Gun Sales Big Box Stores
Due to political pressure, Dicks has stopped selling firearms (and few others too), and Walmart is contemplating doing the same.
These Big Box Stores account for 2-7% of all firearms Sales in the US. Walmart buys about, 20% of all Mossberg and Remington(combined brands) firearms made.
Or will Online Sales/ Auctions pick up. But we still have folks in our rural community here has don't have internet access (due to $$, knowledge or don't want).
Can the Brick and Mortar retailers pick up the Slack? Other wise we will see more and more Distributors and Manufactures closing shop.
A local store purchased a Huge amount of firearms from Ellett Bros. (100's). Those were already in the pipeline.
We have seen two shops in the area closed down, in the last year due to slow sales. We are now get more calls daily for firearms. We have some in stock, Don't want to get top heavy into firearms. As our Business is mostly Gun Parts and Magazines.
These Big Box Stores account for 2-7% of all firearms Sales in the US. Walmart buys about, 20% of all Mossberg and Remington(combined brands) firearms made.
Or will Online Sales/ Auctions pick up. But we still have folks in our rural community here has don't have internet access (due to $$, knowledge or don't want).
Can the Brick and Mortar retailers pick up the Slack? Other wise we will see more and more Distributors and Manufactures closing shop.
A local store purchased a Huge amount of firearms from Ellett Bros. (100's). Those were already in the pipeline.
We have seen two shops in the area closed down, in the last year due to slow sales. We are now get more calls daily for firearms. We have some in stock, Don't want to get top heavy into firearms. As our Business is mostly Gun Parts and Magazines.
0
-
I disagree with your statement that "political pressure" is what caused Dick's to stop selling firearms.
That was a business decision determined by management - a bad move (IMO) - but a decision none the less.
Our society is truly in trouble if retailers start making business decisions based on "political pressure".
If nothing else, it takes the responsibility for bad business decisions from the business and allows them to blame the government (political system).0 -
Retailers and even credit card firms that decide to discontinue a legal product due to "the direction the political winds blow" deserve to lose revenue and even fail to survive. 
0 -
We changed credit Card Processors about 5 years back. They wanted to charge a High risk fee for firearm sales.Think that company is now merged with Wells Fargo
We swapped out to current processor API.0 -
So long as we have a gun market there will be a way to buy them.
Before the big box stores were selling guns you had tons of mom and pop stores feeding the needs of everyone that wanted firearms. Walmart and others saw where they could make profit in carrying guns, so they started selling things. Its my thought that this hurt the quality of firearms because the manufacturers started mass producing everything and only the ultra pricey things got the attention to detail that was once commonplace.
The internet has leveled the playing field and things that were limited by what was available locally changed so a gun in Alabama can go to a buyer in California and the California buyers can get Alabama prices on what would have been insanely expensive. Its truly a magical time for gun owners.
I'm looking forward to custom shops opening back up and producing top quality items for the buyers ready to buy them. If all box stores stopped selling guns it wouldn't make me upset at all because they never were the real gun buyer's provider. Who in their right mind says...."I need some sweet heat potato chips, a new bag of socks, some off road tires and I think I want a shotgun."0 -
Locust Fork wrote:
snip . . .
Who in their right mind says...."I need some sweet heat potato chips, a new bag of socks, some off road tires and I think I want a shotgun."
Sounds like he just got a quick notification on a backwoods wedding.0 -
Locust Fork wrote:Who in their right mind says...."I need some sweet heat potato chips, a new bag of socks, some off road tires and I think I want a shotgun."
Come on out to West Virginia!0 -
WearyTraveler wrote:Locust Fork wrote:Who in their right mind says...."I need some sweet heat potato chips, a new bag of socks, some off road tires and I think I want a shotgun."
Come on out to West Virginia!
gonna have to take the socks off the list if your talking about the locals..........0 -
I never knew anyone that bought a gun at Dick's to begin with. I went there once and I didn't see a good buy in the place on anything they had for sale. 0 -
WalMart only pulls guns from locations that are not making a profit on them. WalMart as an entity is the single largest seller of firearms in the US by a longshot. 0 -
A while back, one of the Walmarts near here decided to get rid of any "evil, black, assault-style" guns.
I got a fantastic deal on a Mossberg 930 breaching gun and three Ruger Ranch Rifles.0 -
My opinion, Walmart sells cheaper quality firearms, even if they are from well known brand names. 0 -
Dick's brought it on themselves and Walmart did too in lesser degree. Here in California with the silly ammo hoops one has to now jump through I know they ain't selling ammo now because of the state government.
With Trump playing hard ball (Tariffs) with China Walmart is feeling the pinch. And I think they might back pedal to make ends meet.
Both stores best invest in men's "Yoga Pants".0 -
At one time Sears was the largest retailer of fire arms in the US (did that make it the largest in the world?). Then Walmart was. The only constant is: Things change. It would be interesting to see the numbers for Gunbroker, where I buy most of mine. 0 -
c&p
How did Walmart become the largest seller of firearms and ammunition in the United States?
Chris Everett, gun owner, extensive knowledge in technical and legal issues related to guns.
Walmart is the largest seller of most everything that Walmart carries. Because Wal-Mart is huge.
There are simply no other national chains of stores with those sorts of store numbers. There are 3,400 walmart supercenters in the US (not all sell guns).
There are 82 Cabela?s stores, by contrast.
94 Bass Pro Shops.
~200 Academy sports stores.
Dick?s sporting goods manages ~600. 1/6th the number of Walmarts, and they have a gun counter not much bigger than the typical wal-mart.
Most of the hardware stores that used to be major gun sellers have been driven from business by Home Depot, Lowe?s, and? Wal Mart.
Further, the guns wal-mart sells are typically fairly inexpensive. That keeps volumes up. They aren?t selling custom 1911?s or high end rifles that cost ~$1000 or more. It?s inexpensive rifles and shotguns. Everything wal-mart sells is based on moving product, and guns are no exceptions.
It?s unclear what the size of Wal-mart?s share of the overall firearms market is? My guess is that it?s around 10%. But most of it?s competitors are far smaller. It remains a business that?s dominated by small business owners that own only a single location, or perhaps two. Even the ?big? stores are typically pretty small when compared to most industries.
Earlier major retailers of firearms had either stopped selling them because of low profit margins and changes in their retail structure (Sears, JCPenny,etc) or because they went out of business (Western Auto, Montgomery Wards). This left hardware stores (many of whom were also getting out of the business), sporting goods stores and some specialized firearms stores as the only retailers which carried firearms. Then along came Wal*Mart.
By the mid-1990s, big box hardware chains (Home Depot, Lowes) had eliminated many of the smaller hardware chains and stores, while big box sporting goods chains either eliminated their smaller competitors or simply stopped or never sold firearms (Sports Authority, REI). For a while, this left a scattered landscape of dealers and opportunity for someone with deep pockets to capitalize. Wal*Mart stepped into the breach.
Selling firearms is a low margin business. Most of a seller's profits are derived from ammunition and accessory sales. As a result, many smaller dealers went out of business and Wal*Mart?s market share began to increase even further. By the mid-2000s, although the chain eschewed selling handguns or more expensive models of long guns, it had become the largest retailer of firearms in the United States and thus, the world. With that also came the distinction of becoming the largest ammunition retailer in the world.
So Wal*Mart became the retail leader due to changes in the market, and its ability to take advantage of those changes.0 -
yoshmyster wrote:Both stores best invest in men's "Yoga Pants".
Male yoga pants maybe. No 'men' wear stuff like that.0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
15 comments