owned a retail store many years,I have often wondered why gun store owners sometimes seem to be stupid businessmen.
Are they in it because they are gun "nuts" and not really for the money?
My first rule when I was in business;
Make it EASY for customers to give you money.
Amen to that. Backhome we had a gun dealer and he was the rudest sob that I have ever met in my life. He would literally tell people off and run them out the door of his shop for no apparent reason. I don't know how he stayed in business excwept that at the time he was the only game in town. I only went in there if I HAD TO HAVE something that I couldn't get elsewhere.

I never bought a gun from the guy and never will. Some other dealers opened up around town and I never went back. I'd suggest the same for the OP in his case. Find someone who appreciates your business. Life's too short to deal with people who don't value you as a person or as a patron.
 
#7 ·
I have seen this attitude at several local gun shops. I happilyleave those shops and take my money to someone who wants it and has time for my stupid questions.

I run 10 departments in 5 different cities and if anyone of my employees got the report you just gave, They would work at "Down The Road Motorsports, Inc."

Give your money to someone who will appreciate it.
 
#8 ·
But to be fair since there is always 2 sides to every story:

I did say when I was in there an hour earlier he had 10-15 customers in there shopping (place is tiny).

Noone can give you cash over the phone like they can inside the store (i.e. the customers inside the store).

And maybe he had a hot date later that afternoon

So in fairness, he was busy and had a store full of people.....and when that is the case I always try to handle the people in person first. Still that is no excuse, but it is his business and he can run it like he wants. I would slap his ball sack if he came into my business and told me how to run mine.

It's pouring rain here...nothing to do....Jesus Christ I am gonna end up driving to the gunshow and buying something! I have been looking for a Para Warthog .45. So maybe today is the day.
 
#9 ·
Wow....I own 3 businesses....(2 large sports bars and an equipment leasing company)....and I wish I had enough business to just turn money down.....ha ha
You need to get out more. :rolleyes:

The Gun business is ObamaBooming.

He will sell every semiauto rifle and pistol he takes to that show -
AND all his ammo. :yup:
 
#10 ·
Once the bubble bursts he'll be one of the first ones out of business...no customer service.
 
#11 ·
i hate when i run into stores like that...not even just gun stores, but stores in general. i wouldn't buy anything from him, personally. he clearly doesn't actually care about your business.
 
#13 ·
So I went to the gunshow yesterday in a monsoon (seriously we had tornado warnings from 8am-2pm)....it was packed....selection was 10 times better than usual.....find an AR15 that had the set up I was looking for....and the same dealer just happened to have a .45 Para Warthawg that I have been wanting.

So I end up blowing $2k on 2 new guns, red dot site, ammo for both, extra mags, extra mags for my Baretta 92f (actually more like $2500 when you figure in ammo)

Both are my first .223 and .45acp.......anxious to go test them out!! Look out paper targets....WOLVERINES!!!
 
#14 ·
I agree the shop acted like a turd, but in his defense, if he was had business like the shops here have had, the man was probably beat.
A couple of very good friends of mine own a shop and they have been running ragged. Myself and even good customers have been pitching in just to help them answer phones and run the register. I cant tell you how many phone calls come in during the day, most end up just wasting valuable time. So while the man lost business and ticked off a customer which is never good, I certainly can understand were he was coming from.
 
#15 ·
It's possible the guy was busy boxing up his inventory and loading his trailer to go to the gun show and wasn't looking forward to pulling out anything so you could look at it.In todays buying frenzy at a gun show a 950 to 1200 dollar AR15 will sell pretty quick.If I go to a gun store with a particular gun in mind I want to buy and find it at a decent price I pull the trigger and buy it cause it may noy be there tomorrow and the next one you see may be higher priced
 
#16 ·
If I go to a gun store with a particular gun in mind I want to buy and find it at a decent price I pull the trigger and buy it cause it may noy be there tomorrow and the next one you see may be higher priced
:yup:
 
#19 ·
I would have just told him everything you planned on purchasing and mentioned that seeing as he was still there, I could be down in X number of minutes, cash in hand, would he mind waiting? It sounds like he would have still been there packing for the show, and might have been willing to unlock the door for you if you were committed to a purchase.

I can understand his reluctance, most people that call or even show up to stores have no intention of buying something. A lot of people just want to browse or "kick the tires", so to speak. Plus, a $950 gun only has so much profit in it. Mentioning the red dot, extra mags and ammo would have told him that he would be making more than the limited profit on a single gun and he might have been willing to work with you. My dad always used to say "Money talks, BS walks."
 
#20 ·
Yeah, that is what I was saying in my other posts...I can understand, he had 10 people in there looking and buying,.....I handle people in the store before I handle phone stuff too

I was just making a point of...damn my gun dealer was busy Friday afternoon.....
 
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