Gun stores dying?

I'm in Edmonton, and there is a GREAT BIG NEW WHOLE SALE SPORTS.. AND GUESS WHAT. THEY SUCK!!!!!!

BUT... YOU WANT A GOOD GUN STORE, WELL YOUR IN LUCK. TRY LOCK AND LOAD look it up. It's a classic small town gun shop with full gun smith service and honest deals.

Then again there is also Milarm.. but if you want the attitude attack go there. They are pissy people.

Nother good place though is P&D
 
westcoaster said:
For me, Wholesale Sports in Kamloops is a real disappointment, mainly with respect to staff. One time you get someone helpful, the next time you get someone with little knowledge and some attitude. If their (WS's) strategy is to drive people away with indifference and inconsistent service - it's working.
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I've found the guys at the gun counter of WS in Kamloops to be outstanding. All the guys I've talked to were knowledgeable and helpful beyond what I would likely be if in their shoes.

At the same time, I want to have local gun shops and I've found that WS has forced some of them to rethink their marketing strategy and as a result most in my area are doing very well and we are being better served. I can think of one shop in Kelowna that recently shut down but they were ignorantly opinionated and way overprices, they deserved to go under.

Win win if you ask me.
 
"...I've found the guys at the gun counter of WS in Kamloops to be outstanding. All the guys I've talked to were knowledgeable and helpful..."

Perhaps you have been there at the right time.

I have personally experienced a significant dichotomy. The last time I was there, looking for 416 Rigby bullets & brass, I got "What would anyone shoot that for..." What I was hoping for was "I Do not have the 400 grain Nosler Partitions in but I will get them and send them to you." Instead, I went home and ordered them online elsewhere.

The time before, a great guy who was showing me a beautiful Husky in .300 wm that I almost went to the doghouse for...

I'm glad someone has had consistently good service because mine has broadly varied.
 
I'm in Edmonton, and there is a GREAT BIG NEW WHOLE SALE SPORTS.. AND GUESS WHAT. THEY SUCK!!!!!!
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that's odd. i went there last time i was in edmonton. it wasn't actually that bad. i didn't spend alot of time, but i coughed once and a fellow showed me a bunch of guns i was interested in. they didn't have some of the other ones in wanted in stock, but even the local shop doesn't really have anything i want in. the rest of the store looked pretty good. didn't have time to check out the reloading section though.

maybe i have lower standards. lol.
 
if you go into the Kamloops WSS, look up Rod. he's bar none the BEST there is :D

the store is new tho...staff is rotating and I think a number of them are still getting their legs under them. that said, bad service is still inexcusable.
 
mackillan said:
The only place that sells guns in North Battleford, Saskatchewan is the Co-op. The woman who worked there claims that they have never had a .308 in there. She irritable referred to the .257 w mag as an oddball caliber lol. Is shooting dying? Or are sales online?
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Use them or lose them. If people don't support local businesses, they lose local businesses.

When I was a kid my hometown of 6000 souls had 5 places that sold firearms. 1 of those shops had an inventory of over 150 long guns at any given time, and more in hunting season. Today there are no firearms retailers left there. We had 2 gunsmiths back then, none now. Go figure.
 
I agree totally but she was so rude it was unbelieveable. I wnt in there to buy a .308 for the next day at the range but she drove me away. There are a few gunsmiths working in smaller places who can order in a make a few bucks working out of their home. I attempt to support them with ammo and other supplies as well. I ask them if they can match wholesale sports prices and most of the time it isnt so bad. I also enjoyed dealing with Frontier in Prince Albert and Sheps in Lloydminster. What is good about wholesale, the local dealer, and Frontier is the use of email. If there is good local service people will buy here but there is a vicious cycle with poor service and people buying elsewhere so it is a chicken and egg thing. Ive found that local gunsmiths can order in at a good price and by working out of their homes can make a buck and I attempt to buy through them unless the price is totally out of whack which it usually isnt. I think that there is a market niche there.
jethunter said:
Use them or lose them. If people don't support local businesses, they lose local businesses.

When I was a kid my hometown of 6000 souls had 5 places that sold firearms. 1 of those shops had an inventory of over 150 long guns at any given time, and more in hunting season. Today there are no firearms retailers left there. We had 2 gunsmiths back then, none now. Go figure.
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I had no problems with the WSS in Kamloops either,it was very busy when I was in there still managed to get help and some ammo for my .250 sav in under five minutes.Couldn't find any .250 ammo in my local shops.
 
Local Gun Shops

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If you guys think Wholesale Sports is bad, you should try shopping at Cabelas (formerly SIR) in Winnipeg. Wholesale in Winnipeg is much better.

I live 200 miles from Winnipeg, in a village of about 100 people, and get into the big city about 5 or 6 times a year. Most of my shopping is at Wolverine in Virden, and Jo-Brook or Home Hardware in Brandon. These businesses are reasonable in most of their prices, have a fair selection of merchandise, and the regular staff are knowledgeable enough. Our local hardware store (10 miles away) carries a bit of ammunition (at higher prices) but not a lot of selection.

I do mail order from Wholesale, but prefer to phone it in as both Cabela (SIR ) and Wholesale's website is not user friendly.

