Overpaying to Support LGS?

W

wmg1299

New member
Most of my purchases have been made at big retailers like Academy. I order most of my accessories online. However, I have found an LGS that I trust and want to help remain in business.

I purchased a Taurus 738 TCP from the store for a price that was very competitive with online dealers. I went ahead and picked up a pocket holster at the store for about $5 more than I could get it for online. The LGS wanted $49 for 100 rounds of Winchester .380 FMJ, which is available at the local Walmart for $35. I passed on the ammo because the price difference seemed a little too large to justify.

I was wondering how much more the average customer is willing to pay an LGS to keep a brick-and-mortar store in business and to reward the owners for providing personal service. Would most of you guys have picked up the ammo as well, or was that too big a difference to justify?
 
Any more, I pay for what I get. If you open a store and can really show me why I need/want this or that gun, I would pay more. ....or if I can test fire, rent similar. If you just dream of running a completely overpriced non-competative business, go ahead and I'll order online. PITA!

In slim margins like ammo, you have to beat the shipped price or some plus alpha for time wasted waiting.
 
The last LGS I went to ask if they would just do a transfer for me, told me $100.

So I wouldn't support him if he was cheaper which he isn't.


If he had told me $25 or less, then I would likely have bought ammo/extras there. Now I buy nothing there.
 
I am willing to pay tax to support my LGS, so if their price before tax is at or below what I would pay including shipping online I will buy from them. Any more than that and I consider myself to just be wasting money.
 
Having grown up in an era before there even was such as thing as "online", we have wonderful opportunities to day to be cheap.

We used to (sort of) have this kind of conversation, about the guy who would look, and handle everything in the gunshop, and then go buy a generic pump shotgun from Walmart/Kmart, etc, because he could get it $20 (or maybe even less) cheaper.

Think of all the things that a gun shop does, and offers that you CANNOT get online, or at a discount store. Sometimes its the expertise of the shop (although sadly, that is very much a matter of who you are dealing with). Almost always it is the ability to look closely at, and usually handle the gun you are thinking of buying, BEFORE you pay for it.

Sometimes, being able to walk out with that box of bullets, or holster, or whatever instead of having to wait for it to be shipped to you is a valuable thing.

Having a person you can talk to face to face if needed, to resolve questions or complaints, is another thing.

You might consider that paying more than the absolute minimum for some things might buy you more than just what comes in the box...

The "best deal" isn't always the lowest price...
 
"Having a person you can talk to face to face if needed, to resolve questions or complaints, is another thing.

You might consider that paying more than the absolute minimum for some things might buy you more than just what comes in the box...

The "best deal" isn't always the lowest price..."

Agreed also there can be other issues as well.

Had to send a handgun for night sight instillation. Legally I could have done it myself. However I used my LGS and was extremely glad I did so because the gun was stolen while in shipping and recovered downstate from me. I did not have to deal with the shipper, the insurance company or any of the legal agencies involved except for one brief phone call where I told them to call my LGS.

Most definitely worth it.

However when Walmart is sell .45 ACP for $40 per 100 and my LGS is selling at $60 per hundred I will buy the Walmart ammo and instead purchase other things at the LGS where they are reasonable.

How much of a price difference before I do not buy? No more than 25%.

NukemJim
 
For guns and reloading supplies I'm willing to pay about 10% more to support small, local gun shops. Holsters are a non-issue -- I shoot and carry 1911s, and the brand of holster I use comes from England, they are made-to-order, and no U.S. shop or big box retailer is going to have them in stock.

Ammo is a commodity. Personal defense ammo I buy from my local gun shop. I've been loading my own plinking ammo for a couple of years; before that, I bought it at Wal-Mart. LGS/range owner knew it and didn't mind. He also knows I reload and I buy my powder and primers from him as much as possible, so he's cool with that, as well.
 
