Sad news about a great gun shop

[SnoopLoggyDog]

Ran by McDonald's Gun Shop today. Heard from Jeff that he plans to close sometime this summer. Will be retiring and moving down South. Primary reason is due to not being able to restock. His sources only care about restocking the big box sporting goods stores. Been going to that shop since the early 90's. Best little gunshop in the state of Indiana. 2021 really sucks.

 

[jason867]

Is this near Gas city?

 

[MCgrease08]

Is this near Gas city?

Yes

 

[churchmouse]

The big box outfits buy more at a time. Again hurting the little guy..

One man/family brick and mortars are going away peoples.

 

[Ziggidy]

Has become a way too popular headline; it's starting.

 

[Twangbanger]

The sad thing about this is the people who were buying the $250 Smith Shields at Academy Sports are often totally clueless newbies, mostly like the people behind the counter, and go there because they feel safer in a big box store. But when they need "education," they go to the internet, and that's where crap like "40 is a good caliber / wait now it sucks and destroys guns," or "I don't want a gun where you have to pull the trigger to disassemble it," or "new smith and wessons are crap," or "you need a laser" gets started.

But oh well. Car dealers are the same way now. "The semi will be there Monday morning." If you can't take delivery of 40 of something, right meow, go screw yourself and mail your flag back while you're at it.

 

[IndyDave1776]

The big box outfits buy more at a time. Again hurting the little guy..

One man/family brick and mortars are going away peoples.

This is why we all need to work at needing as little from those big box bastards as possible.

 

[churchmouse]

This is why we all need to work at needing as little from those big box bastards as possible.

I try and buy local if possible but to actually find parts etc requires a specialized shop. And even then I cant find the things I may require.

 

[jy951]

That's a grest shop and a great owner. When I lived in the area I went there quite a few times. He was always helpful. Good luck to him.

 

[DadSmith]

Ran by McDonald's Gun Shop today. Heard from Jeff that he plans to close sometime this summer. Will be retiring and moving down South. Primary reason is due to not being able to restock. His sources only care about restocking the big box sporting goods stores. Been going to that shop since the early 90's. Best little gunshop in the state of Indiana. 2021 really sucks.

I lost my local gun shop for the same reasons. The suppliers are only sending firearms and ammunition even reloading supplies to the bigger stores. My local gun shop Warpath Guns in Milan had to shut down. Very good people and good prices. I really miss them. I bought off them so much they said I was their best customer and they even got me a Christmas gift. They also held a case of 9mm for me at normal before covid19, riot, and Biden prices.

 

[eddiehelm]

I was just out there yesterday and had no idea. Good man and a good family all around. Gonna be missed for sure.

 

[bsmithg19]

Ran by McDonald's Gun Shop today. Heard from Jeff that he plans to close sometime this summer. Will be retiring and moving down South. Primary reason is due to not being able to restock. His sources only care about restocking the big box sporting goods stores. Been going to that shop since the early 90's. Best little gunshop in the state of Indiana. 2021 really sucks.

I went in there once during good gun pricing times looking for a 92FS. They were asking $650 for a used one that at the time was going for $500 new online. This is what makes me order everything online.

 

[jwleeper]

I'm thinking this all fits a plan by the leaders. We lost our good store a few years back. Same problems as stated above. It is a whole lot easier for control to be administered to a few big box stores than a lot of little ones. It is all about control. Just the thoughts of an old man that pays attention.
Have a great day.
Jim

 

[Mongo59]

I would love to be able to buy all my guns and parts locally, but it just isn't possible.

I get 95% + locally but would be willing to buy more if available.

I am lucky to have 2 LGS where people think I practically live, but the owners can't sell what they don't have or can't get.

The owners know their customers and know when certain items come in, just make 1 phone call and it is sold.

It pays to know the owners and get on 'that' list for the items you seek and keep a chunk of cash available. Then everyone wins.

 

[Winamac]

I am sorry to hear about them closing. I bought my SA Hell Cat from him this past spring. I then sent a Remington shotgun through him for some smith work. Got it back works great. What others on here have said rings true. The little guy is struggling to get inventory. There is a fairly new little shop here close by me. He said he has $$$$$ tied up in inventory that is on back order. He said not getting it is slowly strangling him. He survives by doing gun shows also. I try to buy from my LGS whenever I can. McDonalds was/is a neat shop. I wish them well.