While I reload for big game and .22 varmint calibres, most of my shooting is using the .22 LR for Prairie Dogs and shotgun for birds. I probably shoot about 5000 rounds of .22 each year. Last year the Co-op in Redvers, Sask, had Federal HP .22 (745 bulk packs) on sale for $11.95 so I cleaned them out, (14 boxes). This year I bought a case of 10 boxes at Wolverine for $13.95 on sale (old stock, their new order is $16.95), and a few weeks ago I bought another 10 boxes for $14.95 each at Home Hardware.

The Cabela (SIR) price is $27.99 each.

'Nuff said.
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:p And remember how excited people got when Cabela's first came on the scene?

"Finally, someone to give our Canadian retailers a run for their money! They ain't gonna rip us off any more....:dancingbanana:"
 
Yeah but cabelas has a nice sign. SIR lost me as a customer about 3 years ago, and that new sign has not got me back in the door.
 
I think the pricing is what is killing the stores. I went to my store to buy 25-06 ammo, he had them at 47 bucks a box for blue box federal. I told him I could drive the 15 miles to the next town and get them for 27.00 a box. He then said, go ahead and drive because the price of fuel will kill ya. Sorry, but it doesn't cost me 20 bucks to drive 30 miles. Out I went. What happened to selling more at a lower profit, than selling few at a higher profit? This guy is out to lunch. Plain jane ruger hawkeye in 30-06 for 975$ !!!. Weatherby vanguard blued, synthetic for 775$ !! Crazy!
 
I just went to a local independent for some Hogdon Varget powder. $32.95/lb. I could have gone to Wholesale Sports and paid $0.00/lb, because they never have any in stock.
 
The market will always decide who stays and who goes, but if overpriced shops continue it tells me that people are willing to pay more and thats what keeps it going. Like the housing market, in time it might correct itself, or it might not. All depends on what people are willing to pay. We got 2 quotes for doing the electrical for our new house. One was $10500, the other was $8500. We went with the higer price because they would be in months quicker (we will get to move in quicker), the other place has been known to not show up when they said they would be, and the higer priced company is family friends who will spend their money local with us.

I remember watching my Dad in his buisness. He would be 6 weeks behind on work and someone would come in for a quote. If he was going to take on more work it meant working weekends and evenings. He would quote higher and some would say he was to high and if he wanted the work he better match prices with the new shop who was breaking into the buisness with low prices. In the end he was always home in the evenings to play baseball with us because he did not try to hoard buisness. Not exactly the same thing as been discussed here but if you look at all industries out there, some are high priced, some are not yet more times then not, the higher priced places stay around longer then the cheeper ones.

From all I read and hear, WSS in Edmonton is staying about the same for volume, while P&D is growing by leaps and bounds even though their prices are higher. If I was buying in Edmonton I would rather pay $30.00 more per gun knowing that I could walk in to a store like P&D and have friendly service and if I ever have warrently issues with the gun talk to the same person who sold it to me. Service counts for a whole lot. If a store is over priced and lacks service, the market will dictate what their future is.
 
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Service and reliability is a very important component of the demand side of the equation. We have seen so many small town businesses go under because of poor service and poor selection. If they can over the full meal deal they are more likely to do well.
frontier23 said:
The market will always decide who stays and who goes, but if overpriced shops continue it tells me that people are willing to pay more and thats what keeps it going. Like the housing market, in time it might correct itself, or it might not. All depends on what people are willing to pay. We got 2 quotes for doing the electrical for our new house. One was $10500, the other was $8500. We went with the higer price because they would be in months quicker (we will get to move in quicker), the other place has been known to not show up when they said they would be, and the higer priced company is family friends who will spend their money local with us.

I remember watching my Dad in his buisness. He would be 6 weeks behind on work and someone would come in for a quote. If he was going to take on more work it meant working weekends and evenings. He would quote higher and some would say he was to high and if he wanted the work he better match prices with the new shop who was breaking into the buisness with low prices. In the end he was always home in the evenings to play baseball with us because he did not try to hoard buisness. Not exactly the same thing as been discussed here but if you look at all industries out there, some are high priced, some are not yet more times then not, the higher priced places stay around longer then the cheeper ones.

From all I read and hear, WSS in Edmonton is staying about the same for volume, while P&D is growing by leaps and bounds even though their prices are higher. If I was buying in Edmonton I would rather pay $30.00 more per gun knowing that I could walk in to a store like P&D and have friendly service and if I ever have warrently issues with the gun talk to the same person who sold it to me. Service counts for a whole lot. If a store is over priced and lacks service, the market will dictate what their future is.
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Seems to me like gunshops in Canada should form an ammo buying co-op and get the price down as low as possible....it's in everyone's interest to keep shooting somewhat affordable in order to grow the sport!
 
They had the American Eagle on sale for $13.99 a box when Cabella's had their grand opening. Sounds like the price has doubled. Ouch.

Our Wholesale sports here in Winnipeg is excellent. Good guys and gals. I'm glad we have the place. I notice Walmart isn't stocking ammo like they used to. When I was a teenager and swept the floors at K-Mart, they sold centerfire rifles and shotguns. What a difference 25 years makes.
 
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