Should I Open A Gun Store?

[g.willikers]

Instead of having a store like all the others and trying to compete with them, how about having a niche type one?
In our area, there is no-one stocking or selling much in reloading.
Or targets and stands.
Or competition stuff.
People who go to matches shoot tons more than the average gun owner.
Nor do they have a real gunsmith.
There's lots of places selling guns, ammo and much of the same accessories, but little if any specialty items.
Not much in the way of muzzle loading, either.
Of course there's plenty of all this stuff via the internet, but a real life place that has shelves full of it is something different.
Unfortunately, the only way to find out what sells is to stock it and see, and continually adjust accordingly.
Risky business, for sure.

 

[BobCat45]

g. you are right and that is sort of what the OP said to start with, a place

to focus on the shooting sports, not so much on hunting or general sporting goods like bait or fishing poles or general recreation stuff.

- which sounds like a wonderful place, to me.

A lot depends on what shooting sports are popular in his area, what other stores are there and what they sell, and whether or not he intends to sell on the internet as well as in the store.

I think I'm just sour because there are many gun stores in my area but none of them sell competition-specific gear. They sell hunting rifles, scopes, pistols, ammunition, and some reloading supplies, but no niche competition stuff.

 

[Machineguntony]

I do love walking into a LGS and holding the gun.

Most online sellers have a B&M location, and are using the online presence as supplement to their B&M sales. So you aren't on all that unequal of a footing. And most B&M sellers will match an online price. My two favorite questions are: 1. "Will you match this price?"; 2. "Will this pistol fire full auto?" J/K on the second question.

Don't let online competition scare you away. You just have to be smarter and more awesome than your competition.

 

[TXAZ]

A couple of personal observations on local gun stores (Phoenix and Austin areas):

Loyalty and knowledge are worth something but not everything:
Low prices are important but given a knowledgable counter at a slightly higher price (+$25~) vs a revolving door of poorly informed, I'll pay the extra.

A counter attendant that is not knowledgable or tries to BS is a "no return" to that store policy for me.

A store that has a good range, classes and instructors is worth $$'s.

Reputations come and go with staff and ownership.


Good luck. One of the best I've ever been a member at is Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona. They have everything, including a sizeable investment.

Good luck!

 

[johnwilliamson062]

There is a store 15 minutes from me that was started with $5000 as a second business specializing in transfers. The guy was prepping for retirement and works 4-8 tue-friday and 4-6 hours some Saturdays. His cash flow is positive and he is expanding his inventory as he goes. I've been checking out his operation in order to mimick it.
He is very friendly, doesn't push opinions about individual firearms and manages to continue working while chit chatting with the regulars.

 

[FAS1]

I do think I'd like to focus on the shooting sports, not so much on hunting or general sporting goods like bait or fishing poles or general recreation stuff. I would want to be more 'purist' in focus catering primarily to CCW and self defense, Competitive shooting Bullseye/DCM, and the accessories and gear that go along with it.

A small store with a classroom and a range would help for people to want to support your local business and would make it easy to stay focused on what you want to cater to.

My first CHL was taken at a restaurant (classroom, photos, prints, and dinner). We met at the range first off to qualify in the evening after work. A couple years later my instructor opened a small store/classroom in a strip center and continued using a range nearby to qualify. Last year he was able to buy some property on the outskirts and open his own store/classroom/range. All geared to CHL, advanced training, training classes for women, etc.

It took him probably 10 years to get to where he is today, but for half that time he was working a job to be able to get there. Sounds like you have some capital to invest. Here's a link to his website. It might be helpful to you and I'm sure you could call him and pick his brain if you wanted to. Josh is the owner. I wish you the best if you decide to do it!


"If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life."
Marc Anthony


https://lonestarhandgun.com/

 

[4V50 Gary]

I'm not optimistic about the economy. As witnessed by the layoffs by some firms like Savage and Colt, gun sales are slowing down. Consumer spending is down even with the online store, Amazon. It's not going to get better in the near future as there has been no economy recovery.

In fact, we've been getting worse, not better since 2007. Ruger Top Dog Michael Fifer explains it well in this partial excerpt:

No Job for John Smith? But does he wonder why???

John Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 am.

While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG).

He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA).

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY), filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia), and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (made in MALAYSIA), John decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL), poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in AMERICA.

Here's the link: https://www.ruger.com/dataProcess/tellTheCEO.html Basically no jobs equals no consumer and therefore no consumer spending.

 

[Old Stony]

I owned a gun shop in the crazy western state for years, and wouldn't consider doing it again. I think I had a very good operation with a full time gunsmith and the whole works in a 2,000 sq. foot building. I opened it up with a 30,000 loan and was making a profit in under two months. The business was fun and profitable, but I got out of it because of one thing.....LAWYERS !
No matter what protections you have with insurance etc....you are ultimately going to be held responsible for anything out of the ordinary that happens. If one of your customers shoots himself in the foot, you will be part of the lawsuit no matter what and it can cost you everything you have or will ever have to defend yourself.
It doesn't matter whether you are at fault in any remote sense or not, the lawyers will still extract their blood money from you.....Period.
Right or wrong you can easily end up on the bad end of things.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

most B&M sellers will match an online price.

This seems to be a localized phenomenon. Local stores around here will rarely budge from their ticketed price. Many of them are offended if you ask. You get the old "I got bills too, you know!?" Thing is, their prices are not remotely competitive. I wouldn't mind paying $50-$75 more on a $500 gun but when I can order it from Bud's, pay the $25 transfer fee and STILL be $150 cheaper than the local guy BEFORE 8% tax, it's a bit ridiculous.

