Dear mr sbryce, I am not the sharpest knife
in the draw as gun shop owners go, but in 16 years opperation, each year I made a profit
despite unscrupelase distributer's scheemes
to get me to pay too much for my stock in trade and despite customer's beating me over the head with the big guy's blowout sale,
down the street, selling for 10.oo over cost
and his advantage of affording to buy guns
a case at the time for 30.oo per gun below my wholesale.
Before opening a gun shop, you need to take a close look at the nearby competition,
because you will have to fight for customers with him.
When I first opened up there were gun shops all over the area like flies on ficies and
competition was fierce. Now they have gone out of business and I have their former customers.
I did not try to compete with Kmart or Wal mart and will not stock any firearms or ammo that they sell.I stock only what they do not sell.Same goes for the big gun shops; I have one at few towns over that has strangle hold pricing on Glocks ,so I dont stock Glock.
RULE #1 So dont compete with the other guy's sale items, stock something else,INSTEAD.
Rule #2 You need to judge your customer base & their needs and opperate accordingly.
I would not stock more than 1 or 2 of any gun
until you find out if it sells or if it is a 10 year shelf sitter.
10 year shelf sitters tie up your investment
until the price of the new gun goes up enough to make your bottom line profit required price look attractive again.
10 year shelf sitters can be turned over quickly if you are willing to sell at 20.oo or 30.oo less that you paid, take a loss and place the money into something that sells.
As far as the feds putting gun ownership out,
I think it will all come to a screeching halt
just as soon as George Bush takes the White Wash House.
Anything that anti civil fireams
rights socialists get passed through a Republican White Wash House will have been a big uphill battle for them.
Despite the constant bombardment of LIES from
CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN, when the public got a chance to tell their true feelings on the subject , such as the Second Ammendment Sisters, moms 4 guns, pro-gun/civil rights petition, we had 17,890 signatures in 3 weeks and the million mom march anti gun had 40 signatures in 4 months
on their anti civil firearms rights petition.
Other considerations: Dont pay too much for the rent or the building. Libility Insurance will be a bitch and then, if you ever need them, they will probably refuse to pay.Choose carefully and prehaps only buy the least expensive policy, figuring that they will welsh when needed.
Look at the political climate at your location and if the town /city will allow you to open and if there are any expenses that they will force you to incure.
There may be lead polution standards associated with the indoor range. Best to ban the shooting of lead bullets and shoot only
non lead or copper jacketed bullets.
Non lead bullets will be the better choice.
You can stock the non lead ammo for your range users to buy from you.Or , you can allow them to bring & shoot their own ammo
only if it is non-lead.
You will still need to ventalate the range
frequently and adaquately for your own health as wellas the customers.
That a shower just as soon as you get home every day and wash your lead dusted clothes.
The range portion probably has a film of lead dust all through out the premisses. A good wash down with soap and water will trap most of the lead dust in the water and the mop.
Lead dust settels on your clothes and skin and you breath some in through your lungs.
The worst exposure comes through the skin and clothes, thus if you take a shower, promptly and daily-- no skipping and strip off your clothes & wash em every day, you will NEVER GET LEAD POISONING as long as you have only limited exposure to the lead dust.
lead dust is like Raid Bug spray, you will get sick from it if you dont wash it off your skin & clothes daily and as soon as possible.
If you close at 4 pm , you need to hit the shower by 4.30pm to limit exposure .
Dont wait until 11pm- that is 7 and a half hours of needless exposure...all that time
the lead is soaking through your pores and
making your bone marrow animic.
I KNOW,I HAD LEAD POISONING FROM 1983 TO 1993 It takes 10 years on zero exposure to get over it...so just limit your exposure by taking showers & washing clothes and you will never get it to start with.
There will be range insurance to consider.
The cost of rent or buying the building and employee pay, heat,light ,phone bill, yellow page directory adds. I pay 60.oo a month for
business phone and 50.oo a month for directory adds. In May2000, I drop both and
go to newspaper adds,instead.The savings will
be 1,350.oo a year.Enough to pay for my car insurance.
Let me say this--DO WHAT THE TOBACCO COMPANIES DID--DIVERSIFY.
If the building is large enough, partition a section off and have a non-gun related business in the new section.
Rent it out to someone if you do not want to run it yourself.
If you rent out, insure that the partition is break in proof.
Security system for gun shop,sensors, dial out alarm via telephone that allerts you at your home or allerts a paid for security company, gun safes for anti theft storage
of most of your firearms stock and ammo.
A video camera and vcr system for appropiate locations in and around your building.
If ,after several years, the gun shop does not fly well,if political agendas ruin your
business, you will still have a source of income and be able to meet your bills.
If my gun shop went belly up today, I would still get 2,600.oo monthly from my other source of income.
