LGS Prices Out of Control?

[Contrast Man]

I've been noticing that the LGS's in my area (NW Suburbs of Chicago) have been quite overwhelming. When I bought a CZ-75B back in Feb, their price was $650. I found it online for $460 and offered the LGS to price match and they recommended to buy online.

Yesterday, I was browsing while waiting for a lane to open up, I decided to take a closer look at the Sig 2022. I hear rave reviews about it and while I would like to own a P226/9, I can't justify that expense at the current time. I handle it, feels great. I look down at the price tag; Retail=$650, Their Price=$635. I think I physically jerked back at the price. I know they're readily available from Palmetto for $350.

This thread is not about any specific gun, but more about your specific experiences regarding your LGS pricing. Is this just an issue in my area or is this something happening nationwide?

 

[BarryLee]

Well, I think some stores take advantage of political and current events to jack up their prices in anticipation of increased demand. However, I just recently visited several gun shops around Atlanta while shopping for a new gun and still found some decent prices.

I did notice for example LGS 1 may have great deals on one brand while not so good deals on other brands while LGS 2 is just the opposite. I suppose it may have something to do with the deals they get from suppliers or just old fashioned supply and demand. At the end of the day it still pays to shop around.

 

[g.willikers]

Are there a lot of gun stores in your area?
Maybe a lack of competition might explain it.
The prices around here are about $50 to $100 over the lowest internet prices, generally.
Well within about a half hours drive from us, in all directions, there's twenty gun shops in our area, though.

 

[Don H]

I wonder if the cost of doing business is the same in the Chicago area as it is in South Carolina?

 

[oneounceload]

You cannot compare prices on line to places like Chicago - those stores have a plethora of added costs due to local rules, regs, and taxes

 

[jasmith85]

The prices at my local gun shops have always been outrageous. I live in a small town so I guess its because they don't have much competition but prices are consistently $100 or more above what I can pay for most guns online. I have seen some get completely insane. For instance, I bought my P229 in .40 S&W new on gunbroker and got a factory .357 Sig barrel with it all for $720 including shipping. One of my local gun shops as of last week had a used base model P229 in .40 for $1,049. I have gotten to where I go to my LGS to handle a gun and decide if I want it then buy online where I don't get ripped off.

 

[Don H]

You cannot compare prices on line to places like Chicago - those stores have a plethora of added costs due to local rules, regs, and taxes

Yes, my point exactly!

 

[sigcurious]

I saw a sp2022 for $800 once...it boggled my mind. That aside, from my experience the Chicago area is a particularly rough area given the limited number of shops and the fact that until recently Chicago area shops probably didn't buy that many handguns to stock since people in Chicago weren't allowed to legally own them. Even now they probably still lose a lot of potential customers because of the 3-4 month it takes to get an FOID and CFP not to mention the added costs.

My new home however has pretty decent LGS prices, anywhere from $50-100 above what you might see online for most things. But LGSs don't do the volume that the big internet dealers do, unless you happen to live in Lexington and your LGS is Bud's or a similar situation, LGS prices are going to be a bit higher.

They're pretty far away from you, but Midwest Guns and IL Gunworks had OK prices about a year ago when I last lived in Chicago. Midwest is down in Lyons and IL Gunworks is in Elmwood Park. Midwest is a friendlier place and bigger shop in general. Seemed to take the folks at Gunworks awhile to warm up to new customers. Also might want to check out IL Secure Firearm Sales and Transfer in Carol Stream, he's a home FFL and doesn't stock much, but one of the better prices on transfers I found while living there.

 

[mitchntx]

I was chatting with my LGS owner and I guess each shop has a set of distributors they work with. And those distributors apparently have a teir program set up ... the distributor gets a better deal on the numbers of product they move and passes that discount on to the LGS owners.

The owner told me he adds 10-15% to his cost.

He doesn't sell a lot of Sig or Smith products, so they are quite a bit higher than can be found on line.

But he sells a lot of Springfields, Rugers and Glocks. So he is more competitive with those brands.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Eh, it's just the nature of the business.

An online store has a nationwide marketplace and doesn't have to depend on a fixed population to come in for a purchase.

The LGS usually prices guns with haggling in mind, the online store doesn't have to do that, the price is the price.

