We stopped in for the first time today. There had been an incident with an aggressive stray dog in the neighborhood last week and we had been discussing that too many of our firearms were too powerful for such situations. We had brought up the idea of trading one of them down to a .22 or similar for future occurrences. Something small and accurate to shoot the ground and scare off varmits without damage. Seeing their sign while driving by seemed like really good timing.
We entered through a sliding door to be greeted by the "guard dog" who was such a sweetie pie. Really nice welcome! You enter into a dark part of the building, but the main room is open immediately to your right. The sliding door was easy to open but more difficult to close.
The main room was well lit with a small seating area. There was a gentleman consulting with another customer and second gentleman who greeted us with a smile and enthusiasm. I wish I had gotten his name. He was very helpful and knowledgeable and chatted with us about my husband's top choices. He was very relatable and offered to pull these options out for a closer look. He was very upbeat about how they do trades all the time and was familiar with the gun my husband had in mind for the trade. He made us feel very comfortable and it gave us an incentive to go get the gun and return to do business with them.
While we were there I saw that the room was small, as was the selection, but it was rather varied. I mean, you'll get way more options at a Gander Mountain, but not as many cool pieces or stories. The cases all had firearms that had tags indicating the price and if they were new or a trade.
The prices were way high. I recognized pieces we had at home or that I had seen a relative have and I knew the prices were really expensive here, by several hundred dollars. However, that is usually a sign of a business that haggles, so I tried not to be too turned off by it.
We returned about half an hour later. I saw the gentleman that had been talking to a customer, talking to another one. The gentleman that had been so personable and friendly was not around. A younger guy approached us and he was less engaged and friendly. He made no suggestions, nor initiated a proper consult, and after an awkward pause went to check the value of the trade.
When he returned he attempted to give us the 'Oh I'm really surprised about this' line, but he didn't have the sales experience to give it convincing delivery. He said he could buy it new for $150 and since it was used he would give us $100 for it. Since we knew he was lying, we didn't argue the point. We politely pointed out they didn't sell anything even close to that price so there was nothing to trade and left. He made no move to stop us or haggle, so that leaves them in the overpriced bracket.
To be clear, if it really was $150 new, I would have no problem with knocking off $50 for being used, that's very fair. The original retail on that was more than twice that at the time and current retail is minimum $100 higher. As we were leaving, I considered that maybe dealers get even cheaper prices than I originally thought. However, after checking out wholesale prices dealers pay for the same model, he clearly wasn't being honest with us.
My husband made a comment after we left about pawn shops being a better deal. You expect price gouging at a pawn shop of course, so we stopped in to check one out. Though the pawn shop was even worse on some models, many were similar to what they are charging here and I saw two different firearms at the pawn shop that were significantly cheaper than models I had seen here (though I have no way of knowing the condition of the ones in the pawn shop). Note: do NOT go to a pawn shop, I would never do business at one, I went to do a price comparison out of shock and do not recommend you do business with one.
Unlike some other reviewers, this was not our first gun buying experience and I know from experience this isn't the best value. Is that reason to never return? No, not really. The first gentleman would be great to do business with for a purchase on some cool items. I also don't believe we actually met Bill who was mentioned in other reviews. If our second visit was my only experience here, this rating would be very different.
Perhaps we just got an inexperienced person who isn't all that great with people. Is that my problem? No. Would I want my place of business to be judged by one employee? Also, no. So, though I would never consider trading with them at this point, we may return in the future to check out some of their selection for a purchase, if the price is right. We may even learn their business practices are better than they appeared.
However, it is up to the consumer to do their research and make informed decisions if they are unfamiliar with the product, so make sure you do. read more