All private ownership business is a risk, all stock is at risk. There is no guarantee of customers arriving and if they do arrive, there is no guarantee that they will buy anything or be allowed to buy via nics or via
not having a pistol permit.
You will be in a good situation to be a NRA Certified Pistol Safety Instructer ,as I am ,
and hold the pistol permit course right in your gun shop. The range is right there for the required pistol & revolver shooting.
I have to close the gun shop and travel 20 miles to a range with my students to sign off on their safe pistol & revolver shooting.
I get 100.oo & tax for a 10 hour pistol safety course and I allow them to shoot my personal guns and reloads. You can rent a gun
to them instead, for 12.00/hr and make them buy a box of .38 spl and a box of 9mm for
14.oo a box, each,or more and charge the 12.oo /hr range time.
So, your set up has many advantages which my
set up lacks-- however, my building is paid for, free & clear,no extra expense weather
I opperate or cease opperating...so i remain
open.
I have depression proofed my gun shop
by cutting expenses to almost nothing.
This is done by renting out a portion of the building for non gun opperations to a third party and collecting monthly rent.
Or yourself opperating non-gun store in a portion of the building.
A computer repair shop is only one idea, or copy machine repair or a cigarette shop or what ever is practical of the extra space you have.
If you have small extra space, you need to find a non gun business that can get by with small space.
You may want to get together with some of your shooting buddies,maybe 3 of em,and sell em shares in the company or take em in as partners, but make sure they have money to
invest as broke people are only looking to do you in.
Most with a net worth of under half a mill are not worth talking to, in my opinion.
There might be exceptions, but use your best judgement and have a signed contract that specifically states responsibilities & duties. Give this most carefull consideration.
The used gun market presents the best chance
of producing a good profit. I suggest a gun
buy up program from the public or a pawn shop type opperation.
You buy the guns as cheap as possible
and sell at as close to blue book price as you can.
There are always people willing to buy guns from you for less than you paid for them
and if you pay too much to aquire a gun , you will have to ask too much to sell it and it sits there and sits and sits.
So refuse to buy the gun from the guy who wants a lot; offer him a cheap price and if he does not like it , let him employ the door
and find some one else to over charge.
You are not in the gun business to loose money and close your doors. I find customers resepect me more if I dont give a danm about them, weather they buy or not,I dont care and I tell em to their face.
The cheapos leave & good ridance and the serious put money in my hand. Those people I go out of my way to please & work with.
The cheapos get the door. You can feel alot
better about yourself that way.
There will be gun sales as long as we remain commited to preventing the socialists from
subverting our civil rights.
So long as we continue to write hand written letters to our congressmen and representatives and let them know that we expect them to insure our civil firearms rights and the NRA remains strong & commited,
we will be ok, I think ,for at least the next 8 years, if Bush gets in and we give him a republican or libratarian congress to work with.
I would like to see Bush with a libritarian congress, and only a few democrats.
I would also like to see the fed gasoline tax
abolished or at least cut by 70% and also the state gasoline tax cut by 70%
If people need to spent all their disposable income buying gasoline, they wont be able to buy guns. So,we need to find rich customers.
The poor will spend it all on gas & oil& food.
This gasoline thing, if it continues ,will collapse the econimy.
I'd like to see that 80 to 125 MPG carborator
that detriot has been sitting on since 1950
be put on the market as a retrofit kit for
the cars we own now and not just on new cars starting in the year 2004 .
I'd like to see an electric car, on a mini
van body, with an electric motor rear wheel
drive and a 1200cc gasoline, 4 cyl front wheel drive with solar cells on the roof.
You could drive 3 hours on electric and then start up the gas engine for the return trip
or if you will spend time at your destination, the solar cells can be recharging the batteries.
This will keep the economy going, reliance
on deminishing supplies of ever more costly foriegn oil will keep us all broke.
There is way more wrong with America than just the civil firearms rights issue.
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GUN CONTROL puts THE CONTROL
in the hands of THE CRIMINALS.
--------------------------------
You all have my permision to
use any of these"signatures"
here, if you like!
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-They call 'em POLUTE-TICIANS because they POLUTE the MINDS
of OUR CHILDERN with their ANTI civil/firearms RIGHTS SOCIALIST
political agendas. We of the older generations know B.S.
when we hear it.
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In 2000, we must become politically active in
support of gun rights or we WILL LOSE the right
& the freedom.
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NO FATE BUT WHAT WE MAKE!!!
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Every year,over 2 million Americans use firearms
not to take live but to preserve life,....limb & family
.Gun Control Democrats would prefer that they are all disarmed
and helpless and die victims of felony violence,instead.
Protect your gun rights, go to:
http://home.xnet.com/~gizmonic/TheMarch.html
and sign up as a helper or attendee or state organizer.
ernest2, Conn. CAN opp. "Do What You Can"!
http://thematrix.acmecity.com/digital/237/cansite/can.html