 

[bgcatty]

Very sad to hear as it is a very nice LGS operated by a nice family. Best of luck to the owners.

 

[airrifle82]

I went in there once during good gun pricing times looking for a 92FS. They were asking $650 for a used one that at the time was going for $500 new online. This is what makes me order everything online.

I went in there once during good gun pricing times looking for a 92FS. They were asking $650 for a used one that at the time was going for $500 new online. This is what makes me order everything online.

They probably gave the poor schmuck that sold it to them $150....

 

[Bosshoss]

They probably gave the poor schmuck that sold it to them $150....

And they took it. I don't see a problem here.

 

[VERT]

Interesting thread. I can shed some light on the issues facing local gun shops vs big box stores.

1) Big Box Stores buy in bulk through their buyers. Think of it like this, the stores are their own warehouse. Ever wonder why Cabelas/BassPro or RKguns tells you to look at their website otherwise it isn't available and they can't order. It is because they project sales months in advance. That is also why the pricing takes longer to catch up with the market, they are still burning through old inventory. Want to guess where manufactures dump Gen 1 guns when the Gen 2s get announced? Makes sense right?
2) Local Shops survive on buying inventory and then being able to quickly sell that inventory. Or they survive on small specialty items with good margin. For example, if they buy $1000 worth of guns they want to sell it for a small profit quickly vs a $5 MagPul do dad that might sit but has better margin. People buy the $5 do dad because online doesn't make sense with shipping costs, but a lot of that ties up the shops resources. Its all about managing inventory, inventory equates to resources needed to pay the light bill.
3) Right now everything people want is allocated at the distributor level. By that I mean guns, powder, primers, magazines, ammunition. Distributors don't have enough to fill orders. So they tell the shops what they will sell them, there are no choices. To add insult to injury those distributors might say "hey if you buy $1000 worth of holsters we will allocate $1000 worth of guns." Keep in mind distribution is trying to sell goods and survive this as well. The result is a super sucking sound directly upon the limited resources a small shop can access.

So for all the guys going to the LGS and showing the guy behind the counter a screen shot from gunscalper.com for an out of stock pistol listed for $100 less then the tag in case. I salute you and give a loving invitation to ****************** (censored)

 

[DadSmith]

Interesting thread. I can shed some light on the issues facing local gun shops vs big box stores.

1) Big Box Stores buy in bulk through their buyers. Think of it like this, the stores are their own warehouse. Ever wonder why Cabelas/BassPro or RKguns tells you to look at their website otherwise it isn't available and they can't order. It is because they project sales months in advance. That is also why the pricing takes longer to catch up with the market, they are still burning through old inventory. Want to guess where manufactures dump Gen 1 guns when the Gen 2s get announced? Makes sense right?
2) Local Shops survive on buying inventory and then being able to quickly sell that inventory. Or they survive on small specialty items with good margin. For example, if they buy $1000 worth of guns they want to sell it for a small profit quickly vs a $5 MagPul do dad that might sit but has better margin. People buy the $5 do dad because online doesn't make sense with shipping costs, but a lot of that ties up the shops resources. Its all about managing inventory, inventory equates to resources needed to pay the light bill.
3) Right now everything people want is allocated at the distributor level. By that I mean guns, powder, primers, magazines, ammunition. Distributors don't have enough to fill orders. So they tell the shops what they will sell them, there are no choices. To add insult to injury those distributors might say "hey if you buy $1000 worth of holsters we will allocate $1000 worth of guns." Keep in mind distribution is trying to sell goods and survive this as well. The result is a super sucking sound directly upon the limited resources a small shop can access.

So for all the guys going to the LGS and showing the guy behind the counter a screen shot from gunscalper.com for an out of stock pistol listed for $100 less then the tag in case. I salute you and give a loving invitation to ****************** (censored)

When enough mom and pop gun shops shut down I would think that would start to put at least a small dent in their pockets. What happens when things return to normal? Thousands of mom and pop shops shut down and it's all because of their choice to not sell to them.