One guy (no longer in business) was so stingy that he wouldn't even do it "tax included" after I showed him I could get the same gun (Glock 33) from Bud's for $499 and his sticker was $650.

 

[g.willikers]

^^^
A perfect example of how a lack of business sense can put a store out of business.
All too often, folks who open a retail store do it with more enthusiasm and optimism than business sense.
Knowing about guns is only part of the necessaries.

 

[Machineguntony]

A bad economy is often a perfect time to open a small business. A bad economy will often times drive your competitors out of business, or weaken them, thereby making an opening for your business.

Bad economy this, bad economy that.

When I see a bad economy, I see opportunity because: 1. a bad economy drives my competitors out of business; 2. bad economy means more people looking for jobs, meaning salaries don't rise as fast, meaning my staffing costs either stabilize or decrease; 3. more businesses going out of business means less demand for business to business transactions, meaning my business to business costs are lower (for example, more businesses going out of business means that fewer businesses want to advertise or have the money to advertise, so with fewer advertisers, my ad rates stabilize or become cheaper); 4. a bad economy forces a business to be smarter, sharper, and more streamlined, thereby making the business healthier in the long term.

If you want to go into business, you have to learn how to turn lemons into lemonade. Don't let the "bad economy" scare you. Let it motivate you.

Being a business owner is not for the weak of heart.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

If you want to go into business, you have to learn how to turn lemons into lemonade. Don't let the "bad economy" scare you. Let it motivate you.

Being a business owner is not for the weak of heart.

What Tony says here is true. It's not so much the economy that you need to worry about, it's your customers ability and desire (or need) to spend money, how much of that money they actually have and how much of that money they will spend on your business instead of someone else's.

My pizza shop, for example, isn't really hurt by the "bad economy". It's hurt by high prices of necessities, especially gasoline. 25 or 50 cents might not matter but when it goes from $1.50 to $4.00, that's several hundred dollars a month for a lot of folks and that amounts to nearly 100% (and sometimes more) of their disposable income. No disposable income means no pizza.

Unfortunately, it's a double whammy for me. My customers living expenses rise and they spend less money, while the cost of my own supplies also rise, meaning I'm making less profit on the sales that ARE remaining.

One thing I wasn't prepared for (among many things) when I opened this place was how quickly you can make AND LOSE money in a business. I literally had to borrow money from an employee to put in the cash register the first day, hoping we made enough to put gas in the car to get me home. 6 months later, I had almost $20,000 in the bank and no debts. Six months later, I was $5000 in debt and couldn't pay the bills.

7 years later, I'm still here.

 

[Rovert]

Guys, while I very much appreciate all the qualitative feedback, and much of it I'm already aware of though it's helpful to hear it from others. What has been paunfully lacking that would be the most helpful are sales by category and margins by segment.

Let me restate the question:

• What sort of capital did you have to invest to get yourself going?
• What is your customer/market base like (hunters? sport shooters?)
• What is the square footage of your store?
• What is your approximate annual Gross Revenue?
• What is your Gross Profit by Category in $ or % (i.e. guns, ammo, accessories, apparel, etc and by segmentation if possible - for example new, used, collectible/historic; handguns, shotguns, rifles...)
• What is your average sale per customer?

I'd be grateful if someone would be forthcoming with that information so I can confirm the numbers I've already gotten from other sources ti give me a more crisp picture of how I can project my opportunity.

Thanks!

 

[Nathan]

Your idea is probably fine, but you need an angle. How will you get in? Will you scrounge gun shows for things to sell online? Will you start getting transfer business and then jump into sales to those customers you attracted with low buck transfers? Will you fill a role like sending guns to gunsmiths for repairs at a lower cost?

I have thought about this some too. My angle is to move into the market as an internet sales facilitator. I will do reasonable priced transfers, ship internet sold guns for a reasonable fee, list other's guns online for sale(consignment type business), scrounge local auctions for foder to sell online, ship guns to gunsmiths, etc.

IMHO, that is the angle to get into gun sales. Surely, there are other angles.

 

[Machineguntony]

I am living vicariously through this thread because I want to open a gun store and I will never open a gun store.

I know of a guy who was shot in his own gun store. Here's surveillance footage...warning graphic footage:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIPCn-aYMoM

 

[g.willikers]

The questions you are asking will not necessarily provide useful answers.
Unless info comes from a store that's exactly like what you have in mind, they can be very misleading.
Better to take a tour of all the gun shops in your area and see what they are doing, and more importantly, what they are not.
If another shop is selling to one kind of customer base and not another, it may be due to nothing more than they are addressing that type of customer.
Deciding what to stock is one of the most difficult things to determine.
As for the size of store and amount of investment, the successful businesses start small and grow with their success.
They don't start huge and hope to support it with expectations.
Even the average sale per customer depends more on the skill of the sales people than anything else.
For example, does the term "Plus Sales" have meaning to you?
Or "Sell the Adventure, not the gear?"
Every business is different, different people, different goals, different skills.
Copy cats may do ok, but originals do better.
If you are confident you have a better plan, and see possibilities that aren't being addressed, go for it.

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

Alright guys. The OP has said that he is an experienced business man with extensive sales and marketing knowledge. Let's answer his questions or not reply to the thread.