The New Wave

If you have a crystal ball and take the time to look into it, you will see the future of the gun business. Believe me, it is undergoing big changes. How does this affect you, the gunsmith? Well, let’s review what is happening and after you rub last night’s sleep out of your eyes and drink that second cup of energy, you just may be one of the more perceptive people that can understand, agree, and adjust your business to cope with the new wave. Let’s hope so. This article is not a forewarning of impending doom.

It is a notice to advise you of what is happening, will continue to happen, and to get you to overhaul your flexibility so that you can continue to profit (?) and keep your place in the sun. So, pour a drop of Hoppe’s No. 9 in your coffee (or however you take your bean juice) and read on. Retail Retailing is changing in most areas.

The only areas that are not are ones of such limited population numbers that they do not warrant the investment by the retailer to establish one of the big box "super stores" in that town. Even so, big online retailers can be having a similar impact.

Regardless of the small town escaping the super stores or shopping malls, the old retailers are losing business because everyone that has a reliable Internet connection and/or car that takes them to Neverland by spending a little time behind the wheel and offers a day’s outing for the family. Yes, family, for the shopping experience at outlet malls or super stores is the land of enchantment and sales with many having a safe place for the kids to play while mother tries to bankrupt the old boy.

After all, this is her chance to get even after having to drive all those miles with the kids in the back seat trying to kill or maim one another. She is going to make damn sure her nerves are soothed by spending all she can. Remember in these cases, going out of town to the "big mall" is an expedition so take advantage of it. Going back a few years, I liked to do that. For me, it was a Sears that sold guns and ammunition and it was convenient to put it on the charge card. The same with J. C.

Penney’s or Montgomery Ward. All of these have stopped with others like K-Mart and then Walmart to pick up. The giants are ever expanding their sporting goods departments. You can’t beat their every day prices on guns and ammunition. Even with the recent silliness concerning ammunition sales, these giants will remain a factor. Another factor are the huge super market outdoor stores. Watch these stores.

Were it not for viable competition online, these stores would have invalidated that old standby, the mail order catalog. Local flyers and mini catalogs coupled with a shopping experience where customers can touch the goods rather than order from pictures and wait to receive it still holds value. Guns can’t be shipped directly to consumers because of the laws covering them. Some states and local jurisdictions may have restrictions on mailing ammunition as well.

Even if big box stores arbitrarily reduce or stop their gun and ammo sales, they still carry more accessories than you do and at better prices than you have. The accessory business, such as slings, swivels, recoil pads, magazines, sights, mounts and the like are all being packaged by the manufacturer for point of purchase sales. This is where you stop in for one particular item and end up seeing something else you like.

Grocery stores are the masters of this, in case you’ve ever wondered why common staple foods are placed past and through isles loaded with items designed for an impulse purchase. Gunsmiths are going to get fewer and fewer accessory sales because of this and accessory packaging and marketing will continue to grow.

There is a lot of common sense in your realizing that it is ridiculous and unprofitable for you to carry a large inventory of accessories and ammunition (there never was any big markup on ammunition anyway) when your customer is only going to pick out the scope he wants, go to a bigger (and possibly lower priced) big box store to buy it, adding some additional items and perhaps some ammo on the way. But that’s not all.

The latest trend in gun shops including full time gunsmiths is the awakening of the newest giant: Super Outdoor Sports Stores. These are raising their heads in every metropolitan area. They are huge (you can get lost for days in one) and they carry everything from maps to guns— all makes, models, and what not, along with everything to go with a gun from canned food to warm socks. They are truly super stores. You will find what you want and

something you don’t need (but end up getting anyway) in these stores. They are designed to cover it all so you have no need to look elsewhere. They have it. They also count on the fact that by the time you get through looking at everything and get to the department you really came in for that you are going to be too tired to go anywhere else and besides, the little gunsmith shop (including your small inventory) doesn’t have the selection that is in front of them now.

