Wal Mart wanting to elim Sporting Goods Dept?

BleuBijou said:
About the mom and pop shops, there are 2 here close to home that I will never shop at. The first one I used to shop at would not sell me primers unless I purchased bullets, when he did not have the bullets I wanted, he still would not sell me primers. Oh well, just lost a customer for life. The other one asked me what I was looking for when I was looking at pistols and I told him I was not quite sure. He said, well how in the fnnn can I help you if you do not even know what the fnnn you want. What the hell????? There is one in Ft. Morgan that this old timer has that I like. He will chat with you for hours if you let him. Can't even see his counter there is so much clutter. Wanted some dies for reloading and he said he thought he had some somewhere. Comes back and had a twenty year old set of dies that were new . That's awesome
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As far as the comments about the mom and pops, with a Wal Mart or big box sporting goods store in town or close by the mom/pop store needs to offer something the other stores dont if they want to stay in business. The days of staying in business simply just because are gone. They need to offer that "something" be it knowledge, customer service, etc. Fill a niche if you will.

Some shops maybe had good people that went out of business but sometimes theres a reason they exit the market.

Theres a gun shop in Lindsborg, KS called Smokey Valley Shooting Sports. Ive bought 3 guns from them. I think what I love about his shop besides how its set up and decorated is the fact that he will let you go out back and shoot any used guns before you buy. He is the only store Ive ever found that at. They are usually the first place I will call if Im interested in something. And I always recommend them to people. I dont think theres one in the Wichita area that I would recommend at all. They all suck at their customer service or their gun smith sucks. 2 of them are only open because they offer indoor ranges and are the only 2 in town that do so.

Back on topic though, I still think wal mart is wanting to get rid of the dept because its not PC. The fact they dont sell cap or toy guns anymore and quit doing so sometime ago should tell us all something.
 
Seems SD and MN are blessed with Cabela's Scheel's and a host of "independents" like Gary's and Kone's Corner. Liabs and the store north of Lake Benton in MN also. Miss Sportsman's but they would not trade.

By the way---can anyone use a like new LEFT HANDED 3" 870 Express-$250
Gramps bought his grandson a LH SBE and Cabela's would only give me $200 for the one season use gun. less than 50 rds. thru it.
 
I agree. There are many more places to shop around at the further north you go. I will skip wal-mart at all costs. Thankfully I have a scheels, sportsmans and Basspro all within 45 minutes of me now.

Buck, what is the stock on the 870?
 
Hey Uncle Buck- You are especially right about Kone's Corner. I always stop there to buy my ammo and a few do-dads on my way out hunting. It is such a friendly place with good selection. I remember stopping there when I was just a kid and that was 40 years ago. The place is an institution.

As far as wally world is concerned...I only buy hunting stuff from people who speak the same language as me (hunting that is);)

Thor
 
I remember back in the early 80's when I still had my FFL and was trying to run a small gun shop, Walmart was selling Rem 870 Wingmasters for $35 less than I could buy one wholesale. After they opened one store 50 miles north and one store 40 miles east my sales of common stuff went way down. No way I could compete with that. I lived in a small farming community and most people shot 870's and 1100's in 12 gauge and M700's in 243 Win. WM shells were below my wholesale cost as well unless it was a wierd caliber they didn't stock. My sales declined almost 50% the first year Wally World moved to the area.
I also noticed when they came into the small towns they always had the best prices and after they decimated the competition their prices went up. My ex-wife continued to shop there and the store to the east was always a little bit higher than the newer one to the north. Both small towns have almost completely lost their small businesses because of WM.
I'm not a fan!
 