A small gun shop I have done business with for over 40 years is run by a lady . She is a good honest person but very tight with a dollar . I buy most of my guns on line and have her do the transfer it did cost me $20.00 .
Now I feel she is getting close to closing the store and retiring and acts like she needs to make the last dollar . Last time I ask about a transfer she said $40.00 . My new dealer is 8 miles closer and $15.00 he doesn't really sell guns or ammo he just does transfers . He told me two weeks ago as I picked up two new rugers (still only $15.00) he will do 15-20 transfers a week . That plus his SSI pays the bills .
 
When I first started buying guns about twenty years ago I had a couple of LGSs that I did almost all my business with. Sadly over the years they both have changed significantly and I’ve been told outright lies by employees as they try to make a sale. So, I kind of feel like whatever non-spoken contract we had was broken and now I pretty much shop big boxes, LGS, and pawn shops looking for the best price.
 
A long time ago I read an article in some car magazine about where to buy your motor oil.Obviously you can buy oil cheaper a lot of places other than your local autoparts store.
I suppose this idea is a little out of date because few folks work on their own vehicles anymore,
But the point was Wallie world,etc will never have a seal or a bearing or the radiator hose you need.
So,the suggestion was if you like having a LGS,it takes some support to keep the doors open.
There are all kinds of LGS,just as there are all kinds of customers.If the shop is run by a jerk,fine.He does not represent a beneficial resource.

If the LGS is a resource ,consider giving the shop support...first chance at your buck.
Amazingly enough,you just may establish yourself as a respected,valued customer.There may be some perks to that.
 
I buy many things from two LGS's I deal with. Both are run by good guys, and one of them is an avid shooter to boot. The other is more business man than shooter, but that's fine too. He does understand gun people, and that helps.

Guns I buy from the LGS, one exception was a transfer I had done via Gunbroker. It cost me $30 and was no trouble at all.

The other guy carries loading supplies along with guns, and his prices rival gun shows. Plus no hazmat fees. I buy most things from one of these two LGS.

One example where I won't is Magpul mags. Both shops want $20 for 30 rounders, and Magpul's price is cheaper on their site. $14 I believe. And they're much cheaper elsewhere. So I bought those online.

I do like having local gun shops to visit, and I'm lucky to have 4 of them within 15 miles. Plus the large store Megasports 30 miles away, and a Gander Mountain. I don't visit GM too much, but I heard the Joliet store has a lot more gun stuff in recent months. I'll have to check it out.

Imagine having that many gun stores that close, and I'm in IL. There are several more but I haven't gone to them yet. It would be close to 8 shops very close. They all seem to be doing okay, too.
 
I really do t know what business model an LGS can use to be highly successful anymore.

I have this vision of a store that does $20-$30 transfers, sells bullets, gunpowder and primers at good profit and finally makes their real buck renting guns to try(having a whole fitting the gun to the person)

Finally letting a customer break in their gun before the transfer. I.e. The customer picks a 1911 of brand A, pays something, then shoots 50-250 rounds through it. If it breaks or fails, we just open another box and the shop sends it back to the mfgr. If it passes, then we transfer and fill out the warranty card.

It's a way to eliminate the pain of buying a new gun that chokes on every 3rd round. Obviously customer pays for ammo, range time and a premium for the service.

In a way, it forces gunmakers to have higher initial quality.


Right now, few LGS offer service. Many are rude overpriced and racist IME.
 
Free market to me means they have to have the best price or best service . Or I go to the big box .
 
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I pay for convenience all the time--we all do at one time or another.

Sure, sometimes we drive a little farther to the station that has gas for 3 cents a gallon cheaper, but sometimes we're in a hurry or don't want to bother with the extra distance so we fill up at the station down the street.

It's much cheaper to buy a 12pack of soda from the store and carry them around in a cooler, but we all occasionally pay about triple the actual price to get one out of the machine.

And, of course it's a much less expensive to cook your own food, but sometimes we're all willing to pay extra to have someone else do the work and serve it to us.