One LGS prices their guns way over Academy Sports, about a mile down the road, but takes trade-ins on used guns and allows lay-away, Academy doesn't. You can trade in granpa's old Browning Auto-22 or whatever, try that at Academy. They also sell used guns (a huge money maker).

It's apples and oranges, both are sound business models, I just buy where I get the best deal. I don't get hung up on the politics.

 

[rebs]

Not comparing to online, but just looking at the price increases in LGS''s.
I seen a RIA tactical for 459.00 at a LGS and when I was in there again about 1 month later it was over 500.00 for the same gun.
Also a Colt match target Hbar used for 999.00 a month later it was 1199.00 same gun.
Brand new in the box Colt Hbar flat top 1149.00 1 month later 1350.00 same gun.
Like someone else said the LGS's seem to be taking advantage of the situation and election year.

 

[dab102999]

The 5 gun shops I have within 1/2 hour of me in southwest lower michigan are within $50-$90 of best average internet price on all guns I have looked at. And by far cheaper on any used in just about everyshop. If I aint gunna save $150 or better on the net I wont do it. By the time I pay for them to ship it and pay ffl to recieve it wraps another $60-$80 on internet price and I would rather just absorb that in the price of him staying in business.

 

[Nine the Ranger]

My LGS had,a used Ruger 10/22, stock for $350, and beat to heck Mosin Nagants for $300.

Unfortunatly I can't buy guns online so I have to suffer...

 

[bikerbill]

My local gun store's prices are always below MSRP ... I've found lower prices at gunshows, frequently, but if the difference isn't huge I buy at the LGS to help keep him in business ... guess we can thank fear of a second Obama term for hiking demand and thus prices ...

 

[billcarey]

A shop in my area is normally msrp or higher on everything in the store. Nothing is below list.

 

[44 AMP]

Its called the law of supply and demand.

Also known as capitalism. Don't like it? Shop elsewhere.

Your local shop in in an area with a small customer base, and high operating costs due to your local government. But they are also, basically the only game in town. I would expect their volume is fairly low, so they need to maximize profit on each unit they actually do sell.

Its sad that the law doesn not allow the market to operate normally. That means we pay more for an item than we have to, sometimes. Be sure to remember to thank your elected officials for the priveledge.

 

[BlueTrain]

No, that's the way it normally works and that's why your local bookstore is no longer there, thanks to Amazon. However, the title of the thread is "Prices out of control." Do you think prices should be controlled?

This is not a new issue and it applies to all kinds of merchandise and all kinds of businesses. Local merchants did not care for the fact that Sears, Roebuck sold virtually everything through their catalog except perishables, and that was a hundred years ago. Then came the kinds of stores called "cut-rate" and discount stores. We called them big-box stores now. They are a mixed blessing.

On the one hand their prices really are low and mostly their employees are as nice as anyone else's. And compared to the town where I grew up, the parking is easier, which was a surprising worry in a town of 8,000 in the 1950s. But there's a bad side.

These stores are headquartered somewhere else. All the money taken in one day leaves town the next day. The store management, such as it is, never really counts as "local business leaders." It isn't a local business. And because they're a huge corporation, be it Wal-Mart or Lowe's, they get rock bottom prices from their vendors. So the vendors suffer and have to pinch pennies to get by. Then the domestic producers can't cut it and the products come from overseas, sometimes, although all of those stores still carry a lot of American made products. It usually isn't a quality issue, since even if everything were made in the United States, some things would still be of low quality, for which there is a big market. But mostly, it's a case of where the money goes, which is somewhere else.

 

[farmerboy]

If you find what you're looking for and online prices are cheaper then buy there and if you find good prices at Lgs buy there. Object is buy low, sell high. My object is buy low, never sell.

 

[zimm]

I buy online and my local FFL said they can't get guns from their supplier for the price I paid. Tack on profit and cost to run a shop, no wonder shops have to charge $100 more. They only make $30 off me for the transfer.

 

[Merad]

My LGS with the best selection is priced high and they won't really haggle at all (they might knock say $10-15 off of a gun priced at or above MSRP). I've been burned there a couple times on impulse buys that I didn't really research beforehand. Keep telling myself never again.... Heck even their transfer fee is $35.