Airmedic1, I understand everyones concern about Wallyworld and why they will not shop there. I like the small shops too, if they are good people. The one thing I don't think is fair is that everyone bashes Walmart because they have buying power.If you want the same playing field, then the firearms companies should sell their product for the same price to everyone and not sell them cheaper to someone who buys 20,000 at a time. So in my stupid out of the box thinking I blame the gun companies for being a little greedy and responsible for giving Walmart sweet deals. Just my weird two cents worth. Thanks, guys!!!:thumbsup:
 
BleuBijou said:
If you want the same playing field, then the firearms companies should sell their product for the same price to everyone and not sell them cheaper to someone who buys 20,000 at a time. So in my stupid out of the box thinking I blame the gun companies for being a little greedy and responsible for giving Walmart sweet deals.

I agree a hundred percent. I actually did a couple studies on this for a class last semester. The same thing for most companies that sell to wal-mart.
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Putting flame suit on....and I say this with a smile and understanding of the frustrations that we all have-

But are you guys thinking about what you're saying? Its the gun companies faults for maximizing their sales/profits? They've got to answer to stock holders, they've got to put products out the doors. We all have choices on where we do business and to what level of quality an item is we purchase. If you don't want to buy the everyday Mossberg, Remington, Savage, etc that Wal-Mart carries, you can go to the next level of store and purchase an upper end Beretta, Browning, Kimber, Cooper, Dakota, etc . Its all about choices, we all have them.

Obviously there is a market for the role Wal-Mart is playing or they wouldn't have been successful. I fully agree that they're not exactly what Mr. Walton started them out, but change is going to happen, whether anybody wants it or not. You have to look at Walmart as a success, a guy started it from nothing and built it to what it is today, even against the government and all its rules and regulations trying to keep it down. We all have that opportunity, to start something from scratch, to take some risks, to make it big.

Flame suit off- :)
 
Cheesy, no need for the flame suit, you make a great point. The message I was trying to send is that if you are going to blame one, you half to see the other side of the fence and blame the other, but I am not blaming it on any one side. I see both their points of business and you are so right when you say we have a choice and I for one am happy we all do.:thumbsup:
 
And then throw in that the consumer has a choice, so we are guilty as well and share the blame. Given the choice of spending $20 on a quality item, or $10 on a Chinese item that 'more than likely will get me by', 90% of the time we take the $10 item. I know I am guilty of this in many areas of life.

Then there is this little situation. I was in the market for a rifle, Ruger 77 MK II .257 Roberts to be exact. Checked Wal-Mart prices, $459. Checked the local gun guy down the street, $485. I went with the local guy just because of the 'gotta help the little guy out' syndrome. Dad and I decided we didn't want to share the one .257, so 6 months later I bought another one, again, he was $25 or so higher, no big deal. Traded a few guns in on some others, paid a bit much for what I got, but it was a used gun I wanted, no big deal. In total I'd probably taken 5 guns off his hands, so a repeat customer that had been happy. The problem was when I bought a used Kimber 84M off an online classifieds. I went to him knowing he sold on gunbroker and did transfers. I asked about it, he said sure, $25 transfer fee. He asks what I got, I say a Kimber, and all of a sudden he starts back peddling, citing BATF rules that he could only accept from an out of state FFL holder, blah blah blah (not true by the way). I questioned the statutes he was talking about, he couldn't come up with a number, I offered to show him on the BATF website that it was ok, he wanted nothing to do with it. Turns out, he was a Kimber master dealer, and didn't want anybody buying them out of state and shipping in. Because of that, I haven't stepped foot in his shop in 3 years. Went to the local mom and pop pawn shop down the street and got the transfer done with no issues.
 
Kimber might have dealer agreements that would have jeprodized the daeler had he transferred the gun for you. Browning has strict agreements in some cases, usually re pricing.
 
Uncle Buck said:
Kimber might have dealer agreements that would have jeprodized the daeler had he transferred the gun for you. Browning has strict agreements in some cases, usually re pricing.
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Well if thats the case he should just say so.

Too many dealers are not up front and honest hence why I wouldnt buy anything from most of them. I prefer to buy from a private individual anyways for the most part. I dont like dealing with middle-men.
 
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