My LGS is a few blocks from my house. That's pretty convenient. I could order online cheaper, but sometimes I'd rather drop by on the way home and tell them to order me something, or just buy it off the shelf. Wal-Mart has better ammo prices, but there are times when I'm not interested in running the Wal-Mart gauntlet to pick up a couple of boxes of 9mm.

How much will I "overpay" for ammo from the LGS or for a gun off their shelf? How much will I "overpay" for a soft drink out of a machine or to have someone else serve me food I could have cooked myself? Depends on a lot of things.
 
I spread my money around. The LGS was able to find pistol powder when no one else could find it. The C store has Berrys bullets and primers. Another LGS has a decent holster selection so I can take my gun in and get one to fit....try and do that at Cabellas with a Star. And you can forget about letting anyone at the C store touch any of my guns cuz their safety people are downright stupid. I sure aint gonna let them touch an Ortigies or a Savage.....I didnt let them touch my Star I cleared it infront of the fool and checked the fit in the holster I was going to purchase.

Bimart used to be good for powder but had been having problems finding it but they had some more in and it was $8.00 cheeper then the LGS so I bought some more. The LGS that had the powder also has once fired brass so if I can not get enough online from a guy here I augment from the LGS.

The C store staff know squat about reloading. Everytime I go in there I wind up helping customers.
 
The availability of online purchasing destroyed the last place I worked for. We couldn't compete with online retailers that sold the same product for what we paid for it. Big ticket items only had a 10-15% margin, so, there was no room to negotiate.

Now I work at a pawn shop and if they relied solely on guns they would be out of business in a couple of months. The shop does free transfers, so, that fee savings gives most cusomers another added reason to shop online instead of in the store. I've sold two guns this week and can't imagine staying there much longer because there is no money to be made. There has been two local shops close in the last year and there will probably a couple more. Very sad to watch.
 
Depends on the store.

Most of the LGS around here seem to have a bunch of condescending, arrogant pinheads working behind the counter that barely acknowledge your existence let alone provide help. Practically everything they sell is overpriced. Most of the ammo is marked up so high that they've accumulated a nice layer of dust on them.

There's a couple of exceptions to the statement above, but largely it applies.

I have a Cabela's about 20 minutes away that's a decent resource for plinking ammo. I buy Gold Dots and HST's online or from a local LE supply store.

Need a gun? I have a friend that's an FFL that can order anything I need.

If the LGS were to drop the attitude, I'd consider dropping some money there.
 
Someone mentioned 10%. I think that's a good rule of thumb, especially if that comes with convenience of not waiting for post office/carrier delivery and the benefit of personal service/camaraderie. So for a $10 box of ammo from WalMart or an online retailer, I am willing to pay $11 to the mom-and-pop store. For a $500 gun, I am willing to pay them $550. Again, a general rule...which, of course, means there are exceptions.
 
I generally avoid big box stores like academy, bass pro, etc. There are a few LCS in my area I frequent and make a point of buying something each time I stop in, in this way I think I have a life time supply of patches, bore snakes, cleaning solvent... small items. When I spy an underpriced used gun I'll snap it up.

But, I reload. There is one LCS that caters to reloading and I pay sometimes 25% to 50% over what I can get it online for just to have the access to hands on expertise, whether it be powder, bullets, brass, primers...

When I buy ammo, I buy in bulk, rarely less than 1,000 rounds. I weigh shipping charges vs. sales tax and I shop a dozen or more sites before going to the search accumulators.

When I buy a new firearm, I make sure it's not one my receiving LCS has in stock and preferably doesn't carry the mark.

And sure, there are crappy LCS stores I just stay out of.
 
I support the LGS whenever possible, same for other retailers. But there is a limit on price... I’ve never thought about it but I'd say about 10% give or take. If the price is too much then all bets are off and I'll go wherever I can get it the cheapest.
 
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