It’s an application of the grocer’s approach for sporting goods. Pretty hard to have one or two Browning A-5s in your stock and still sell them when your customer is standing before 25 of them, with more in the back room. These new super sporting goods stores offer displays large enough for your customer to get an education in guns and he will buy from them, don’t think he won’t. If you aren’t wanting to sell your shop by now, you should be.

But then, all gunsmiths think they are the answer to all gun situations and in their light-hearted way may ignore these facts. The retailing brains that figured out these super stores concentrated on one thing: A full service store. This means that there is a gunsmith on duty to mount that scope they just sold. While creating jobs for gunsmiths and encouraging more gunsmith schools graduates, this isn’t going to help you if you run your own, small, independent shop. Not much anyway.

What To Do Now get that third cup of coffee, turn on the country music station, add two drops of Hoppe’s in your cup, and we’ll try to figure this whole thing out. First off, while the switch of new gun sales and sales of ammunition may be to these new stores, this fact will not be disastrous. You can close out your inventory slowly. As for ammunition, given recent changes by some big retailers deciding to be faux politicians instead of merchants, this may open up ammunition sales for you.

Personally, I gave up handling that years ago so I am not sitting on a pile of inventory whatever happens. What these super stores can not do is trade. The personnel they hire to sell guns are right out of the men’s wear section—and probably just last week. While they may have a gunknowledgeable manager, he can’t or won’t be able to trade satisfactorily.

It is a strange thing that a store will carry thousands of dollars worth of guns at an average mark up of 25% but won’t deal on a trade in where the margin could be 30-40% and even 50%. Good for us for we can then settle down and make decent money on used guns. How do we do this? Let’s assume that your customer has a gun—any gun that retails new for $600. Perhaps he bought it from you, perhaps not, makes no difference. So the gun sold for $600 originally, it is 90% condition and should resell for $495.

You explain this to him—and if he has the brains of an Iver Johnson single barrel—he will agree. You further explain that you work on a 40% margin. If he can’t understand and agree to that, your deal is dead right there. The 40% off $495 brings his gun to about $300, your cost. Naturally, he is going to tell you he would like to get more out of it, so you being an old horse trader give him this: "I agree you should get more, but you are asking me to buy it.

If I had an immediate sale for it and could turn it at once I would make you a better offer. However, buying it from you now and then hoping someone else buys it from me later—someone that may never show up—means that I’m taking on all the risk. If you want more money out of it, I will sell it for you at a 20% commission—would you like to do that?" Personally, I am happy to work on someone else’s money for 20% (forget 10%) and you should be too. Either way, you are being honest.

If he deals, you’re getting the gun one way or the other and making money in the long run. This buying or trading is something that the super stores can’t do. While, and it is unfortunate, we can’t get all the used guns we want, the guns we get will bring us more profit and become a nice little sideline. We are going to get hurt on the sale of accessories, though it can be held down by the fact that you may be mounting a scope that was purchased from a large retailer (or online) that don’t have gunsmiths.

Because of this you can sell the mounts and the service, which all adds up. While your sales for swivels and magazines may go down, there isn’t much you can do unless you have sufficient funds so as to stock them and work on the premise that your customer will buy simply because he is in your shop. Take that approach if you will but watch your stock. As I see it, the sale of new guns, scopes, accessories, are going to falloff for the stocking gunsmith. What does this leave us with?

It leaves us with the same thing that we always had, only now we have to do a little more of it and maybe do it better. Capability, know how, fair price (for us) and above all, quality. Your customer may drive a Mercedes or an old pick up truck, but when any of them are coughing and breathing hard they have to go to the doctor. That doctor is you when a gun is involved. My approach is to convince all of you to sell yourself and your service. That’s all. You area plumber in the gun world.

Stick to it and all will be well, and you can keep ordering more tools from Brownells. Best of all, you will be able to take your spouse out once in awhile. AG